Every family and group of friends has one person who seems to be the action initiator, the organizer or the detail man.

It just so happens that when our gang of outdoorsmen wants to pull off an adventure, I get drawn right into the middle of it. I can't let my brother handle the details or we'd be sleeping in our vehicles and eating bologna sandwiches obtained from the Piggly Wiggly Market.

It's not that he doesn't mean well, it's just that he is oblivious to details. He is likely to forget his fishing rod on a fishing trip or his ammo on a hunting trip.

One year, he took my hunting coat because his was wet and tossed my hunting license on top of a tall pie safe cupboard at a hunting lodge and I couldn't locate it until I threatened to tear up his license as well.

It seemed to jog his memory enough that he located the misplaced license.

You can imagine my doubts rising when he called to tell me about hooking us up with an early-season elk hunt in Colorado. A business associate of his had talked about his family's hunting traditions and that they lived in prime elk hunting country.

My brother, who is not a detail man, pushed the easy button and committed us to join them. The only problem was that I had to work out the details because he didn't even know how to turn on his computer and his teenage daughter was on strike because she was perpetually grounded for life the third time this summer.

The task was simple, according to my brother, whom I believe is simple as well: Get on the Internet and obtain three out-of-state licenses, get roundtrip airline reservations (four different flights) and a place to stay.

With much difficulty, I was able to set up the details thus far and I will give you an update we head out to the unknown in Colorado in October.

Fishing is another story as we search out charter trips for walleye and steelhead on Lake Erie.This year, we waited for the large schools of walleye to arrive in Pennsylvania waters, and by most accounts the fishing has been rough this summer. I knew that the walleye had to be somewhere and that it was only a matter of time before they turned on and good fishing would follow.My 16-year-old nephew kept reminding me that we were due to go on a fishing adventure before school started, and I promised that I'd look into it.My investigation into the Lake Erie fishing status indicated that the walleye first start out hot in the Sandusky, Ohio, area, which is in the western part of the lake, and eventually work their way into Pennsylvania waters off North East.This year has found the walleye staying more in the central basin area off Ashtabula, Ohio, near the state line.Instead of waiting, we decided to go to the fish. A one-day Ohio license fee of $11 it was quite the bargain.Finding a charter captain was a bit trickier, but as luck would have it, we found that "Trophy Charters" had a last- minute cancellation and we booked a prime Saturday in August for an overnight adventure and a Lake Erie trolling trip.Captain Walt Ermansons is a straight-up kind of guy who really tells you how things are going when it comes to fishing. He reported that walleye fishing had been slow, but it really has been turning on in recent weeks, with many 10-pound lunkers being caught.The jumbo perch business has been very good all season and he sees it continuing into late summer and early fall fishing for perch anglers. Perch are the best table fare that an angler can expect to harvest out of Lake Erie.For information on check into weekly reports from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission or visit www.trophycharters.com and check out Capt. Walt's fishing reports.The drive to Ashtabula is about two hours. Take Interstate 80 West, then follow Route 11 North just after you cross into Ohio.Until we meet again, remember that when opportunity knocks, yell fish on!