The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Dear Shepherd,

As always, I find your commentary enlightening and highly entertaining. However, I must take slight issue with one of your points:

"Show me an angler with a staff and I’ll show you a testicle-less, spineless coward who’s affraid of his/her own shadow."

By definition, females are testicle-less, so that can not be a true indication of a staff-user for more than half the population at large (admittedly, the angling population does not reflect the population at large).

If you had ever waded with a real box of maxipads, you would know how really dangerous it is, how much courage it takes and how little having testicles has to do with it. If those suckers get wet, you go down like rock (if you don't soak up the entire river, which is conceivable).

Otherwise, I completely agree with you. I am glad you have shown us the light and I hope there is more to come. It is so easy to fall into revisionist thought when you are surrounded by it.

Dawn