Kirk's 'but

We went surf fishing yesterday. Here is the story, in Kirk's own words. (he wouldn't post it, but he wrote an email to his parents, and I copied it.)

Cheryl got into the first fish almost immediately, an average sized barred surf perch. For the next hour and a half or so, I caught surf perch every now and then, for a total of six. Here is a picture of an average fish from the morning. Then we had a dry spell for about an hour. Finally, I had a good tug, but it came off after a couple seconds. I motioned for Cheryl to come over, so if there was a school of fish we could improve our chances, but before she could get there I was into another fish. This one wasn’t a perch. It was bigger, and it fought differently. Then it came to the surface, and although I had never seen one in real life before, I knew exactly what it was…

A halibut!!

The halibut fought nobly, but was no match for my strength, determination, and six weight rod (which easily overpowered the small fish!) We took some pictures, looked at its funky white belly and sharp teeth, and then let him go. To keep in California, halibut must be over 22” long. Now I have caught all five of the predominant species on the southern California coast: barred surf perch, walleye surf perch, yellow fin croaker, corbina, and California halibut. Yes, now I feel that I truly fit in! FYI: California halibut are much less common and much smaller than Pacific halibut, which everybody catches in Alaska, so catching one on a fly rod from the beach is pretty cool in my book! I’m proud!

It was pretty exciting. Kirk caught his first 'but (short for Halibut).

Later we went to the driving range. I'm learning how to golf. There is a par 3 course nearby and we're probably going to try it out soon.

I also really enjoyed the relief society broadcast. I liked President Uchtdorf's talk about creating. I really enjoy creating things--sewing, cards, food. I like to try to decorate :). I don't remember ever hearing a talk on creating in conference before. I liked how he said that cultivating these talents and skills will bless our families and help us be happy. I'm going to try to create more things like smiles, happy families and better food!