Deep sea fishing for tuna

This day was beyond amazing for so many reasons.  During our visit to Kauai we struck up a friendship with Owen and Kelsey, both born in Hawaii and residents of Kauai. They are the sweetest couple.  On Owen's days off, he likes to go fishing for whatever is biting.  Currently it is yellow fin tuna.  He invited us along for the day.

We started the day at the marina, launching his 19' boat in to the bay.  He put 2 ti leaves in a pole sleeve in the back of the boat for good luck - old Hawaiian tradition.

Seeing Kauai from the ocean is a beautiful experience.  The waters were much rougher than we have in the lakes of the midwest, but calm for the Pacific Ocean.  Owen maneuvered the boat beautifully out of the bay and then east of Lihue.  We trolled 5 lines for "the big stuff" along the way.

Once we reached his favorite fishing spot, about 7 miles out, we brought in the lines and switched poles and lures.  Yellow fin bite close to the surface.  We trolled and jigged back and forth through the area for around 6 hours, catching 12 fish.  There were a couple others but they broke the lines.

We kept the fish on ice all day.

We had an issue with the shearwater seabirds.  They had their good side in showing us good fishing areas, but they also attacked and destroyed our lures.  They also, over time, damaged the fishing lines making them more vulnerable to breaking when we had a good catch.  On 2 occasions, we had to bring in birds and pull the lures out to rescue them.  First time I have ever caught a bird.  Other times the birds just picked up the lures and flew with them.

Hey Jeff, just a little deeper than Upper Eau Claire Lake?

After a full day of fishing, it was time to head back to the dock.  Eight hours, 12 beautiful fish and the memories of a lifetime.  What an amazing way to bring our trip to a close - only 1-1/2 days left.  We can not thank Owen enough for this opportunity!