| Thomas Wenskus | |
| Hi Daryl,
Hope all is well by you! It was great seeing you at the Expo. Sheri and the gang do such a great job. Having that outside area was awesome, I just wish the weather was a little better. I would have love to have stayed longer, chatted a bit more, and put some bids down on the auctioned items, but maybe next year. I know I was the worst with this last year and I'm looking to do a better job this time around with providing you with updates and stories from the Northeast. Trip 1 5/23 Went diving with one of my buddies, off the kayaks. Limited out on blackfish and was able to harvest a fluke. The fluke was definitely the favorite fish of the day. Man....I forgot how good they taste. What I should have done was prep it right and cut it up sashimi style, but maybe next time. I was down in RI and diving a newer area which can get deep quick. I was diving this ledge and on my decent I must have spooked the fluke on my way down. I caught it with my left eye, turned and readied the gun. It didn't take long for it to present me with the shot and when it did, it really didn't have a chance. As I was coming up, I was thinking that it was taking a bit long to reach the surface and when I got there I checked my watch...41ft. Not bad for the second dive of the year. The fluke wasn't anything huge, but was the first fluke with the gun you made. That day I shot 3 blackfish with the gun, which were some of the furthest shots I've taken. The gun was spot on. If the fish weren't stoned, the shot was slightly off. The water dirtied up a bit and I had to use my stubby gun and gave my buddy the assist for two of his 3. He wasn't having the best of days and ended up putting a poor shot on a female. He's a bit green to the sport and we've all done it. Trip 2 5/29 When with my cousin off the kayak and RI again. Limited out on blackfish. Some of the cleanest water I've seen up here, this close to shore. It was around 20ft in some areas. Made shooting a bit more challenging. Judging distance in water like that takes some getting use too. Real neat though. Saw some monster blackfish in real shallow water...3ft. Reminded my of seeing bonefish on the flats. This time of year the water is so cold that they are in the shallows warming up. Also, saw my fish shark which was awesome. Such a cool experience. I was on the surface away from my cousin and saw the outline on the bottom. I took my breath and sway down to take a look. It was a small guy, about 5ft. It looked like a sand tiger, but the water was pretty cold for them to be up here. I was so pumped to see it and wanted to scream out to my cousin to come over, but I had to think about it and came to the conclusion that screaming SHARK!!! SHARK!!! would have sent the wrong message. We also saw a lot of schoolie stripers. At times we were swimming through the middle of the schools. So cool. Trip 3 5/30 Off the kayak once again with my cousin and my buddy Chris from trip #1. I limited out on blackfish once again and shot a really nice striper. My cousin Bryan and my buddy Chris were one fish shy, but had a great time. Water wasn't as clear in the spots we were diving the day before and the forecast was for increasing winds throughout the afternoon. I started the day using the gun you made me, but had to switch as the water dirtied up. The striper was the last dive of the day, which by that time everyone was exhausted and on their way in. I took a dive to get the last blackfish fo Chris, and on my way up, on the corner of my left eye I spotted the striper. It was basically behind my and I had to shoot it cowboy style, under my left arm. Then it turn into me wrestling with it in the water. The shaft eventually worked its way through and I was able to grab the mono on both side of the fish, but even then it took some time to subdue and put the lights out. So far so good this year. The next trip probably wont happen until maybe the end of this month or sometime in July. This is a pretty long email and I apologize for not proof reading, but I wanted to get something to you. After the first trip I had written an email that I was going to send, which was again pretty long, but I somehow managed to erase it. I was so pissed at myself, but I can laugh at it now. Haha But anyway...hope all is well and that you're getting some time in the water. If for whatever reason, you're in the NE area, let me know and we can try to meet up. All the best, Tom | 
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