Welcome back Mike Schwing

[Don Farr]

You don't call, You don't write!!!!!!!
Just kidding, I hope you had a great time on your SECOND vacation.

[Mike Schwing]

You don't call, You don't write!!!!!!!
Just kidding, I hope you had a great time on your SECOND vacation.

HAHAHA! I did, but a different kind of fun from the first one. Don't worry, I actually went in to the leave hole for the last one - I'll be nearby for quite some time to come. I finished up the bandsaw table we're both working on - its pictured below somewhere. Works great so far, I managed to resaw a 20"x8" piece of walnut to 1/32" slices pretty reliably.

Here's a fishing report from Maine....copied from a fishing site I frequent...

Took another guide trip with Captain Russ Troy from Catch 22 Charters in Maine on August 5th. While I've fished with him before, this time was unique - my bride was with me - and she had never ever caught a fish before.
We departed from Boothbay Harbor and made our way down to the mouth of the river (Kennebec or Sheepscot - I can not remember which) in the most dense fog I have yet to witness. The other watermen on the dock couldn't believe we were going out - but the captain needed to be paid and I needed to fish. No big deal - all we had to contend with was rock covered shoreline that appeared out of nowhere and thousands of lobster pots, but no other boats (that we could see)!
We needed to catch some bait which we would transfer to the livewell and take further up river. Allie had never used a fishing rod before, and the captain had great fun, and showed great patience, teaching her to drop down a sabiki rig of 6 little jigs from a baitcaster and retrieve it from the bottom. On Allie's very first drop she retrieved six mackeral about 8-10" long. She was thrilled! (and hooked).
At the rate we were catching macks we quickly filled up the livewells with about 80 or so macks and headed up the river. Allie would have been perfectly content to fish for bait all day - rarely have I seen a six year old's grin on a full grown female.
On the way up we passed by fog, and more fog, occasionally land would pop out less than 30 feet from us, but captain Troy knew where he was going. We'd see seals perched on the big rocks jutting out from the water, and bald eagles fishing, too.
After about 30 minutes we arrived at the Bath Iron Works where two brand new Aegis Destroyers were, one was being christened and one delivered during the week. I won't tell you that my wife didn't even notice them - they're about 500' long and battleship gray against the bright blue drydocks of Bath..whatever.
The captain set us up on a drift that passed over a hill where both sides went from 60' to 12'. We drifted one end of the tide, and the fish were on the downcurrent side of the hill. We ate lunch during the ebb, and then the fish were sure enough on the other side.
We were livelining stripers with an egg sinker and a circle hook. You had to keep the weight just off of the bottom in order to feel the striper inhale the mackeral. They did so with regularity. Most were 25-30" but a few went quite a bit larger. Caught them on light-medium weight tackle with Calcuttas for reels. We used up nearly every one of those 80 or so baits, caught probably 60 fish, no little guys.
He took us to a few other spots to try to find some tackle busters but we didn't get a fish over 35", some of the drifts were extremely technical and our new fisherwomen wasn't quite up to it, so we went back to the Iron works drift.
The captain didn't fish at first, but when I asked him why he said he never fished unless his party asked him to. He was better at hooking up than we were and he'd give every fish to Allie. That girl had tons of fun! She was actually kind of giddy. I'd look over and she'd be fighting a fish, giggling and saying something like "I got one all by myself!" I think seeing her have fun made the trip for me.
We fished all day - up till the time when WE asked to quit around 4pm. That is one awesome captain! I know of only one other guy who'll work so hard for his crew - Brincefield.
Was one of the top 5 best days fishing I've ever had, and certainly my bride's best.

[Don Farr]

Sounds like a great time Mike. I haven't been to the Gulf fishing in a couple of years now. My wife enjoys it also. We usually go after snapper and grouper and sometimes kings.
You got me thinking about setting up a trip this October. I have a week of vacation left.