I'm right there with you. I took a week off for the last week of Sept into Oct. I'm lucky enough to be able to spend the week fishing with a group of guys much more experienced and skilled than I am. I'm sure I'll learn more from them in that week, than I have with all the fishing I've done since the beginning of this season.
If only the fish would be there. These past few weeks it has been a real scratch along most of the coast to come up with anything.
Don't know why, perhaps being devoid of bait and harassement by seals has moved the fish off.
THe commercial season was a struggle for the last month to get anything in the boat, inside the 3 mi limit. Those that cheated and not caught did well.