In late August the Southwest Region of Synopsys had a half day deep sea fishing trip that went out of Newport Beach. Everyone had a great time with food, beer and fishing. Lots of sand bass were caught and taken home for dinner, but I ended up catching the whopper of the day, a 13-pound or so yellow tail tuna! The sand bass we were catching were just a few pounds and didn't put up much of a fight. The yellow tail was taking line like it was going out of style and took 20 minutes or so to bring in. I was a little worried when the deck hands told me they didn't tie the hooks for this size of fish, but eventually I got him close enough for the crew to gaff him and bring him on board.

The funny part was that since this was my first yellow tail, the crew told me I was supposed to eat the heart raw and then become a big-game fisherman. I had 4 or 5 beers in me and eventually popped the heart in and swallowed it whole with a beer chaser. Fresh sushi anyone?