[cagrove]

As a follow-up: As I was coming off the water on Saturday at around 10:30 a.m. the Coast Guard Auxillary was doing spot safety checks and asked if I would be interested...of course, I said yes. They checked the boat from top to bottom...very professional group. I asked the Captain performing the check if he had heard of the whistle on the life jacket "law" and was informed the same thing...that they recommend it but it wasn't required. He said the same about a distress flag and recommended that I carry one on board even though I had the required flares and signaling devices. One more thing to add to the safety kit.

As a side note: he saw that I had one of those pistol type flare guns and told me to not go into Washington, D.C. waters with it because the folks in D.C. consider it a handgun and will affect an arrest for violating their handgun ban. Just a warning for those who fish around our nation's capital.

Tight lines.