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

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

Still he fishes that catches one.

Still he fishes that catches one.

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 end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

The end of fishing is not angling, but catching.

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

To fish in troubled waters.

To fish in troubled waters.

Of all the world's enjoyments
That ever valued were,
There's none of our employments
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Of all the world's enjoyments
That ever valued were,
There's none of our employments
With fishing can compare.
- Thomas Durfee (or D'Urfey),

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

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.