I Can Smell Trout Tonight
“I’m danged if I can figger out what trout fisherman these days are thinking about. They start at 10 A.M., after a good night’s rest and a leisurely breakfast. They fish until the six o’ clock whistle, and wonder why they don’t get ‘em. People like that are not entitled to catch trout. To catch trout, you got to suffer and learn.”
“Trout fishing is not like drinking beer,” he lectured as the car sped south and east. “It’s more like sipping champagne. A good beer drinker just sits down and lays into it. You hear the first one splash. But you sip champagne. You take a tiny leetle bit and smack your lips. So with trout. You don’t want too many. You want to get the stage all set. You look ahead and figger out every move. You will not be rushed.”
“Trout waters can be very personal places. The best trout streams are the ones you grow up with and then grow old with. Eventually they become like a familiar shotgun, or a faithful old setter, or a comfortable pair of shoes. You develop a profound affection for them, and you think maybe before you die you will even understand a little about them.”
Quotes taken from the story “Now, in June” from the book “Stories of the Old Duck Hunters & Other Drivel” by Wisconsin writer Gordon MacQuarrie.
