Jerry- I have that great book, about 20 some years ago after a TU group trip to fish the Bow in Alberta, my best fly fishing buddy and ace seven card stud player gave me a copy. I'll look it up.
One thing they don't seem to teach in the Orvis and other fly fishing schools is good streamside manners- I gave up steelheading on the PM (Michigan- Baldwin area) some years ago for two reasons: (1) My old friend and mentor Merle T. Nolph had passed away- before that I always parked at his home, near Doc Green's bend and just about where the Baldwin Creek connects to the main branch- "Simmy" got me a permit pass so I could be on the PM R&G Club properties w/o facing a trespassing charge- (2) The Johnson's Orvis Lodge upriver- their guides were A-OK-, but some of their clients acted like they owned the river for the day, as they were paying for the guide fee-
I don't see where you were "off base" as the other gent made comments about your fly rod, etc first- But you are right, in retrospect- it might have been better to have walked away, shaking your head in wonder- As a long-time Leonard man, I know the cross section (like a guided bend test for API- and ASTM code welding) of a six-sided bamboo rod will stand more "gaff" than any hollowed out "soda straw" synthetic fly rod.
What gets me is all the high prices and hype for these graphite rods- and the distance casting claims- "Casting ain't Catching"--
