The country’s largest recreational boating event of the year, National Safe Boating Week took place May 22- 28 just before the holiday weekend to help teach all boaters of the importance of boating safety all summer long. The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water offered up these tips for boaters to use while on the water.

 1) The best life jacket is the one you will wear, meaning one that’s comfortable. Make sure it fits properly. Don’t put the kids in ill-fitting jackets meant for adults. Check the jacket’s label to ensure it’s approved for your type of boating.

 2) Boating safety reports indicate that operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, excessive speed, and alcohol rank as the top five primary contributing factors in accidents. Focus on eliminating these factors by putting down the cellphone, practicing using S.C.A.N. procedures to avoid distracted boating, taking a free boating safety course, slowing down, and driving more defensively, especially in congested boating areas. Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, so save the celebration for after the boat is safely tied up for the night. Boat operators also need to recognize they are responsible for the safety of their guests, including inebriated ones.

 3) Remember to wear an engine cutoff switch if your boat is less than 26-feet, traveling on plane or above displacement speed. Engine cutoff switches can prevent boat strike injuries after an operator has been ejected from the vessel or displaced from the helm.

  Mentioned in tip two above is the acronym S.C.A.N. What does that mean? S.C.A.N. stands for Search, Concentrate, Analyze and Negotiate.

 S - Search the area all around your craft. This is a 360-degree examination of everything around your boat. Distances away will close or open depending on your speed or the speed of the observed boat or object. The faster you're operating, the farther out you'll need to search.

 C - Concentrate on what you're seeing. Is it a boat? What type? What is it doing? What is its relative speed? Is it a stationary object? Drifting or anchored? Things can happen fast out there, so these are questions you must consider while you look at the various observed boats or objects.

 A - Analyze what you're watching. Is it closing in on your position or going away from you? Remember, if the object you're observing is getting closer to you and its relative position to you is not changing, it is on a collision course. Never assume you're seen by other boat operators, who may or may not be distracted. Determine this by the way and direction they're operating. Analyze how far away the boat or object is and how fast it is closing the distance between you and it.

 N - Negotiate. What are you going to do? Slow down, turn away from the boat or object, and head in a different direction? Remember the Navigation Rules. Learn the proper action to take while meeting head on, crossing, or overtaking another boat.

  Keep these things in mind while on the water this summer. Safe boating is everyone’s responsibility. Remember that safety is no accident!

  Our thanks to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for some of the information in this article. Visit their web site at www.iowadnr.gov for everything outdoors in Iowa.

  A few years ago, I took one of my nephews, eight year old Isaac, for an afternoon of blue gill fishing. We headed out to a quiet little cove on Douglas Lake. It was fairly early in the spring, but it had been warm for several days and we guessed we had waited long enough for the season to begin. We stopped in a bait store and since we were thinking positive thoughts, bought three dozen worms and two dozen crickets. We would get a mess of fish today and have our first fish fry of the year tonight.

  We arrived at the reservoir about ten or so and went to the northwest corner where I thought the water would be the warmest since that corner gets the early sun. It was about a half mile to the spot and when we reached it there were already several people with lines in the water.

  Just a little further on were some old cattails and a couple rocks showing so Isaac and I set up there.

  By noon, it had warmed considerably but it appeared we had selected a bad spot and we decided to move on. The next couple of places we tried produced no results either. Oh sure we had those worm nibblers and cricket stealers. The hits we did get resulted in reeling in fish you don't want anyone else to see. You know, fish so small they would usually be bait.

  By about three, we decided to call it quits and headed for the truck. On the way around the reservoir, we met a couple of guys who were also leaving. I asked them if they had caught any fish and one of them said, "No, not today but you should have been here yesterday. We were pulling 'em in left and right!"

  Those thoughts stayed with us on the way home so we decided to give it a try the next day, but at a different location.

  Early the next morning found us on the banks of a Douglas Lake backwater pool. We were certain the several dozen worms and crickets would run out before we were through. About two-thirty we were downsizing our expectations. As four o'clock rolled around we pulled in the lines and headed for the parking area. There were several men and boys standing around the vehicles talking fishing. I struck up a conversation with one who told me, "Yeah, there's a lot of good fishing in these inlets. Just yesterday, I limited out on panfish and largemouth in a couple of hours.

  I asked, "That was yesterday, right?"

  "Yep, you shoulda been here yesterday."

  Isaac gave me a pained look and threw his gear in the truck bed.

  As we drove home I asked him if he wanted to go back and try again the following Saturday.

  Isaac thought for a second, then a big smile flashed and he said, "Uncle Jerry, let's go on Friday."

  "Why Friday?"

  "Well, if we usually go on Saturday, wouldn't that make Friday yesterday, the day the fish bite?"

  Impressum Media Inc., Los Angeles, CA – Firearms Guide, the largest gun guide, gun values guide and gun schematics & manuals library just published its Online and Flash Drive 12th Edition.

  “The New Firearms Guide Flash Drive 12th Edition is published as a cloud-based Online Edition and an off-line Flash Drive Edition for Windows. It is the world’s largest searchable guns & ammo reference guide that presents over 80,000 antique and modern firearms, air guns and ammunition from 1,500 manufacturers from 62 countries. It covers all types of guns from the oldest black powder muskets to American classic guns to the newest 2021 guns. Users can search the guide by caliber, type of action or stock, by year of production, country of origin, or any other way and will get all the tech specs, prices, features and up to 12 high-resolution pictures per gun. That is the reason why Firearms Guide is used by many police forces around the world as a firearms identification tool" says Chris Mijic, publisher of Firearms Guide. “If you are a gunsmith you will love the fact that the new 12th Edition has over 18,500 printable high-resolution gun schematics, blueprints, manuals and antique catalogs that you can check on your computer or tablet and you can print them out when you work on a client’s gun.” All that material is available to gunsmiths online 24/7 or off-line with Flash Drive for Windows computers.

“Many Firearms Guide users love the fact that they can use the Flash Drive Edition offline, completely anonymously, without Google or any search engine or internet provider tracking and archiving their gun related searches that they can later sell to any client or deliver to the government” says Chris Mijic, publisher of Firearms Guide. The Flash Drive Edition keeps privacy private.

  Published since 2009 for shooting industry professionals and gun enthusiasts, with its new 12th Edition published as Online Edition at www.FirearmsGuide.com and as Flash Drive Edition, Firearms Guide is:

 1. A Reference Guide that presents over 80,000 antique and modern firearms, air guns and ammunition from 1,500 manufacturers from 62 countries.

 2. A Gun Value Guide that presents antique and modern guns with gun values online based off of the 100% - 30% condition ratings.

  3. A Gun Schematics, Blueprints & Manuals Library with 18,500 printable hi-res gun schematics, blueprints, catalogs & manuals for all types of antique and modern guns & ammo.

  Firearms Guide Flash Drive 12th Edition is available in a combo with the Online 12th Edition and with free updates at www.firearmsguide.com.