“Angling used to be about mystery and tranquillity. Now it’s about landing the biggest river monster you can battle from the depths, and it’s becoming a big global business, too.”
Very insightful article in the UK ‘Guardian’ about ‘stunt fishing’.(Link fixed)
Mark Kitteridge who worked with me at my tackle shop in Auckland NZ for ten years scored this huge yellowtail kingfish off Tairua, NZ. Weighed in at 40 kg (88 lb.)
Released it too!
Did you know that the IGFA has two records for Yellowtail kingfish, the so called California Yellowtail and the Southern Yellowtail yet they are exactly the same fish. Way past time the IGFA fixed this.
Here we go with some wit and wisdom wrapped around fishing – quote numbers 1151 – 1155.
“I can think of nothing material that has been substantively improved for the angler in the past fifty years, except his waders”
– Gordon Wickstrom, Late in an Angler’s Life
“The choice between the rainbow – often easier to hook and harder to land, and the brown – always harder to hook and sometimes easier to land, is a matter of taste and style, and there are no rights and wrongs in the matter.”
– Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
“One man’s fish is another man’s poisson”
– Hoo Izit
“Thank you, dear God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. Thank you for the rain. And for the chance to wake up in three hours and go fishing: I thank you for that now, because I won’t feel so thankful then.”
– Garrison Keillor
“When I die, I want one of life’s great mysteries revealed to me: if some slob can carry a full 12 ounce can of beer half a mile to stream, why the hell can’t he carry it out when it is empty?”
– R. Chad Chorney, Blood Knot Magazine
“There are several kinds of trout liars. The liar of weights, who never catches more than half a dozen trout a day, but they can weigh anywhere from 8 lb. to 10 lb. Then there is the liar of numbers, who always catches so many dozens in an hour and 28 minutes. And there is the liar of places, who knows hidden pools, dark and still, in the secret places of the rocks that are just boiling over with trout … and you fish in them for eight mortal hours without a nibble.”
– Written in 1988, nothing changes
“Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs.”
– P J O’Rourke
“If today was a fish I’d throw it back.”
“Like they say, you can learn more from a guide in one day than you can in three months fishing.”
– Mario Lopez (Think this quote may have been more accurate with the insertion of "good" before "guide" – Bish)
“Learning something new about angling always excites my brain—what would take a specific fish, why it was feeding, how to solve an individual angling problem.”
– Nick Lyons
“If you aren’t a fisher you’ll see many things, but the river, except where it is ridden by waterfowl or waded by moose, will rarely enter your thoughts, much less stimulate your spirit. It’s different if you fish. The surface of the water tells a story….”
– Paul Schullery
“What we are doing to the rivers of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to future generations”
– Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi
“Suddenly "4x" was the latest in a long line of stupid decisions I’ve made in my life”
– Bruce Smithhammer
“Fishing is the lonely sport: for dreamers, star gazers, storm chasers.”
– Alan Harawitz
“Sometimes when the water is quiet…you can almost hear the fish laughing at you”
– Sum Won
See all 1445 fishing quotes and sayings here.
Hand feeding yellowtail kingfish off a wharf in New Zealand.
Five more quotes and sayings on the sport we love – troll through the whole 1140 on my website quotes page.
“Normally people learn to cast, then to cast really far, and finally to cast short and actually fish.”
– Normann Kotzurek, Fishing Guide and Instructor Quoted in Scale Magazine.
“It is well known that no person who regards his reputation will ever kill a trout with anything but a fly. It requires some training on the part of the trout to take to this method.”
-Charles Dudley Warner, as quoted by Nessmuk in Woodcraft and Camping circa 1920
“There is nothing – not friends, not books, not lawyers, guns, or money – nothing can prepare you for this moment when you first stalk a flat scanning for bonefish… because bonefish in the water, for all intents and purposes, are invisible.”
– Dave Ames, Ju Ju Travel
“I fill my life with noise, banging drums on the edge of the abyss… I knew it was time to take off, and go fishing.”
– Charles Rangeley Wilson, Somewhere Else
“There’s just something about watching fish take a surface fly that I can’t get out of my head.”
– Craig Mathews
The quotes above are numbers 1136 through 1140 on the quotes webpage.
I have been a big fan of tippet rings for 5 or more years now for fly fishing. To see all the reasons why you should use tippet rings head over to the excellent Hatch Magazine site and get the full story.
Some people who read my recent article on ‘grip and kill’ when taking photos of trout have pointed out the style of grip shown above – I call it the ‘UK grip’ and it can be lethal.
Those who follow UK trout fishing magazines and websites may have noticed the prevalence of photos with the trout being held as seen in the photo above. I did a quick flick through a pile of recent top selling UK magazines and websites and as rough estimate well over 50% of fish are held by the UK grip. I believe trout are held this way to show off the fact that the fish is a ‘full-finned’ or wild fish, not a stocked fish.
Many (most?) stocked fish have their tails and fines damaged by other fish and the concrete walls of the stock pens. So to show off the fact the fish is ‘full-finned and tailed’ you need a grip that does just that. That grip which I have called the ‘UK grip’ is great for showing fins and tails, but is it good for the trout? No.
The UK grip means that the tail of the fish is not firmly held by fingers encircling the base of the tail – to do so would ‘hide’ the tail. So the holder must squeeze the fish as shown above. If the fish thrashes about the grip around the heart area has to increase. All bad news for the heart and other organs.
This practice needs to stop, and fishing media can stamp it out almost immediately. Magazines and websites need to stop showing fish held in this way.
We all should know the rules for releasing a trout with the best chance of survival, but there is one rule that is almost never included in articles about successful releasing.
So, you have landed the fish as quickly as possible to limit capture stress and you are about to pick up the fish and a get a few ‘grip and grin’ shots before release.
But, grip and grin, can all too often turn into grip and kill, and it is all down to where you grip, and how you grip, the trout that can determine its survival.
Link corrected – Read the full story and see the grip and kill photos.
| The worst example of ‘grip and kill’ in these shots – almost certain lethal damage to heart, liver and gills. |
