Syracuse is lucky to have an actual "Outdoor Writer" like Dave. We haven't had one writing for the Rochester area rags in decades.
Rg
For a lot of newspapers they are just token writers. Some don't even know much about fishing. I was one for a few years and actually had a good following. But I asked for a raise and didn't get a response in a couple of weeks. In fact didn't get one at all which I found very rude considering the following I had. I actually had people tell me they only bought the paper for my column! I lost my cool and told them to go to hell.
Didn't pay well. My time was more valuable than that. At first it's neat to see your picture and name in print but after a while it's not a big deal when you realize you'e being taken advantage of.