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Quote by Thomas McGuane

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The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing

This book is a profound look into the world of fishing, chronicling the author's journey from a young boy to a seasoned fisherman. It offers a rich tapestry of the fishing culture, the challenges faced, and the profound connections formed with nature and the sea. more

Author

Thomas McGuane
Thomas McGuane

Thomas McGuane (born December 11, 1939) is an acclaimed American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter, renowned for his works set in the American West, fly fishing, and rural American life. His novels often explore themes of masculinity, the relationship between nature and civilization, and the spiritual struggles of marginalized characters in contemporary America. more

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“When I was a young girl salmon fishing with my father in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Washington State I used to lean out over the water and try to look past my own face, past the reflection of the boat, past the sun and darkness, down to where the fish were surely swimming. I made up charm songs and word-hopes to tempt the fish, to cause them to mean biting my hook. I believed they would do it if I asked them well and patiently and with the right hope. I am writing my poems like this. I have used the fabric and the people of my life as the bait.”

“Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean splashes of color, crowded steep-pitched roofs, fishing piers and fishing boats whose stench of mackerel and gasoline is as aphrodisiac to the sensuous nose as the clean bar-whisky smell of a nightclub where call girls congregate.”

“From my own experience I can say that a bad back makes you hike slower, stove-up knees keep you from wading confidently, tendinitis of the elbows buggers your casting, and a dose of giardia can send you dashing to the bushes fifteen times in an afternoon, but although none of this is fun, it's discernibly better than not fishing.”