Took a buddy out Saturday and Sunday for his birthday, because birthday fish are much healthier than birthday cake. We primarily fished around Swale, and a quick stint near Pill.
The ocean was absolutely loaded with fairly small springs and coho; many under and many just-legal size, but we weren't looking to limit out just for the sake of limiting out. Setting up near Swale we had the first bite within 15 seconds and had three fish to the boat before we could even get the second rod down. We had multiple hits while lowering lines down, often feisty coho.
Typical setup was green UV flasher running green hoochies on one side and a herring aid or sardine pattern spoon on the other. Fish were hitting anywhere from 50-180', and we even had a few take a swipe at the line on the surface.
Over the two days we had well over 30 fish to the boat, but only ended up keeping 6, the largest only being around 12lbs. So while we didn't hook into anything large, we certainly weren't bored! We also got a free boat wash on Sunday with a monster rainstorm which helped get the salt off the boat from the previous days' chop in the canal.
Also tried for my nemesis: lingcod. Boys and girls, this fish remains my white whale. I have _never_ been skunked going out for salmon, but have yet to get a single ling. I'm sure I'm doing all the right things in terms of location and gear. Some dark magic is at work here my friends. Perhaps I shouldn't have slighted that old gypsy back in Prague...
Here's another pro-tip: Whenever we discussed Trump and his idiocy, the fish to the boat increased. So, you know, feel free to try that out. We referred to it as Trumping the waters.