"Niagara River Fishing!" My buddy Ron exclaimed. Then he just stood there for a while. I think he was expecting me to be excited.

"You're kidding right?!?" I said. "Where am I supposed to plug my laptop in - the river?" I continued, digging up excuses as quickly as possible, "What if I actually catch something? Then I have to gut it, clean it and cold pack it so I can take it back to the house and make my wife cook it. You know she likes to experiment. She'll probably try and make some Cajun dish out of it, which will burn, and then we'll have to feed it to the dog... It doesn't sound like good karma to take the life of a living creature just to give it to the dog."

"Relax! I got us on a charter fishing boat. The captain provides all the fishing equipment and the first mate will clean your fish. You will love it. The captain already knows where all the good fishing spots are. Plus, your wife isn't that bad of a cook." His patience was wearing thin awful fast. Then he asks, "You don't talk like that about your wife's cooking on those crazy blogs of yours do you? She'll hurt you, and she knows where you sleep. Now shut up and get in the car!"

It seemed like it might be a long weekend.

I'd say the car ride was exciting, but I slept the whole way. The next thing I knew, the car had stopped at a grocery store in Lewiston. From our lost, yet hopeful look, the cashier had no problem guessing we were here for King Salmon. With a few words of assurance about our captain and August being an excellent time of year for King Salmon; we were off to a hotel recommended by our captain. After a nice dinner at a local restaurant, we were asleep quickly and planning on an early morning.

The next day we met another couple of guys. I think the scenario of one outdoorsy hippie dragging his computer geek friend off on a charter fishing boat must have amused them. Marty and Seth, were a couple of downright hilarious guys who had no shortage of funny comments throughout the day. The 32 foot dual engine cabin cruiser was meant for deep water and comfort.

It was only 45 minutes from the dock in Lewiston to the place our captain had selected to begin our trolling. The first mate rigged two rods with dipsy doodles to run outside our downriggers. There were four downriggers each running a line. The captain showed us what to do. It seemed like only a couple of minutes after the captain began his first run when, WHAM! the first King hit. The fish quickly peeled off 600 feet of line. After about 30 minutes I landed my first king of my life! It had power that they talk about on TV. The one that reminds you that the fish wasn't at all interested in getting in the boat. With help, I got the salmon on board, off my line and into the ice box. I loved the high fives, pats on the back and of course the "Look what your geek can do" comments.

By the time the morning was over and we were heading back to shore, we had quite a haul! We each had three fish.

This was a trip I wasn't going to forget anytime soon. And I'm going to have to dig pretty deep to surprise Ron with something as wild as this trip for our next weekend getaway.

For the record; my wife served up the salmon with a fantastic bourbon and black pepper sauce that she dug up online - and the dog got sent outside to work on his plain old kibble.