La ligne, avec sa canne, est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
read more

La ligne, avec sa canne, est un long instrument,
Dont le plus mince bout tient un petit reptile,
Et dont l'autre est tenu par un grand imbecile.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.

Best fishing in troubled waters.

Best fishing in troubled waters.

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.

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

I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except we
like it and it makes read more

I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except we
like it and it makes us think and feel.

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

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.

The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here,
Blest fishers were; read more

The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here,
Blest fishers were; and fish the last
Food was, that He on earth did taste:
I therefore strive to follow those,
Whom He to follow Him hath chose.

As the lone Angler, patient man,
At Mewry-Water, or the Banne,
Leaves off, against his placid wish,
read more

As the lone Angler, patient man,
At Mewry-Water, or the Banne,
Leaves off, against his placid wish,
Impaling worms to torture fish.