Inspiration can come in many forms, and a good quote can enlighten the mind and spur the adventurous spirit.
As a fisherman, I am always looking forward to the next angling adventure.
I hope these inspirational fishing quotes will inspire you to plan a trip, gather your gear and go fishing!
Table of Contents
Inspirational Fishing Quotes
1. “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” – Henry David Thoreau
2. “The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” – John Buchan
3. “There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm.” – Patrick F. McManus
4. “Fishing is a discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish.” – Herbert Hoover
5. “The best time to go fishing is when you can get away.” – Robert Traver
6. “Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it.” – Harry Middleton
7. “If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is high church.” – Tom Brokaw
8. “If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago.” – Zane Grey
9. “There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” – Steven Wright
10. “Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher’s salary.” – Patrick F. McManus
11. “All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish.” – Harold F. Blaisdell
12. “I don’t go fishing to escape my life; I go fishing to live my life.” – Unknown
13. “Angling is extremely time consuming. That’s sort of the whole point.” – Thomas McGuane
14. “Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl.” – Ernest Hemingway
15. “I fish because I love to… because I love the environs where trout are found… because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.” – Robert Traver
16. “There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process.” – Paul O’Neil
17. “Fishing provides time to think and reason not to. If you have the virtue of patience, an hour or two of casting alone is plenty of time to review all you’ve learned about the grand themes of life.” – Carl Safina
18. “Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend.” – Zenna Schaffer
19. “Carpe Diem” does not mean “fish of the day.” – Unknown
20. “There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind.” – Washington Irving
21. “If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.” – Doug Larson
22. “The two best times to fish is when it’s rainin’ and when it ain’t.” – Patrick F. McManus
23. “I go fishing not to find myself but to lose myself.” – Joseph Monniger
24. “Even if you’ve been fishing for three hours and haven’t gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you’re still better off than the worm.” – Unknown
25. “Fly-fishing is the most fun you can have standing up.” – Arnold Gingrich
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Life Fishing Quotes
26. “There is no losing in fishing. You either catch or you learn. Either way, it’s better than work.” – Unknown
27. “The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad.” – A.K. Best
28. “The solution to any problem—work, love, money, whatever—is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.” – John Gierach
29. “In fishing, the early bird theory does not always hold water: The best fishing often takes place at peak periods — early morning and late evening — but the peaks can shift, depending on water temperature, food supply and pressure from other fishermen.” – Gene Hill
30. “Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.” – Unknown
31. “Men and fish are alike. They both get into trouble when they open their mouths.” – Unknown
32. “Fishing is a hard job. Fishing at night. Rain. Day, night. You have to be wise and smart. And quick.” – Mariano Rivera
33. “There is always a feeling of anticipation on the way to the river, but it is best not to expect too much, for fishing is very like religion in that it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” – Arnold Gingrich
34. “In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose fish. If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone.” – Ray Bergman
35. “In the best stories about fly fishing … big fish are caught or lost; people say wild and spontaneous words; event becomes memory and sometimes, in the hands of a master, bleeds into art.” – Nick Lyons
36. “Most fishermen swiftly learn that it’s a pretty good rule never to show a favorite spot to any fisherman you wouldn’t trust with your best girl.” – John Voelker
37. “A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it.” – Arnold Gingrich
38. “The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent in fishing.” – Babylonian Proverb
39. “Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.” – Herbert Hoover
40. “Fishing seems to be the favorite form of loafing.” – E.W. Howe
41. “Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learned.” – Izaak Walton
42. “All Americans believe that they are born fishermen. For a man to admit a distaste for fishing would be like denouncing mother-love or hating moonlight.” – John Steinbeck
43. “Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God.” – Tony Blake
44. “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work.” – Unknown
45. “Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration.” – Izaak Walton
46. “A reel expert can tackle anything.” – Unknown
47. “There’s no taking trout with dry breeches.” – Miguel de Cervantes
48. “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” – Henry David Thoreau
49. “Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It’s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.” – John Gierach
50. “Fishing is not just an adventure, it’s a way of life.” – Unknown
51. “If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.” – John Gierach
52. “No life is so happy and so pleasant as the life of the well-governed angler.” – Izaak Walton
53. “Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.” – Unknown
54. “I’ve gone fishing thousands of times in my life, and I have never once felt unlucky or poorly paid for those hours on the water.” – William Tapply
55. “Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.” – Mark Twain
56. “An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won’t let him do it at home.” – Unknown
57. “Fishing is the sport of drowning worms.” – Unknown
58. “May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it.” – Irish Blessing
59. “There are always new places to go fishing. For any fisherman, there’s always a new place, always a new horizon.” – Jack Nicklaus
60. “It is impossible to grow weary of a sport that is never the same on any two days of the year.” – Theodore Gordon
61. “Most of the world is covered by water. A fisherman’s job is simple: Pick out the best parts.” – Charles Waterman
62. “The act of fishing transports us to a special world, and a state of mind, where we are free.” – Fennel Hudson
63. “Everyone should believe in something; I believe I’ll go fishing.” – Henry David Thoreau
64. “Good things come to those who bait.” – Unknown
65. “Fishing, with me, has always been an excuse to drink in the daytime.” – Jimmy Cannon
66. “If fishing is interfering with your business, give up your business.” – Alfred W. Miller
67. “Fishing is a delusion entirely surrounded by liars in old clothes.” – Don Marquis
68. “The only reason I ever played golf in the first place was so I could afford to hunt and fish.” – Sam Snead
69. “The best fisherman I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them.” – John Gierach
70. “It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.” – John Steinbeck
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Funny Fishing Quotes
71. “If I can’t fish, I’m not going.” – Unknown
72. “I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it’s the one thing I can think of that probably doesn’t.” – John Gierach
73. “Be patient and calm — for no one can catch a fish in anger.” – Herbert Hoover
74. “If you’ve got short, stubby fingers and wear reading glasses, any relaxation you would normally derive from fly fishing is completely eliminated when you try to tie on a fly.” – Jack Ohman
75. “All fishermen are liars; it’s an occupational disease with them like housemaid’s knee or editor’s ulcers.” – Beatrice Cook
76. “I don’t want to sit at the head table anymore. I want to go fishing.” – George Bush
77. “To fish or not to fish… Not to fish? Yeah…like that’s even an option!” – Unknown
78. “Fishing is much less about the fishing, and much more about the time alone with your kid, away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday.” – Dan Pearce
79. “The best way to a fisherman’s heart is through his fly.” – Unknown
80. “Having a fishing rod in your hand is merely an excuse to explore out-of-sight depths and reveal mysteries that previously only existed in dreams.” – Fennel Hudson
81. “There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” – Steven Wright
82. “A fisherman is a jerk on one end of the line waiting for a jerk on the other.” – Unknown
83. “I fish better with a lit cigar; some people fish better with talent.” – Nick Lyons
84. “If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is high church.” – Tom Brokaw
85. “Fishing provides time to think, and reason not to. If you have the virtue of patience, an hour or two of casting alone is plenty of time to review all you’ve learned about the grand themes of life.” – Carl Safina
86. “Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it.” – Harry Middleton
87. “The best time to go fishing is when you can get away.” – Robert Traver
88. “Any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.” – John Steinbeck
89. “Fishing is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” – John Buchan
90. “Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher’s salary.” – Patrick F. McManus
91. “The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” – John Buchan
92. “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” – Henry David Thoreau
93. “You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something.” – Mitch Hedberg
94. “To go fishing is the chance to wash one’s soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of the sun on blue water.” – Herbert Hoover
95. “Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.” – Steven Wright
96. “If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago.” – Zane Grey
97. “Calling fishing a hobby is like calling brain surgery a job.” – Paul Schullery
98. “Carpe Diem does not mean ‘fish of the day.'” – Robin Williams
99. “Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend.” – Zenna Schaffer
100. “Fishing is boring, until you catch a fish.” – Julia Child
101. “There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process.” – Paul O’Neil
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