Rob....In the interest of hope I will keep responding to you.

First of all, I have said many times I have never kept a wild steelhead. So does that make me special in your book? I also carefully release 99% of all the fish I bring to hand. Does that make me an icon? Someone to be looked up to? Probably not.

I have worked for fishing issues for many years , even when it was not so popular. I have testified before the commission many times from the days when it first started. I have written about fishing and taught fishing and helped kids fish. Does all of that make me better than the average fisher? Probably not. It does give me a place at the table where I certainly do not belittle those who do not agree with me. I may think they are stupid but I don't tell them so in an attempt to get my own way. Sure its frustrating to try to sway a group of people who don't listen to you. That would be the WDFW commission. They put on a show to include the public but they don't like it. They would exclude all of us if they could , in my opinion.

Recently the commission has come around a bit and is responding to the incredible pressure from sports fishers. They still make decisions that are not fair in my opinion. They are being forced to follow a strict framework of public comment and the WSR decision was made outside that framework in the opinion of alot of smart people....these are not idiots. These are people capable of seeing the big picture who are willing to take a step back for two steps forward. People who are sick and tired of decisions being made changing sports fishing rules for periods of years without adequate and thorough public comment.

So, in conclusion, whether you can mature to see that you are out of line or not is up to you but I submit that you should apply your passion for your position in a much more palatable fashion so some of the important people out there actually listen.