We booked with Flight Risk and received immediate response from Capt. Mike. He and Capt. Jake took the time to understand what our expectations and target species were. They watched the weather and wave forecasts and communicated updates often. The night before our charter, they even reached out to recommend showing up an hour later as the waves were supposed to die down significantly. We showed up at the new time the next morning and proceeded out of Port and headed south along the beach looking for bait. In about 12-15 minutes of searching and exactly 2 casts from the 12โ cast net, Capt. Jake had a livewell full of herring. We then headed out to our location to start trolling. There were multiple boats in the area, but it never felt crowded, and Capt. Jake kept a watchful eye on the boats and an ear on the radio for reports of catches. It wasnโt long before we had 3 smaller 8-10lb king mackerel in the boat. This was followed by 2 blackfin tuna. We also lost a couple of larger fish in that time. The bite was a little slow, but we were in no hurry. This allowed us to rotate who was fishing and who was resting and fueling up on snacks. As the day went on, we heard the radio call of weed lines. We brought lines in and were underway towards the new area. The weed lines we found were surprisingly quiet at first, but then we came upon some floating items in the drift. The winner winner was a floating wood pallet that we could see holding some decent fish. After multiple attempts with multiple baits, Capt. Jake was able to figure out what was needed to land 2 very nice-sized triple tails. Not long after the excitement of those last 2 fish, Capt. Jake announced we had 10-15 minutes left in the charter. My wife replaced her bait with a fresh herring as I was watching the only other line out at the time, which was on a down rigger set around 35โ. Sure enough, with just minutes left in the charter, something hit. In a near frenzy, I offered my wife the rodโฆafter all, it was HER birthday and her turn at the next catch. She had her fresh bait and politely declinedโฆkindaโฆand I kept the rod. I applied pressure to the pole and was immediately met with a tail walk followed by a jump. Capt. Jake immediately stopped stowing items for the trip home and manned the helm. The fish on the end of the line put on the most amazing show. After 25 minutes of more than a dozen jumps and tailwalks, we finally were able to bring this amazing creature onboard. Capt. Jake quickly and calmly brought the fish on board, removed the hooks, helped us position for a once-in-a-lifetime picture, and then quickly and carefully placed the fish back in the water. He slowly guided the boat while I leaned over the side and held onto the fish. Allowing it to gain some strength back. After a few minutes, it had enough strength to start swimming on its own, and I gave a final push away from the boat. We all watched as it slowly made its way back into the depths. After some cheers and high fives all around, we all took our places and headed towards the sunset and home. More than 1 of us couldnโt get the permanent grin off our faces. Thank you, Capt. Jake, for the amazing day and Capt. Mike and Flight Risk Fishing Charters for making my wifeโs birthday such a great memory.
We booked with Flight Risk and received immediate response from Capt. Mike. He and Capt. Jake took the time to understand what...
