“What is that screenshot all about?” you might ask. Well,  this past weekend someone at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources tweeted it out of the park.

Take it in again. That is funny. Especially for a part of the country that is notoriously sensitive to people’s feelings and whatnot, it is incredibly funny. Good job, Washington DNR social media person.

No one wants to listen to your weirdo Phish or some underground hip-hop you found on Soundcloud under normal circumstances. The woods are the last place that such things can and should be considered acceptable. I’m not a “nature is sacred” or “music gives off harsh vibes” person. I’m a “use earbuds but even that is bizarre when you’re hiking” person. And I assume most people are with me. But again, good for the Evergreen State for reminding people not to be a clod.

However, plenty of folks on the Twitter missed the point of the satirical post. The great thing about this is the fact that, in their haste to reprimand a state agency for advocating public displays of audio abuse, they proved how ridiculous the behavior is. “If the people in the Pacific Northwest are against it, well then…”

Let me be clear: I’ve never experienced someone listening to music while fly fishing. It isn’t unfathomable, given some of the behavior I have witnessed on or adjacent to the water. Thankfully, I’ve been spared this specific spectacle in all my years of walking riverbanks. Thus far.

Have I come across a few guys blasting Alabama or Darius Rucker while sitting on the bank chasing catfish? Yes. But for some reason that is not only tolerable; it seems like a lot of fun. It seems right. It is the exception that proves the rule.

In an industry where envelopes and boundaries are floppy from how often they’re pushed, I’m grateful that none of the upstart fly fishing brands have come out with an angling-aimed Bluetooth speaker. There is no creel/boombox combo out there. Waders have yet to integrate batteries for charging media players. There’s a lot of goofy stuff out there in the fly pages of the outdoor catalog. Blessedly, we’ve not crossed some lines.

I like music. I would say that I enjoy music more than the average person. But I also have enough common sense to know that silence is good and the ambient noise of nature is even better. The less of turning off the sound makes being outside accomplish more. I don’t need music or a podcast or an audiobook or anything while I’m hiking, fishing, or doing pretty much anything outside. You need my audio even less than I do. And, in a trivial-yet-worth mentioning application of the golden rule: when on the water, I need your sound as much as I need a hole in my waders.

Blast your tunes in your car. Crank up your HiFi at home. But when you’re in the great out of doors, treat those first steps of your feet on the trail like the sharp scratch of a record stopping. Unless you’re going for catfish. In that case, turn up the Skynyrd.