And angling too, that solitary vice,
What Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, read more

And angling too, that solitary vice,
What Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.

The man that weds for greedy wealth,
He goes a fishing fair,
But often times he gets read more

The man that weds for greedy wealth,
He goes a fishing fair,
But often times he gets a frog,
Or very little share.

The line with its rod is a long instrument whose lesser end holds
a small reptile, while the other read more

The line with its rod is a long instrument whose lesser end holds
a small reptile, while the other is held by a great fool.
[Fr., La ligne avec sa canne est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
Et dont Pautre est tenu pau un grand imbecile.]

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series read more

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of that which is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him,
We also go with thee. They read more

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him,
We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship
immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

The biggest fish he ever caught were those that got away.

The biggest fish he ever caught were those that got away.

A rod twelve feet long and a ring of wire,
A winder and barrel, will help thy desire
read more

A rod twelve feet long and a ring of wire,
A winder and barrel, will help thy desire
In killing a Pike; but the forked stick,
With a slit and a bladder,--and that other fine trick,
Which our artists call snap, with a goose or a duck,--
Will kill two for one, if you have any luck;
The gentry of Shropshire do merrily smile,
To see a goose and a belt the fish to beguile;
When a Pike suns himselfe and a-frogging doth go,
The two-inched hook is better, I know,
Than the ord'nary snaring: but still I must cry,
When the Pike is at home, minde the cookery.

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here,
Blest fishers were; read more

The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here,
Blest fishers were; and fish the last
Food was, that He on earth did taste:
I therefore strive to follow those,
Whom He to follow Him hath chose.