2.5 gpf
Poems and Thoughts on Fishing and Life
By Rob Seitz
Rob Seitz, 2013
Softcover, 40 pp., $10.00
http://www.amazon.com

You get a lot of bang for the buck out of Rob Seitz's poetry collection, "2.5 gpf." Seitz, a veteran performer at the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Ore., offers up a short but engaging collection of poems about life and fishing that will make you laugh and think a little, too.

Seitz has been a commercial fisherman for 30 years. The Soldotna, Alaska, native began drift gillnetting with his grandfather, Larry Lancashire, on Cook Inlet in 1982. Ten years later he was in Astoria, Ore., starting a career as a trawler/dragger skipper. Since 2011, he's been trawling out of Morro Bay, Calif., where he lives with his wife, Tiffani, and their two children.

He began his writing career after winning the onsite poetry competition at the FisherPoets Gathering in 1998. He's collected 14 of his poems written over the past 10 years, and added his thoughts about each one and what inspired them. The notes about each poem provide insight into them and offer glimpses of his life on the water and at home.

Now, it doesn't take very long to read through the book. It took me maybe an hour to read it cover to cover. Yet I feel like Seitz's book will stay with me far longer. If you're unfamiliar with his poems, check out his page on the Inthetote website, which features work and information for a variety of FisherPoet Gathering peformers.