Heading to Shores Sat.

Nice Ling Mark!

I'm not buying it. Too dry, shinny, and posed. Me thinks it's a bad taxidermy job 

Nice fish Mark! Got to love the blue ones!

great blue ling, Mark! Got some Big Hammers on order that should get here tomorrow. Hope they bring me the same kind of luck.

Nice fish, Mark!

Way to go, Mark!  Love those teeth!  (the ones on the fish)

Looks ~10 pounds, very nice!

  It weighed 11lb7oz.
  And yeah, I was very happy with that fish.

  I'm gonna start concentrating on the Willapa River the next few days.It opens for salmon August 1st.Daily limit 6.Up to 3 adults may be retained of which only 2 may be wild coho.Release wild chinook and chum.
  Nearby North River and Smith Creek don't open until September 1st for salmon.They can both get decent runs.

  The Willapa is open right now for steelhead.......

Thanks for the advice on this area - your right, it is not the place for learning the ropes.  It has all the tools to kill you if your not on your game.  I got out yesterday for an offshore.  Got spit out the bar at 7:30, started my troll about 3 nm out and worked to 130'. Signs of feeding fish were few although they were always on the meter. Got squally in the mid-morning and the PB were heading in, so turned it toward the beach about 11. Picked up a nice Coho in 80' on the way in but it was wild, so back it goes. PBers around me didn't seem to be pulling in anything either.  Bar was very messy when I got back 2.5 hrs before slack water, so I shot thru the surfers at the beach, always fun. Tried fishing the jetty after portaging around but it was a washing machine and just not fun. No fish, but good to see a new area.

Offshore paddles might not be your thing, that's fine, don't go try it out just for a one-time experience or to prove something, that won't end well. I won't go into the skill set it takes to do long offshore paddles, that is a book, but plan think on terms of many years before making the plunge.  Enjoy!

Thanks for the report yaktrap. The Grays Harbor bar is very messy indeed, certainly not as big n' bad as the Columbia bar but still plenty hazardous with large standing waves as I'm sure you saw.