I would definately say it isn't unproductive. Last year, after the sockeye closure, I got over a dozen guy to stop BB once I talked to them, I handed out fisheries requests to probably 30 more. I would say that over half of them didn't know the request existed, several of them didn't even know that the fish weren't biting the hook. If you sit back and do nothing then you have no one to blame but yourself for the results. The only way thing that is having any impact on slowing the spread of Flossing is some self policing that is going on. Until fisheries does something more, than this is the only thing that can be done. That and setting up a sturgeon rod below the Flossers.
Unforetunately there is a whole group and generation of fisherman that are being brought u8p with the idea that it's ok to SNAG fish, because hey it got them in the mouth. There are more and more folks on the river with no fishing etiquette, they jump in on any spot they open, fish below you, have no manners, and floss fish. Although geared to more to flyfishing "The gillie" is a good book to learn some of the base rules of fishing etiquette.
When the sockeye fishery really strted going crazy a few years back I didn't see a problem with harvesting them with flossing, unfortunately the monster that this created is spilling into other fisheries and that is the problem. If it could be contained to just the sockeyes and if folks were carefull with the release of by-catch then I don't know if it would bother me that much. But folks insist on dragging anything on the end of their line up the beach over the rocks only to be tossed back in, or occasionally kept beacuse of poor ID. I've seen guys keep Coho as sockeye, Kick Chum back down the beach, and stare blindly at a summer run steel tryuing to figure out if it's ok to keep while it lays on the rocks.
If we as fellow fisherman aren't willling to take steps are self to try and educate and inform people then do we just sit back and hope someone else can do it for us?