I don't think I was impolite .. I just found ridiculing on fellow angler as impolite.
Who was being ridiculed?
Taking things a little personal aren't you?
Newbies are often overly eager and will try anything if they think it might work;
EVERYONE wants the shortcut to success, it's human nature.
It's also human nature to find humour in things that rookies try or do, innocent hazing so to speak,
(perhaps because we were all there at one time or another and it helps us remember)
What a lot of folks don't understand is all of the other variables that make for a successful outing.
Some will have the fortune of dumb luck on their first trip,
others may try and try and try again with nothing to show when doing everything right and even though they'd had good success during salmon season.
You can wait for salmon, you have to hunt for steelhead.
P.S. The rubber band will work BUT not because it's a rubber band, But because it gets into the zone and it represents a WORM
(an actual worm or rubber worm would probably be better, but if you don't have one on you, you could cut one of the bands on your leader board).
The toilet paper however, might be a bigger challenge.
(perhaps Charmin; for those soft takes)