Fishing buddy Ken Sievers of Fisherman's Landing Tackle Store got the first fish, on a new dart with a gold-spotted sardine finish. A sea lion relieved Ken of that lure when he hooked his next yellowtail. Yep, he took the fish, too.

Trip Ends Big
A 14-hour bite at Roca Partida provided Frank LoPreste's Royal Polaris passengers with a wonderful spree on tuna and wahoo, ending a period of slow fishing all through the Revillagigedos. At the dock Feb 7, Ron Lee of Oakland took first place for a 180-pound yellowfin. He also won the Rollo Jackpot, which he donated back to the fund. Ron fished a caballito on a Mustad 7/0 hook tied to 100-pound blue Izorline on a Shimano LRS 50 reel and a Calstar 760H rod, and beat his prize in 30 minutes.

Kathy Rounds of San Diego, an Izorline/Calstar rep, won second for a 177-pounder. Tom Corrado of Long Island, NY took third place for a 170-pound yellowfin tuna.

Mike "Gomer" Candland of San Diego caught a 33.9-pound rainbow runner, on the kite. The all-tackle record for the species is 37.9 pounds, held by Tom Pfleger, founder of the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research. The 50-pound line class record, held by Ralph Mikkelsen of Northridge, is 33 pounds, ten ounces.

Vince Biondo of Cornonado caught several 100-pound tuna on huge, light (six or seven-ounce) Tady BLC jigs. "They swallowed it down so far I had to cut it out," he remarked. His technique? "I just float it down at dawn, and they bite it at about 100 feet."

Takes Two Spots
Robert Shannon of Ramona pulled off a good one when he took first and third places aboard the Shogun on a 16-day trip to the Revillagigedos with skipper Norm Kagawa. At the scales Feb 8, Robert's yellowfin weighed 282 and 173 pounds.

"My best tuna before was a 114-pounder, he said. "The big one beat me up for an hour and a half. I used a Bimini and a double San Diego knot." He said he got it on a salami, an 8/0 Mustad 7691 hook, a topshot of 80-popund Big Game and 750 yards of 80-pound Spectra backing on a Shimano 50 LRS reel and a Calstar 760M rod.

Kal Harvey of Bluewater Tackle in Solana Beach was right behind Shannon, with a 271.6-pound cow he took on a live green mackerel under the kite. He pinned his bait on an 11/0 Mustad hook and used the boat's kite rig.

Skipper Kagawa told another great fish story. "I could see wahoo out there," he said, "so I threw out a Tady 45 dorado-colored jig on a 10-foot Calstar T100 rod, and got tuna-bit. I finally stopped the fish with my thumb, with about five feet left on the spool of my Newell 535 5.5 reel. Smoke was pouring off it for a while, and no one would take the fish." Norm got it at last, though, and taped it at 177 pounds. Then he served it to his anglers.

"Run And Reel"
"We scratched out a fair trip," said Randy Toussaint after mooring Royal Star Feb 9. His second, Brian Sims brought the boat up from Cabo, and spotted some bluefin, following the ten-day, fly down, fly back trip. The biggest tuna, a 270-pounder, was caught by Jan Burns of El Paso on the boat's kite rig after it chowed down a big squid.

"He ran up to the bow," said Burns, who was just two pounds short of Joyce Corrigan's mark for women this season, "and it was run and reel, run and reel. The whole fight was back and forth over the anchor line." She got the fish in only 35 minutes, she said, right after lunchtime.

Sunwoo Choongok of Camarillo won second place for a 182-pounder. Close on his heels, Jon Pettey of Orange took third place for a 179-pound yellowfin tuna.

Bang-Up Ending
"We arrived at Socorro around 0200," wrote Excel skipper Pat Cavanaugh Feb 5. "The bait fishing was very good, on small salami's and caballitos. We were able to get enough big bait to fish two days.

"We started fishing this morning at Cape Pearce. At about 0500 we started hooking fish steady, on big jigs and salamis. The bite lasted about two hours, and in that time we landed 17 fish from 70 to 120 pounds. There were a lot of smaller fish to go along with the fish that we counted, but most of them were released. It was a nice morning of fishing and a bonus for what was just a bait move.

"Once the bite was over, I decided to make the move back out to Roca Partida. There was good life everywhere. After picking up 10 nice wahoo we got anchored up for the afternoon. We dropped the anchor at 1500 and by 1515 we already had a few fish around 75 to 90 pounds. From then until dark it was pretty much wide open. Fish were boiling on salami's right next to the boat. The kites were getting bit as fast as we could get a fresh bait out.

"Most of the time we had five or 10 fish hooked, sometimes more. The fish ranged from 75 to 150 pounds, with the average fish being about 90 pounds. As you can see from the pictures I'm sending the crew didn't even have time to get the fish in the holds until dark. In that bite alone we had about 75 fish. Not bad for three hours work. Put that together with this morning and we really had a hell of a good day. This was the kind of day that makes a trip. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been a couple of cows."

Cavanaugh's report shows why long range fishing isn't over until the boat is out of fishable waters. He weighed his catch at Fisherman's Landing Feb 10. David Shinoda of Santa Barbara won first place for a 192.6-pound yellowfin, and also won a special award of a new Accurate 30 reel and a Seeker Black Steel rod, donated by the makers and Burns Saltwater Outfitters founder Carl Burns. Shinoda's tuna came on a mackerel pinned on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook. He beat the fish after a tough, hour and a half battle, on 80-pound Soft Steel Ultra line, a Penn 50 SW reel and a Calstar 760M Grafighter rod.

Chris Barbaro of Freeport, NY was second on the 16-day trip, for a 171.6-pound tuna. Phil Ruemmler of Pasco WA was third, for a 169.2-pounder. Ted Scotton, 78, of Manhattan Beach, took a 146-pound tuna, and Rose Burns beat a 180-pound yellowfin tuna that was technically ineligible for the jackpot.