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Top 30 John Gierach Quotes (2025 Update)

John Gierach Quote: “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.”

1. “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

John Gierach Quote: “If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.”

2. “If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “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.”

3. “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

John Gierach Quote: “Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn’t determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed.”

4. “Maybe your stature as a fly fisherman isn’t determined by how big a trout you can catch, but by how small a trout you can catch without being disappointed.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Lawyers are like nuclear weapons. By all rights they shouldn’t exist, but if some people have them, then you’d better have one, too, just in case.”

5. “Lawyers are like nuclear weapons. By all rights they shouldn’t exist, but if some people have them, then you’d better have one, too, just in case.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “The solution to any problem -work, love, money, whatever -is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.”

6. “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

John Gierach Quote: “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.”

7. “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

John Gierach Quote: “Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip.”

8. “Creeps and idiots cannot conceal themselves for long on a fishing trip.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Accurately recalling an entire day of fishing is like trying to push smoke back down a chimney, so you settle on these specific moments.”

9. “Accurately recalling an entire day of fishing is like trying to push smoke back down a chimney, so you settle on these specific moments.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “I think I fish, in part, because it’s an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution.”

10. “I think I fish, in part, because it’s an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an institution.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm.”

11. “I still enjoy the company of most dogs more than that of most people, because dogs are capable of uncomplicated enthusiasm.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “I necessarily fear change except that it’s so seldom for the better. It’s just that I can live with any number of things going straight to hell as long as these streams continue to hold up. If this amounts to living in a fool’s paradise, don’t waste your time trying to explain that to the fool.”

12. “I necessarily fear change except that it’s so seldom for the better. It’s just that I can live with any number of things going straight to hell as long as these streams continue to hold up. If this amounts to living in a fool’s paradise, don’t waste your time trying to explain that to the fool.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that’s not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they’re just not such a big deal anymore.”

13. “They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that’s not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they’re just not such a big deal anymore.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what’s right there in front of you without having to sift through a lot of thoughts and theories and, yes, expensive fishing tackle.”

14. “Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what’s right there in front of you without having to sift through a lot of thoughts and theories and, yes, expensive fishing tackle.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “There are people in my life who sometimes worry about me when I go off into the fields and streams, not realizing that the country is a calm, gracious, forgiving place and that the real dangers are found in the civilization you have to pass through to get there. When.”

15. “There are people in my life who sometimes worry about me when I go off into the fields and streams, not realizing that the country is a calm, gracious, forgiving place and that the real dangers are found in the civilization you have to pass through to get there. When.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly.”

16. “Something to think about: If you fish the wrong fly long and hard enough, it will sooner or later become the right fly.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Trout are among those creatures who are one hell of a lot prettier than they need to be. They can get you to wondering about the hidden workings of reality.”

17. “Trout are among those creatures who are one hell of a lot prettier than they need to be. They can get you to wondering about the hidden workings of reality.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “We do have to think seriously about conservation now, although it is chilling to realize there are catch-and-release fishermen alive today who don’t know how to clean and fry a fish.”

18. “We do have to think seriously about conservation now, although it is chilling to realize there are catch-and-release fishermen alive today who don’t know how to clean and fry a fish.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “It’s an odd fact of life that whichever side of the stream you’re on, two-thirds of the best water is out of reach on the other side.”

19. “It’s an odd fact of life that whichever side of the stream you’re on, two-thirds of the best water is out of reach on the other side.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Cell phones have changed us from a nation of self-reliant pioneer types into a bunch of men standing alone in supermarkets saying, ‘Okay, I’m in the tampon aisle, but I don’t see it.’”

20. “Cell phones have changed us from a nation of self-reliant pioneer types into a bunch of men standing alone in supermarkets saying, ‘Okay, I’m in the tampon aisle, but I don’t see it.’”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Fishing in rainy conditions may make fisherman seem crazy to the great mass of unimaginative people, but then few fishermen care what they think.”

21. “Fishing in rainy conditions may make fisherman seem crazy to the great mass of unimaginative people, but then few fishermen care what they think.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Fly tackle has improved considerably since 1676, when Charles Cotton advised anglers to ‘fish fine and far off,’ but no one has ever improved on that statement.”

22. “Fly tackle has improved considerably since 1676, when Charles Cotton advised anglers to ‘fish fine and far off,’ but no one has ever improved on that statement.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Okay, I’m in the tampon aisle, but I don’t see it.”

23. “Okay, I’m in the tampon aisle, but I don’t see it.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “The things fishermen know about trout aren’t facts but articles of faith.”

24. “The things fishermen know about trout aren’t facts but articles of faith.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Trout aren’t naturally as selective as they’ve become in crowded tailwaters – they’ve been trained to be like that by too much fishing pressure. I’ve seen tailwater fish that are so hysterical they’ll refuse naturals. You wonder how they get enough to eat.”

25. “Trout aren’t naturally as selective as they’ve become in crowded tailwaters – they’ve been trained to be like that by too much fishing pressure. I’ve seen tailwater fish that are so hysterical they’ll refuse naturals. You wonder how they get enough to eat.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Flyfishing does have its social aspects – on some of our crowded trout streams it can get too social – but esentially it’s a solitary, contemplative sport. People are left alone with themselves in beautiful surroundings to try to accomplish something that seems to have genuine value.”

26. “Flyfishing does have its social aspects – on some of our crowded trout streams it can get too social – but esentially it’s a solitary, contemplative sport. People are left alone with themselves in beautiful surroundings to try to accomplish something that seems to have genuine value.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “And never fall into that statistical macho trap that’s so prevalent in fly-fishing these days. If you keep score, you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap. When someone says to you, “I caught forty-eight trout and ten of them were twenty inches or better. How’d you do?” say, “Yeah, we got some. Couple nice ones, too.”

27. “And never fall into that statistical macho trap that’s so prevalent in fly-fishing these days. If you keep score, you can be beaten, but if you refuse to compete you can leave the impression that you have long since risen above that kind of crap. When someone says to you, “I caught forty-eight trout and ten of them were twenty inches or better. How’d you do?” say, “Yeah, we got some. Couple nice ones, too.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “I don’t really know how to tie a fly until I’ve tied a hundred dozen of them.”

28. “I don’t really know how to tie a fly until I’ve tied a hundred dozen of them.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Luckily, though, there are still a few guys around who will look you straight in the eye and say, eloquently and to the point, ‘It’s been too goddamned hot for too long and the river has gone off.’”

29. “Luckily, though, there are still a few guys around who will look you straight in the eye and say, eloquently and to the point, ‘It’s been too goddamned hot for too long and the river has gone off.’”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Sure, it was your idea and your fly, but he caught the big fish. Remember, fairness is a human idea largely unknown in nature.”

30. “Sure, it was your idea and your fly, but he caught the big fish. Remember, fairness is a human idea largely unknown in nature.”

— John Gierach

John Gierach Quote: “Successful trout fishing isn’t a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration.”

31. “Successful trout fishing isn’t a matter of brute force or even persistence, but something more like infiltration.”

— John Gierach

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