John D. Voelker
John D. Voelker
John D. Voelker, better known by his pen name Robert Traver, was a noted lawyer, author and fly fisherman from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He grew up in his hometown of Ishpeming and later attended the University of Michigan Law School. His early professional career was as an attorney and county prosecutor in Marquette County. Voelker was also appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1957. He is best known as the author of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth19 June 1903
CountryUnited States of America
Fishing is such great fun, I have often felt, that it really ought to be done in bed
I fish because I love to . . . because I love the environs where trout are found . . . because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip . . . and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant––and not nearly so much fun.
A writer judging his own work is like deceived husband - he is frequently the last person to appreciate the true state of affairs.
To paraphrase a deceased patriot, I regret that I have only one life to give to my fly-fishing.
The best time to go fishing is when you can get away.
There is a lot of amiable fantasy written about trout fishing, but the truth is that few men know much if anything about the habits of trout and little more about the manner of taking them.
Most fisherman, including this one, cling to their pet stupidities as they would to a battered briar or an old jacket; and their dogged persistence in wrong methods and general wrong-headedness finally wins the a sort of grudging admiration, if not many fish.
The true fisherman approaches the first day of fishing season with all the sense of wonder and awe of a child approaching Christmas.
During my addled career as a trout fisherman I have gone on a lot of wild-goose chases, and I ruefully expect to go on a lot more before I hang up my waders
Fly-fishing for wild trout on quiet waters must be one of the toughest and craziest ways to catch fish ever invented by man, as well as among the most frustrating and humiliating.
I look at trees, hunt mushrooms, and watch animals. Fishing is what gets me out into the woods so I can notice these things.
I listened to a lot of stories when I was a kid. My mother told me stories, and I loved them.
One of the first rules in fishing is that there are few rules in fishing that resourceful trout do not manage to break.
The truth is that trout fishermen scheme and lie and toss in their sleep. They dream of great dripping trout, shapely and elusive as mermaids, and arise cranky and haggard from their fantasies. They are moody and neglectful and all of them a little daft. Moreover they are inclined to drink too much.