Trevor was fishing with his dad, Don, a charter captain from Homer, who targets salmon year-round.
They were some 25 miles from the Homer Spit when the downriggers on the boat started singing.
Jeannette Drake, a paying customer from San Diego, grabbed the first rod, and hooked into a 16-pounder. Seconds later, Trevor’s rod started to bend.
While Drake was wrestling with what would wind up the second-place fish, Trevor had a fight on his hands of his own.
“The fish just wanted to go around the boat,” Trevor said.
Don was busy dealing with Drake’s fish when he noticed his son.
“The next thing I know (Tyler’s fish) was under the boat,” Don said. “There were a lot of things going on.”
With some help from his dad, Tyler hauled in his fish, not knowing it would be the biggest silver caught for the entire week.
“I thought I had a winner,” Tyler said.
His dad wasn’t so sure.
“I didn’t think there was any chance at all that that fish was a winner,” Don said. “I thought it might take the kids prize, though.”
Back at the scale a couple hours later, the Flynn’s got the news — Tyler had caught the biggest silver so far.
Still, with five days left in the tournament, Tyler wasn’t sure his fish was going to hold up in the standings.
“It wasn’t fun to wait around,” Tyler said. “I was nervous.”
He was also recovering from a rough day out on the water.
There were 5-foot seas on Tuesday, and Tyler had been seasick the entire day.
“He threw up seven times,” Don said. “He was a hurting buck.”
But while he lost his dinner, breakfast and lunch that day, his fish held on to win.
Now, Tyler has more than $1,400 burning a hole in his pocket.
“The first thing is get the Cabela’s catalog, then a trip to Timeless Toys, then Toys-R-Us,” Tyler said.
With visions of electronics and Lego’s dancing in his head, Tyler said he hopes to be able to go out with his dad later this fall.
“He really wants to get a GPS and go hunt with dad,” Don said. “That’s the master plan right now.”
Whether they bag a big moose or not, it’s likely the trip will be an adventure.
“He’s a character, probably gets that from dad,” Don said. “I’m pretty proud of the little fart.”
Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@homernews.com.
Trevor Flynn, 9, caught a 16.2-pound silver on his dad’s boat, the M/V Diamond Cape on Tuesday. The silver earned Flynn $903 for the biggest fish of the tournament, the $500 kids prize and a round-trip ticket to Anchorage from Grant Aviation.
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