This week: PGA Tour/European Tour's WGC-HSBC Championship, Thursday through Sunday, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China.

Third-round score: 2-under-par 70.

Position: Moore (11-under 205) is alone in fourth, three strokes behind leader Phil Mickelson (202).

Recap: Rough weather conditions were the biggest factor in the higher scoring (Tiger Woods and Nick Watney, Moore's playing partners, also shot 70). Moore had a chance to tie for second on the final par-5, but missed an 8-foot eagle putt.

Tee time Sunday: 6:25 p.m. PST Saturday off the first tee with Jyoti Randhawa and Lee Westwood.

This week: PGA Tour/European Tour's WGC-HSBC Champions, Thursday through Sunday, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China.

Second-round score: 3-under-par 69.

Position: Moore (9-under 135) is tied for third with Phil Mickelson and Alvaro Quiros, one stroke behind co-leaders Nick Watney and Tiger Woods (134).

Recap: The Puyallup golfer kept pace in his first WGC event, and is one of seven golfers in the field to fire back-to-back rounds in the 60s, highlighted by an eagle-3 on the 18th hole (8-foot putt) and a chip-in birdie on the ninth hole, his final one (60-foot chip). Moore said the greens at Sheshan are the best he's putted on all season. He now gets his first career grouping with Woods for the third round.

Tee time Saturday: 6:40 p.m. PST Friday off the first tee with Watney and Woods.

After a season in which he went sponsor-free, Puyallup's Ryan Moore has inked a multi-year deal with little-known Scratch Golf to play their irons and wedges.

The contract was finalized Thursday prior to Moore teeing off for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China.

Not only will he become the first PGA Tour player to sign with Scratch Golf to use their irons, the 26-year-old from Cascade Christian and UNLV also become a part-owner in the company, which originated in Eugene, Ore. in 2003 and is now based in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mike Moore, his father and president of Moore Sports Management, said the family flew out to the company's headquarters a month ago, and spent a day testing the product.

=> Read more!

This week: PGA Tour/European Tour's WGC-HSBC Championships, Thursday through Sunday, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China.

First-round score: 6-under-par 66.

Position: Moore is tied for second with Germany's Martin Kaymer and Ireland's Shane Lowry, two strokes behind course record-setter Nick Watney (64).

Recap: Twenty of the 78 golfers in the field broke 70, and the Puyallup golfer was one of them in his World Golf Championships circuit debut. He also signed a new equipment endorsement deal prior to his round Thursday.

Tee time Friday: 6:15 p.m. PST Thursday off the 10th tee.

This week: PGA Tour/European Tour's WGC-HSBC Champions, Thursday through Sunday, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China.

World ranking: 75th.

2009 earnings: $2,,222,871 (30th on the PGA Tour).

Last tournament: Moore finished up his 2009 PGA Tour season with a tied-for-eighth finish at the Frys.com Open (13-under 268), capping back-to-back tournament in which he finished in the top 10. Since the U.S. Open, only Tiger Woods (eight) has had more top-10 finishes than the Puyallup golfer, whose five top-10s is tied with Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker for second. Moore bypassed the last two events on the PGA Tour schedule – last week's cancelled Viking Classic and next week's Children's Miracle Network Classic in Florida – to play in this world-class tournament, which he gained a spot by way of his late-August win at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, his first career professional triumph.

Tee time Thursday: 5:05 p.m. PST Wednesday off the first tee with Greg Chalmers and Wei-huang Wu.

Where: The Beach
When: This past weekend
Conditions: Chilly, calm, partly sunny
Flies used: Clousers
Species pursued: Sea-run cutthroat, resident silvers

Song of the day: "Creep," Stone Temple Pilots

"The beaches have been good for cutthroat lately."

"That's what I've been hearing. Sounds like I need to break away from my attempts to find a steelhead and head back to the salt."

Over the next few days, I contemplated that idea. And by mid-week, the insane workload cresting over my cubicle walls turned contemplation into decision.

I picked up the phone and a familiar voice answered.

"So I've been thinking about what we talked about."

He laughed.

A few minutes later, I had a general plan laid out.

It was time to head back to the beach.

The first beach, an unlikely spot to find cutthroat, was surprisingly productive. Too bad my ability to keep them buttoned failed miserably.

Figuring I'd outworn my welcome, I moved to my list of usual suspects.

I didn't find any giants, but what I did find was a familiar sense of satisfaction. For whatever reason, cutthroat caught in the fall seem to be much more vibrant than those caught during any other time of the year and landing some this weekend reminded me of why I look forward to this season.

One of the few things that make the rain and cold bearable!

They may lack size, but they make up for it in beauty!

A sign of things to come...

It never ceases to amaze me how many of these critters cling to cutthroat.

A reward for making one more cast. :)

We're switching to a new blogging system here at The News Tribune and hope you'll like the changes. We also hope you'll try it out and give us your feedback.

A few of the changes you'll notice:

• We've separated content and advertising by implementing the right ad column you'll see on the rest of our site and a left content "widget" column.

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Unfortunately, we were unable to move our previous content over to this new system, so we're keeping the old blog alive indefinitely if you need to access past content.

The biggest benefit to switching to this new system (Wordpress, if you're curious) is that it gives us a lot of flexibility to add new features quickly and easily. So, if you've got a wish list of blog features you'd like to see, post them here and we'll do our best to accommodate.

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Two marine areas in Puget Sound will reopen to recreational crab fishing Sunday. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife made the decision based on summer catch assessments that show more crab are available for harvest.

Starting at sunrise Sunday, Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton), and most of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) will reopen for sport crabbing seven days a week through Jan. 2.

The part of Marine Area 9 that will remain closed is south of a line from Foulweather Bluff to Olele Point.

Crab fishing will remain open seven days a week through Jan. 2 in marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south Puget Sound), where the fishery has continued uninterrupted since summer.

Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal), currently open Wednesdays through Saturdays, will close for the season at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Sport crabbing will not reopen this year in marine areas 6 (Strait of Juan de Fuca), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1, 8-2 (east of Whidbey Island) and 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island), where the summer catch reached the annual recreational quota, said Rich Childers, shellfish policy lead.

"We want to give crabbers as much opportunity to fish as possible, but with great weather this summer, we had a lot of people out crabbing and catch rates were high," Childers said in a news release.

Of the more than 236,000 people that were issued Puget Sound crab licenses, 104,634 complied with the Sept. 21 reporting deadline. That includes 70,172 who filed their summer catch reports online.

"The data we receive is important for managing the Puget Sound crab fishery, which is why people are required to submit catch reports," Childers said.

To increase compliance, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2008 approved a $10 fine for failure to file a catch report. Crabbers failing to submit their winter reports, due by Jan.15, will receive the fine when they apply for a 2010 Puget Sound crab endorsement.

State fishing rules require that all sport crabbers submit catch reports whether or not they went fishing or were successful in catching crab. Childers suggested that people who have winter catch cards, but do not intend to go crabbing, send in their catch cards now.

Catch record cards may be mailed to WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091. The online reporting system will be available Jan. 3-15 at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wdfw/puget_sound_crab_catch.html

The daily catch limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6π inches. Fishers may catch six red rock crab of either sex per day, provided those crab measure at least 5 inches across.

Click here for more information about recreational crabbing in Puget Sound.

You will have to fight the urge to get out the sleds, but Paradise has gotten nearly a foot of snow in the last 24 hours.

If you want a peak at the view, try these webcams at Paradise:

Looking toward Paradise Inn.

Looking down the Paradise Road.

Looking at the visitor center.

This week: PGA Tour's Frys.com Open, Thursday through Sunday, Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Third-round score: 3-under-par 67.

Position: Moore (12-under 198) is tied for fifth with four other golfers. Troy Matteson (195) holds a three-stroke lead.

Recap: The Puyallup golfer's day immediately hit a speed bump when he three-putted from 40 feet on the opening hole for a bogey. He then settled down to make the turn at 1-under, then almost holed out a sand wedge on the par-4 14th for an eagle. His approach stopped seven inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie, and he followed with another one on the next hole.

Tee time Sunday: 10:50 a.m. PDT with Rickie Fowler and Nick O'Hern.

This week: PGA Tour's Frys.com Open, Thursday through Sunday, Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Second-round score: 5-under-par 65.

Position: Moore (9-under 131) is tied for fourth, two strokes behind co-leaders Rickie Fowler and Greg Owen (129).

Recap: Hmm … could he make noise toward a second victory in his final PGA Tour event in 2009. Sure seems that way. A clean scorecard (five birdies, no bogeys) had another sudden surge (three birdies in a row at Nos. 11-13), and another birdie on the difficult 515-yard, par-4 18th where he canned an 11-foot putt.

Tee time Saturday: 11:05 a.m. PDT off the first tee with Nick O'Hern and Chris Stroud.

This week: PGA Tour's Frys.com Open, Thursday through Sunday, Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.

First-round score: 4-under-par 66.

Position: Moore is tied for sixth, three strokes behind leader Nick O'Hern (63).

Recap: Nice start for the Puyallup golfer playing in his final PGA Tour stop this season. He made four birdies in a five-hole stretch (Nos. 14, 15, 17, 18), and was at 5-under late his round before an untimely two-putt bogey at the par-4 seventh.

Tee time Friday: 7:16 a.m. PDT off the first tee.