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I was not close to Steve but we have known each other for quite a few years and our paths have crossed pths on many occasions and in the last few years we started talking more and fishing a bit as well. Like many I have more than one fond memory of Steve and my favorite memories have little to do with the catching of fish. Here are two of my favorites:
1. Steve used to openly tell a story about a sign on his lawn and the mistakes he made trying to balance being a good husband and father to a family he loved more than anything and being an obsessed fisherman. His open sharing of this has helped many. I found his willingness to share this as a sign of true humility, courage and love.
2. Some years ago when Steve gave up writing the insiders column for OTW, I asked him why he stopped writing the column? He told me that he was not willing to be dishonest and was also not willing to rewrite the same info from previous years. He felt that at a certain point a writer had to either change the subject or risk going stale or even worse. He was not willing to sell out his integrity and although I respect many in this business Steve is the only writer I have seen put that ethic into action.
In both of these cases Steve was a a great power of example I aspire to live up to.
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