Don, my interest in the fishing community may be vastly different than yours, but is much more involved than just wanting to "stir things up." I work in a field where anglers represent a significant portion of our clientele. As such I do make it a habit to try to see what is going on in the areas that interest them, including visiting some of the websites you mention on a regular basis. But not all those clients are tournament anglers so not all my interest is in pleasing that segment. I also have an interest in knowing how we can best serve the most people with our finite resources; which often leads me to probe some issues where various interests collide. Having said that, I also think that the vast majority of Federation members are really fine sincere people, that have wonderful intentions with their personal fishing interests.

I also recall the time when Jim was trying to get fishing reports from the region, and I also recall some other things from that time that may have been a factor in my failure to return your calls. One of those was that I went through a major health crisis a few years back, in which I lost a few internal parts to cancer. I was one of the lucky ones though. I have since made a good recovery but I’ll admit to having dropped the ball on several things there for a while. If you felt slighted in any way, I apologize. Since I don’t know you, I assure it was not personal.

At your suggestion, since I don’t have a dog in this fight, and since it is apparent that probing questions are not welcome in the process in which no other perspectives are going to be considered, I will remove myself and wish you all the best.