Here's a report from Swampy :"Another great trip down to the bay. Had to split by 1 today but we ended up with 5 fish to 20 pounds north of hog and west of Eddy. Al got to net my fish today!

Wanted to let you know how impressed I have been with the staff down there. Very friendly helpful bunch, must help working at that beautiful place. Gotta take a fishing break for some honey dos but will hopefully see y’all soon.

Swampy" Swampy's kind words are especially meaningful to me, as I watched him and Al catch four of those five fish very close to me. Lets just say it was close enough to hurt a little. I caught one about 12 pounds in the hole just north of the split channel marker and then drifted north to witness Swampy's greatness. What was weird was that his magnificence being exhibited so close to me hurt my pride something fierce. Like, physically hurt in the center of my being. And then I was like, "Wow, that's what people feel like when they see Eddie Kim pictures". And then I chilled out. Swampy is a halibut specialist. He spends quite a few days on the water pursuing one critter in pretty much one area. I go once a week. That's a lot compared to most, but it turns out I'm a generalist opportunist. What am I fishing for? What's biting? It turns out that going for easy stuff doesn't make you a better fisherman.  It also turns out that I'm okay with that. If you feel like you can't compete with a guy that fishes every day, don't fret; you can't. Is he going to fish out the fish? No. Is he going to catch more than you? Probably. Fishing isn't math, and weird stuff happens. You could limit before he gets a bite. But probably not. 

     Enough whining. In other news, the one boat that I spoke with that had gone down to the beach (Ten Mile)  experienced a lot of baitfish,  a good whale show,and a halibut hooked and released with gear attached. Soooo, there's life there. The fish will probably follow. Maybe? We are at the perigee of the in-season salmon bite. It can only get better.