Should old fishing buddies be forgot,
And no trout ever rises to a fly presented so fine?
Should the leader end up as one horrible wind knot,
And there's never any tightness in one's fly line?

CHORUS:
Just tightness in my fly line is my dream,
Just for tightness in my fly line,
Making long accurate casts across the stream,
Just for tightness in my fly line.

And surely you'll tie a fly!
And just as surely I'll tie mine!
We'll hook trout on every try.
Just for tightness in the fly line.

For once into the pool the trout has run,
We follow with rod bent, no slack line,
Silver of the fish flashing in the sun
The rod's still bent, no time for slack line.

So give us tight lines!
And we'll raise a glass of good cheer,
To tight lines, to tight lines
Each and every year

As long as we take time to get out on the water!
Whether we use two hands on a spey rod to throw the line
Or cast single-handed shouldn't really matter
Just as long as there's tightness in the fly line.

When we have fished each and every stream,
Cast a fly on all the rivers we could find;
Waded through all that an angler's life could dream
Then we can sing "Auld Lang Syne".