Limits Of Skin
Sporting two new engines, a new generator, a new freezer and sundry other refits, Polaris Supreme returned from a 16-day trip with skipper Tom Rothery and a dozen anglers on Jan 11. "It's like we have a new boat," reported Rothery in his Wheelhouse News, the day before he left. His anglers got limits of wahoo and 71 good tuna.

"Clarion is going off," he wrote on the last day. "The whole east end of the island was solid bird schools and breaking fish. The current was going perfect and the tuna bit. The weather was great and there was no shark problem except for 5 tiger sharks that kicked our butts.

"Most of the (tuna) fish were 90-105 lbs. Sardines were the bait of choice, with a dozen or more tuna being caught on chunks and the kite. For the tigers the salami mackerel worked best."

Charlie Middleton of San Pablo won the jackpot for tuna with a 168-pounder from the Hurricane Bank. He cranked it in after 15 minutes. It took a sardine on an 8/0 Gamakatsu hook, and a beer can for a bobber. He fished 100-pound Big Game line, a Penn 80SW reel and a Calstar Boomer Jr. rod.

Sherridan Stanton of Santa Barbara won the wahoo jackpot, for a 53-pound "skin." He made short work of the fish, he said, after it bit on a black and purple Burns Bomb he cast on 50-pound line.

January 10, 2001

Second To Get Four Over 300 Pounds
Recently I said Ben Kita was apparently the first man to catch four yellowfin that weighed above 300 pounds. That was disputed by Ralph "The Long Ranger" Mikklesen of Northridge, who told me in a telephone conversation that he believed he had also caught four over 300 pounds. He couldn't remember the dates or places or weights, Ralph said, but he'd research it for me.

Luckily, former Navy jet jockey Tim Turis, now a Delta Airlines pilot, had documentation in Ralph's favor, and sent me a copy.

"On long range fishing trips," wrote Ralph in Today's Fishermen back in 1985, "I have caught four yellowfin tuna over 300 pounds: 333 pounds, eight ounces; 321 pounds, 317 pounds and 305 pounds."

Ralph's accomplishment, done with gear now considered both primitive and inadequate, went for a long time without being matched. It had to happen though, and it could hardly have happened to a more deserving angler than Ben Kita of LA.

Alijos Tuna Limits
"Fishing was the best I ever saw at Alijos Rocks," said Red Rooster III skipper Jeff DeBuys at the dock Jan 3. He brought 22 anglers home from an eight-day trip to Alijos, The Ridge and San Pablo, with limits of yellowfin and a good catch of yellowtail as well.

"The water at Alijos was a tad over 70 degrees," continued Jeff, "and the bite was so fast we left after a day and a half. We went in toward Mag Bay for wahoo and dorado, but didn't find any kelps, and picked up a couple of dozen dorado. We spent a day on The Ridge for about 20 yellowtail and a good morning's fishing on marlin, just below Uncle Sam Bank. Last, we were at San Pablo a day, and got 135 yellowtail there. The whole trip was sunny and warm, with calm seas."

David Nunez of Tokyo and EZ Pro Outdoor & Fishing Tours won first place, for a 93-pound tuna he snookered with a sardine on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a Shimano TLD 20-2 reel and a rental rod, after a 30-minute fight. Darrell Hillhouse of Anza was second, for a 76-pounder, and Ed Scheenstra of Ontario was third, for a 72-pound yellowfin tuna. Posing with the jackpot winners were Rick Erickson of Tulsa, who trolled up a 62-pound wahoo on a Marauder, and skipper Jeff DeBuys, with a 49-pound yellowtail caught by second-place winner Hillhouse on a dropper loop.

Phillip Castillo of Newport Beach took his 11-year old son Nathan on the trip, and the boy caught numerous yellowfin and the largest marlin released by the crew, estimated at 175 pounds. Nathan is home-schooled, in fifth grade.

December Bluefin? "Never"
"We were on our way south about four in the afternoon, maybe 60 miles southwest of the Benitos islands," remembered Excel skipper Bill Cavanaugh Jan 5, "and we saw a breezer. It was a decent spot of bluefin. They acted right, and boiled up real good. We hooked 15 and landed ten, from 60 to over 100 pounds. They were all on bait, and they bit until dark on 50 and 60-pound line. There was a half-degree edge there.

"Alijos Rocks worked out perfect," continued Cavanaugh. "We got so many fish we released over 200 tuna. At the end, we went up and fished San Pablo for yellowtail. We had tuna limits, and 11 wahoo."

Anglers who weren't entered in the jackpot caught the two largest tuna. Arlene Millbank of Torrance took two hours to beat her 123-pound bluefin, after it bit her sardine on 50-pound Izorline.

"I got my first yellowfin ever," said Lou Tilton of Sunnyvale. "It bit a squid on the kite." Tilton's Alijos Rocks tuna weighed 117 pounds. Another first fish, a 55-pound wahoo, came to Mike Hartman of San Clemente.

Bill Poole, the Excel's owner, watched the offloading. He related a report of albacore being seen and perhaps caught some 100 miles south of San Diego recently. Had Poole ever heard of 100-pound bluefin caught in December?

"Never," said Poole.

Gale McBride of El Cajon won first place, for a 117.6-pound bluefin. He took his prize on 50-pound Big Game line after the tuna ate a sardine on a Mustad 9/0 hook. He fished a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar Baby Boomer rod, and brought it in after a 40-minute scrap. Jim Robertson of Laguna Niguel was second, for a 109-pound bluefin, and Norm Moltar of Marina del Rey won third place, for a 97-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna.

The Skiff Ride
Randy Toussaint brought Royal Star home after an eight-day, fly down, fly back trip with 20 anglers. They had limits of wahoo, mostly taken on bait, bombs and jigs, said the skipper. "We had a tropical rainstorm almost every day," he added, "and had some of the best wahoo fishing I've seen in a few years."

Tuna were around, but hard to come by, since sharks were biting even better. Small tuna were very common, said Toussaint. "Conditions and sign look very good for big tuna at Clarion Island," he added. Passengers said Clarion Island was as green as Hawaii.

Rob Kelber of Carlsbad won first place on the trip, for a 261-pound yellowfin (top picture) that beat his previous best by 67 pounds. He said he got it on a sardine, a 5/0 Super Mutu hook, a topshot of 80-pound Big Game line on 80-pound Spectra, using a Penn 30T reel modified by Cal Sheets for 80-pound line, and a Calstar 640XXH rod. He said 40 minutes of the 55-minute fight were in the skiff.

"The skiff ride was incredibly quiet," said Kelber. "There was no motor noise, just me and the sound of the water around the skiff, and second skipper Brian Sims. He'd talk in a real quiet voice. It was raining.

"I finally got it up and he struck it with the flying gaff, and then Brian looked over the side and said we were going to hoist it into the boat right away. I guess the sharks followed the fish. There were a dozen silkies; brown sharks. We came back at such high speed the guys on the boat thought we'd lost the fish, because you couldn't tow one through the water like that, if it was tied to the side."

"Coach" Cliff Clark of Union City was second, for a 211-pounder. He was not present at the weigh-in, but skipper Toussaint said he got the fish on a chunk. Mike May of Thousand Oaks was third, for a 167-pound yellowfin tuna.