If you’re a man who likes to fish, you need a manly boat. Buy a 30-footer with a flying bridge for good visibility, powered by not one, but two, 350 horsepower, two-stroke outboards. No fish will outrun that boat.

However, on land, your boat will need a trailer. And one needs a manly truck to tow a manly boat. A pickup as large as a locomotive. A 400 horsepower V-8 will fit that need.

Easing your gigantic rig gently down the highway, your truck will burn about five gallons of gasoline every 65 miles. Your boat, on the hunt at full-power, will swill down over 60 gallons of a gasoline-oil blend per hour, inhaling about 64,000 cubic feet of air.

Boat, trailer and truck are made from about 21,000 pounds of steel, aluminum, chromium, zinc, copper, magnesium, lead, sulfuric acid, transmission fluid, brake fluid, engine oil, fuel, greases, gear oils, hydraulic oil, wood, leather, plastics, rubber, adhesives, alcohol, glycol, airbag pyrotechnics, nylon, fiberglass, silicon, paper, paints, glass, cork, electronics and refrigerants.

You consume all this without political intervention from a wearisome alliance of shrewish environmentalists and sanctimonious socialists.

Or, you could choose to ride your bicycle to the local market and buy a fish.  

Lou Palone

Waterford