No beer at the fish shack? WTF?

Tell me! Who said we can't drink? Tell me!

The OPP sent out a press release this week to those who have fish shacks (aka ice shacks).

In a nutshell, the release says: drinking booze at a shack is illegal. It's not your home. You don't have a permit to drink there. So it's a no-no. And they'll be watching for those who are tipping back anything other than pop, coffee or lake water.

Do the cops have nothing better to do that send out crap like this?

What a waste of time.

It's enough to drive a man to drink.

Of course, anyone who has spent time at a fish shack knows you don't go there to drink beer. Or whiskey. Or rum. Or vodka. Or Caesars that were mixed in an old Igloo cooler that sits on the top bunk.

Of course not. It's the last thing you think of doing at the fish shack.

I remember racing out to the shacks on White Lake back in the day, on a Friday night in January, so we could all sit around playing bridge, snacking on little crustless cucumber sandwiches and brewing a pot of chamomile tea.

Come on. No drinking at the fish shack? WTF?

At the colony of shacks on White Lake, one guy didn't even cut a hole in the floor of his shack. It wasn't built for fishing. It was built for drinking. Getting away from all the crap and hoisting back beverages all weekend.

Now the cops are saying it's a no-no.

Then a follow up report in the Ottawa Sun says the release is confusing people who thought it was legal to drink in your shack. And I was one of them.

Drinking and driving - not cool. Drinking and snowmobiling - not cool. Being able to park your vehicle, sit in the shack and have a few cocktails and spend the night (or get a lift home with a DD) - very cool.

Put the energy into the RIDE programs and getting drunks off the road, the snowmobile trails and the water.

Cops should be fishing for drunk drivers, not driving fishermen to drink.

Photo at right: Now that's a fish shack where the owners may have a beer or two.