Author: Don Paglia

Tip #55: “Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.” Author Unknown Bill is a wonderful guy. Sometimes, however, he gets into fretting over a recent or not-so-recent mistake he’s convinced himself he’s made.  He’ll then get on a tear and beat up on himself unmercifully. This is annoying to those who happen to […]

Tip #54: “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he’ll starve to death while praying for a fish.”                                                   Author Unknown There is an old joke that goes like so: “Question – What’s the difference between and liturgist and terrorist? Answer – “You can negotiate with […]

Tip #53: “If you’ve got short, stubby fingers and wear reading glasses, any relaxation you would normally derive from fly fishing is completely eliminated when you try to tie on a fly.”                                                                                   Jack Ohman, Fear of Fly Fishing, 1988~ Presence is always more important than skills or techniques. This is the fundamental problem with […]

Tip #52 “Fishing is a… discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish.”                                                                                          Herbert Hoover “All men and women are equal.” We better be talking about, well… about everything. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is what our democracy is built upon. The American Revolution, which first […]

Tip #51 “The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.”                                                                   John Buchan If ever we had a need of an occasion for hope it is now. Fighting the pandemic is certainly a bit elusive. Can I catch the virus […]

Tip #50: “Even eminent chartered accountants are known, in their capacity as fishermen, blissfully to ignore differences between seven and ten inches, half a pound and two pounds, three fish and a dozen fish.” William Sherwood Fox, Silken Lines and Silver Hooks, 1954~ We all love a good fish story. More importantly, we also love […]

Tip #49: “Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish.”                                 Roderick Haig-Brown, about modern fishing, A River Never Sleeps, 1946 For starters, we are pretty much utilitarian people. We focus mostly on the practical and doing things efficiently. In fact […]

Tip #48: “People who fish for food, and sport be damned, are called pot-fishermen.  The more expert ones are called crack pot-fishermen.  All other fishermen are called crackpot fishermen.  This is confusing.”                                                                                                                  Ed Zern, 1947 If this is confusing allow me to add to it: Psycho-ceramics is the study of cracked pots. A […]

Tip #47: “There is no greater fan of fly-fishing than the worm.”                                                Patrick F. McManus, Never Sniff a Gift Fish, 1979 Nobody gets very far in this life all on their own. […]

Tip #46: “Reading about baseball is a lot more interesting than reading about chess, but you have to wonder:  Don’t any of these guys ever go fishing?”  Dave Shiflett, quoted in Houston Chronicle, 29 April 1990 Tom, a brilliant bio-mechanical engineering PhD, was one of the most book-smart people I’ve ever met. He would expound […]