quote:

There is, among hard-core fisherman, a conviction that truth, like pure water and the fish that live in it, is a precious commodity, not to be squandered or over-used. I respect that conviction, and those who hold it. And if the philosphers ask, "What is truth?", I answer, "I haven't the foggiest notion, gents. But one thing it ain't is those stories you hear at Bud Lilly's or Phil Wright's or Dan Bailey's or any other tackle shop or fishing camp."

As for me, I get all the truth I need in the newspaper every morning, and every chance I get I go fishing, or swap stories with fishermen, to get the taste of it out of my mouth.

Field and Stream, 1977