I don't always agree with Zog (if I did it would be boring) but I respect him and his writing style. He can inflict feelings that don't easily go away. I still vividly remember a story he did years ago on Hood Canal coho. He brought tears to my eyes but at the same time I was filled with rage as he wrote about the total demise of a great fish and how the fishery managers sat back and watched it happen. I still get pissed thinking about it.

As far as boondogging, I still see a place for it. Zog encourages us to learn many techniques and then use the best one for the current conditions or the one that you get the most satisfaction from using.

The old man caught more steelhead while guiding and fishing on the Skagit in its hey-day than I'll ever see but yet boondogging out of his home made boats is the only steelhead method he ever learned. He wouldn't know how to catch a fish from shore if it bit him in the arse. I on the other hand had to learn multiple techniques in rivers devoid of fish, pretty much as a bank maggot. Therefore, I love side drifting out of a flat bottom sled because the boat operator does all the work and I can sit back and enjoy the fishing. Only problem is this only occurs about once every three or four years but yet its my all-time favorite technique, except for maybe hooking fish on a swinging dry.

As far as music, I grew up listening to my older brothers' music from the late 70s and then my music from the 80s and love it. I can't tell if the music was better then than now because of my biased opinion but it sure seems like it was better then, just like the fishing.