Jake's first deepsea bluewater adventure

Last summer, Jake and I joined our friend Andrew Tosh for a fishing trip aboard his yacht out of Newport Harbor. The yellowfin tuna were running between Catalina and San Clemente Islands under porpoise schools and kelp patty's. Our plan for the day was to shoot outside in the early hours and work our way back targeting opportunities as they presented.

I woke Jake up around 0400...actually I just kind of whispered it was time to get up and he exploded out of bed, almost hitting his head on the bunk bed above! He was just so excited and it was great to watch. Mom had us all set up for breakfast and meals for the trip and we headed off in the dark for the boat.

After loading up, having a safety talk, we headed out to the bait barge. It took a few minutes to wake up the deckhand, but in no time at all we had a great load of sardines for the day. Next up was trying to catch a couple mackerel for bait in case we saw a marlin too. After several attempts, we ended up with just a couple and called it quits. The bow was pointed out into the darkness and away we went. I tried to get Jake to lay down but no way, he was raring to go!

At sunrise, we were on the 43 spot trolling around. Things looked pretty good around the bank, lots of birds and bait, good water color and temperature, but no hook ups. The whole time, Jake was right there fishing and chumming.

In the early afternoon, we stopped on a kelp patty. After setting up for a proper drift, we slowly worked our way towards it. I chummed some live bait and Jake chummed some fresh chunks of sardines. Following the chunks up to the live bait, a school of yellowfin tuna exploded the surface chasing our chum and we were bit! Three hook ups in a matter of seconds. Jake was on!!!!

The yellowfin put up a spirited fight but he was no match for a determined Jake. This was a good size fish to battle on 15# tackle and Jaker did a fantastic job skillfully working it to the boat. 25 minutes later, Jake is proudly holding up his 30 pound bruiser Yellowfin Tuna, his FIRST!! As with tuna fishing tradition, we made sure Jake touched his heart too!!

While trolling afterwards for Marlin and heading home, we were further treated to an unbelievable site. On her way south, a giant Blue Whale, the first I have ever seen in the wild, passed directly by us casually working south. What an immense animal yet so gentle and graceful. We were all just awe struck by it. What an exciting trip. Beautiful conditions + great friends= great memories! What more could you ask for!!!