Fishing, with me, has always been an excuse to drink in the daytime

Fishing, with me, has always been an excuse to drink in the daytime

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.

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a
cord which thou lettest down?
read more

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a
cord which thou lettest down?
Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through
with a thorn?

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

For angling-rod he took a sturdy oak;
For line, a cable that in storm ne'er broke;
His read more

For angling-rod he took a sturdy oak;
For line, a cable that in storm ne'er broke;
His hook was such as heads the end of pole
To pluck down house ere fire consumes it whole;
This hook was bated with a dragon's tail,--
And then on rock he stood to bob for whale.

To fish in troubled waters.

To fish in troubled waters.

When if or chance or hunger's powerful sway
Directs the roving trout this fatal way,
He greedily read more

When if or chance or hunger's powerful sway
Directs the roving trout this fatal way,
He greedily sucks in the twining bait,
And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat.
Now, happy fisherman; now twitch the line!
How thy rod bends! behold, the prize is thine!

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

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