Video Chase Elliott explains why fly fishing is similar to golf NASCAR star Chase Elliott explains why he compares fly fishing to golf, including the precision, patience and constant challenge involved in both sports, during an interview with OutKick Outdoors.
Henry Winkler has been married to his wife, Stacey, for nearly five decades, so at this point, she knows him pretty well.
Including, apparently, when he's exaggerating about the size of his... fish.
The "Happy Days" star and his wife joined Graham Bensinger for an interview recently, where the couple talked about their marriage, how they met and the one activity that somehow transforms Winkler from one of the nicest guys in Hollywood into a fiercely competitive rule-breaker.
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Actor Henry Winkler and his wife, Stacey, arrive at the Milk + Bookies 6th Annual Story Time Celebration at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on April 19, 2015. (Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
According to Stacey, her husband might also be padding the stats a little bit.
"You have alleged before that he pads his numbers," Bensinger said.
"I write down in my book exactly," Winkler protested. "I don't round off. That I do only in charity."
"The biggest charity is your fish size," Stacey fired back. "You are about your fish size the way other people are about… other sizes."
After 48 years of marriage, Winkler seemed stunned to learn that his own wife apparently doesn't trust his measurements.
"I have just learned something I've never known," he said. "I don't pad my numbers, but my wife believes I pad my numbers. Shocking. I'm shocked. I'm hurt."
Who among us hasn't exaggerated a little after a fishing trip?
But the (alleged) fish inflation isn't even their biggest problem on the water.
The couple used to fish together, but that arrangement apparently became unsustainable because Henry — otherwise known for being an exceptionally pleasant human being — becomes an entirely different person once there's a trout involved.
He explained that they once had clearly defined territory while sharing a boat. Stacey got the water from the front of the boat back to the oars. Henry got everything behind the oars.
Except Henry didn't particularly care for that arrangement whenever Stacey's side looked more promising.
"I'm here to catch a fish," he explained. "And sometimes her water on the other side of the oar looks really fishy."
So his fly would occasionally "wind up" in Stacey's section.
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Winkler insists he's simply following the fish. Stacey says her normally reasonable husband suddenly loses all regard for rules, boundaries and marital harmony the moment he picks up a fly rod.
"There was just no way because he's too crazy," she said of fishing together. "He is this reasonable man who turns into a 7-year-old."
In fact, the couple said their first fly-fishing experience together generated more arguments than all their previous years of marriage combined.
"So then what I would do would be to not catch fish to make you feel better?" she asked.
"That would have been so thoughtful," he deadpanned.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Henry Winkler attends Acting Class With Henry Winkler during the TV Academy's Inaugural Televerse Festival at JW Marriott LA Live on August 15, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Eventually, the Winklers found the secret to a happy fishing marriage: Don't fish together. Now they take separate boats, separate guides and even fish different parts of the river.
Because Stacey still has one surefire way to get under her husband's skin.
When she catches a big fish, she sends him a photo.
He just desperately wants to know how she keeps doing it.
"I really think that there is something about female pheromones that attract the fish," he joked, marveling at how quickly his wife seems to hook monsters.
He even floated another possibility: "Unless on the boat she can Photoshop."
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 16: (L-R) Stacey Winkler and Henry Winkler attend the Television Academy's 27th Annual Hall of Fame Ceremony at JW Marriott LA Live on August 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Stacey, meanwhile, says fly-fishing is one of the only areas of her husband's life where the famously nice, mild-mannered actor gets genuinely reckless.
"If you are fishing somewhere in your area and Henry thinks he sees some bubbles or whatever, he's going there," she said. "So, there is nothing sacred."
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But after 48 years together, the Winklers have clearly figured out the important stuff.
And never, ever trust your husband's estimate of how many inches that fish actually was.
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