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I thought of this topic reading the post about the boater who drowned on Lake Ontario, but I just didn't want to insert humor into that very sad story so here I am poking some fun at my senior self and hoping to make you smile. I've had a pee jug (modified plastic milk bottle) on my boat for years, in fact the same one has been on the last 3 boats I've owned,..........up until recently. I was out with my son in law on a recent morning and it seemed like I had to go about every 10 minutes, The weird thing was, I wasn't emptying much from the container. As a senior this isn't unusual, but this was somewhat unusual even for a senior. (huh) After about 4 whizzes I noticed the top of my tackle bag was wet. This caused me to inspect the rest of the boat at which time I realized my trusty jug had sprung a leak and I was peeing all over my boat. Even the top of my one shoe. Of course I'm muttering all this to myself when the son-in-law realizes what's going on. As if to brag he whips it out and commences to pee, knocking a turtle off a shore rock 20 feet away. I thought to myself, "holy chimole", but quickly regained some self respect by uttering "try that when you're my age". Anyway, once home I immediately initiated a search for the ultimate pee jug. Handle- check, sufficient capacity- check, sufficient entry area- check, no sharp edges- check, I had quite a list.......... off to the refrigerator I go!! Eureka, there it was, a quart size plastic OJ container, almost empty, sitting on the frig inner door. After a quick modification a christening was in order and she passed with flying colors. So, the new jug is my one and only boat upgrade for 2015. I hope she gives me years of trouble free service and that I live long enough to hear my son in law say, "Where's that pee jug?".

Years ago we could drive the entire way up to Nipissing from the border and not see any trash. We used to talk about this Canadian trait admiringly given it was just the opposite once we crossed back into the US. We have a river clean-up here, and it's pretty much the same 10 mile stretch that gets cleaned up every year. You wouldn't believe how much junk get's collected. We pile it all on an empty lot in town where it is displayed for a couple weeks. Tires, appliances, you name it. The jerks are everywhere.

Same rules here in PA and some ice fishermen kill so many juvenile walleye out of 40' and deeper water with their bladders hanging out of their mouth it's sickening. I never understood why a fisherman would continue fishing a depth when he was killing every walleye that came through the hole, but some do. Same with small slow death hooks, I quit using them because I was hooking too many fish deep. A fisherman should always exercise good judgement.

Rich, As Frank Burns once said, "It's nice to be nice to the nice" West Arm Rider if you want to give up some of your pickerel haunches in the west arm to a broken down old man that can hardly see............ I'm your guy. Have a great day all.

That would be nice, but of great import is that Diane bring her wine. One of these days we will at least turn a fish Lew. I'm really looking forward to this year.

Hi Lew. Obviously I can't answer you but I was looking at my map last night, specifically the water around Mashkinonje Island. It occurred to me that there is a lot more water up that way than I have realized over the years. Looked like some decent weed bed depths too. I do remember drift fishing up there with my dad as a kid but I don't ever remember us fishing for musky up that way. When you stay up there do you fish there or head over to the west bay. Good luck on your upcoming trip.

Very nice post, nice knife, and great catch.

another vote for Goodyear marathons

I live in a little town of 12,000 in western PA. We have bears up trees in peoples backyards almost every day. We have multiple bears over 600 lbs in the county. No one gets hurt, no bears get shot. People are overly concerned about black bears. When i'm in the woods I'm far more worried about tick related diseases and stumbling on a dope farm than i am a black bear.

Signed. LNSA, I applaud your efforts to improve the fishery, salvage the area tourist industry, and promote meaningful dialogue with regards to netting. Best of luck, Where can one make a donation to the cause?

Our local chapter of Disabled American Veterans sponsors two walleye tournaments each year on the Allegheny Reservoir for purposes of raising funds and securing vehicles for transporting veterans to their medical appointments. While many of us would fish this event just to support our vets a big incentive for some is the big fish award, which is 100% funded through donations. The big fish award is a big draw because anyone can win, anyone catch the biggest walleye, it only takes one bite. Well, this year two young men showed up with their boat on the roof of their car, and yep, you guessed it, even though they easily had the smallest boat in the 55 team field they walked away with the big fish award and close to $2,600.00, How cool is that!!! How's that saying go, "It isn't the arrow it's the Indian"? The 2nd tournament is June 28th. The big fish guarantee is $3,000.00 plus $10 for each team entering the event. The reservoir is only 2 hours south of Buffalo NY. If anyone is interested in fishing this event please send me a PM. I will be glad to help you get the lay of the land and lake. Here is a link to the DAV website with additional tournament information. http://www.kinzua-walleye.com/

Memorial weekend is always an experience at the launch, but it was actually at the launch parking lot this weekend that I witnessed one of the dumbest back-up deals I've ever seen. I was taking care of some stuff in my boat when this guy pulls up towing a boat and tries to back his boat between two trucks. I thought he must have a camera because his passenger just sat in the truck. Nope, he raked the entire side of a brand new Ford Platinum F150, all because he was too lazy to get some help. Therefore, with this level of incompetence around, the Ford back-up deal had better be idiot proof. Needless to say the owner of the truck was irate.

Thanks Lew. I will. Opening weekend for walleye here in PA. Weather is great, I'll be fishing soon.

Try this website. This guy is recognized as a leading authority on coyotes. http://www.coyotevideos.net/

That there is what we call a "city turkey".

Your attitude is admirable. No one got hurt so don't beat yourself up; next time you'll react differently, not saying you should, but obviously doing so is important to you. Maybe this will make you feel better. After reading your post I'm going to add a fire extinguisher to my vehicle.

Beavertail, I question whether I should respond but here goes. Probability was brought into the discussion as it provides definition as to whether, when combined with other facts, it is within reason to conclude this tragedy was an accident. For instance, it's far easier to conclude that a person was accidentally shot while wearing camo, than while wearing fluorescent orange. It's far easier to conclude that a person was accidentally shot wearing camo at 300 yds than at a shorter distance. So the probability question is at the very heart of this issue. It's what our legal systems (Canadian and US) are based upon, i.e., when all the facts are known is there reasonable doubt. Reasonable infers probability. You go on to say the shooter is responsible and should be held accountable and whether it was an accident or not is irrelevant. Thankfully the law is a little more complex than that. The shooter may be accountable in the eyes of the law even if he did not see the archer if it came to light that he was impaired or his actions were otherwise reckless. Here's another analogy. A man is driving a car on a rainy dark night. He hits a child in the street and that child dies. The child was wearing dark clothing. Is the man guilty of a crime? Probably not because an investigation would reveal it would not have been "reasonable" to expect this driver to see the child given the conditions. Now, that said, what if his BAC was over the limit or he was driving impaired, what if he was speeding, not wearing his prescription eyeglasses, or texting at the time of the accident? Chances are in each case the driver would be subject to some fine, period of incarceration, or both. So you see details matter, intent matters, probabilities matter, and critical thinking is a prerequisite in the execution of just and fair system of justice. Below is a link to a website that defines critical thinking. Please take a look, personally I think it should be taught in every school. http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

Everyone's entitled to an opinion, we just disagree about probability. I concur that the odds of this happening are very low, but keep in mind, there are thousands if not millions of hunters in the woods every year, so, in a macro sense and statistically speaking, it's guaranteed to happen on occasion. It's no different statistically than people drowning while boating. Put millions of people on the water, even if they are doing everything properly and within all safety regulations, and a percentage will still drown. Certainly if this camoed archer was sitting, and he most likely would have been, there is no way the accused could have seen the archer. The archer easily could have had deer come between him and the hunter, and walla, all the ingredients for a deadly accident.

If you've got skills so that you don't have to pay someone for carpentry, plumbing and electricity, if you have people skills and enjoy working with the public, if you love to keep busy, if you remain strong of body, if you have a desire to create a family legacy as opposed to generating income, and the you find the right lodge, then yes, I think one could make a go of it and be very happy in the process. That said, probably less than 1 in 50 retirees fall within that subset.

Lew, received the news over the weekend from Leslie. I'm so glad I had a chance to send Kevin and Leslie a shout last week. Thank you for keeping us all up to date during Kevin's illness.

Thanks for the update Lew. I'm going to drop them a line.

Good for them and thanks for the clarification.

So what if, in the very likely event something had gone wrong and their risk resulted in rescue/search persons being injured or killed. IMHO, it's one thing for a person to take on risk when he limits that risk to himself or herself, but it's reckless and irresponsible if there is a fairly high probability that person's actions put someone else at risk. I don't pretend to know the details of this excursion, but if it was as risky as it sounds and they didn't have a paid support team on standby in case or trouble then..........IMHO not cool at all.