I’d let it go on for a little while, then change my avatar to this one for most of the winter:

It always got a few chuckles and always raised a few hackles, too.  It was supposed to be an “if you have to ask, you’ll never know” type thing but invariably someone would end up explaining it to the unwashed.

Basically, the argument behind my avatar was that you don’t have to travel out of state to fly fish only once a year.  And you don’t have to only fish for trout just because you’re using a fly rod, either.

I’ll admit that I really don’t have anything against trout, heck, I grew up fishing for them.  And even now once in a while I might find myself visiting family out west and I might be persuaded to dangle some nymphs under a bobber or throw a hopper up tight to a bank.  Trout belong in cold water rivers out west, and sand bass belong in Texas.  Even though I do like trout, having my conservation dollars go to a put-and-take fishery for a species that can’t even survive on their own once it warms up seems silly.  I’d much rather have TPWD blow up some dams and give the WHOLE state an alligator gar fishery, for example.

So on this one, the joke is based in the truth.  Even so, the phrase “Screw Trout!” is just funny.

Since I’ve gone the shameless commerce route, I thought I’d add some Screw Trout shirts to the Zazzle store.  Hey, sue me.  I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to be a capitalist and a carper.  Here is the t-shirt design:

There, was that enough clickable links to the store?  I mean, between the image and preceding paragraph there’s four links to the same products.  I guess if you’re gonna go capitalist, you might as well go all the way, right?