I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of an angry fellow angler who believed me to be harming fish, a couple of weeks ago.
In the pre-dawn hours I thought there was plenty of room to step in between two guys after having said good morning to one of them. They didn't think so, so I moved upstream. Fair enough, and no doubt that led to the interaction later.
I was trying to beach a foul hooked coho; getting it in quickly so it didn't spook the hole and getting it to the water's edge where I could pop the hook. With my rod bent over and the fish lying half in the water, half out, one of the pair stepped over but his motives were to deliver a message, not be helpful. His words went something like this "It's wild and snagged so you are going to have to release it. You are such a googan. You are wearing waders, get in the water and release the fish. It's not fecking sockeye season" and he then handed me back an empty line with no jig attached.
Now this pair took great care in landing each fish in the water with a net. I respect that. No doubt we got off on the wrong foot earlier, and granted I could have kept the fish 100% in the water, not partly in the water. (In my experience, the fish surrenders easier and the release is quicker when it's partially beached rather than in the water. And the fish was laying still, not thrashing). I own my share of the encounter. However, if I was a googan, the verbal tirade and "small b" bullying doesn't educate, it just intimidates. And perhaps that was the intent.
No doubt his response to me came from a place of love/respect for the fish. Also no doubt how buddy responded to me during our conflict is how he responds in the rest of his life to conflict. I'm just glad he didn't have a knife!