"He ran into the cliff wall at Cabo Pearce," said Jones. "He hit it, turned around and came right back at us."

Jim Shoaf of Point Loma was third, for a 260-pounder he whipped in 20 minutes, after it ate a squid on the kite. Shoaf used an 11/0 Mustad hook, 130-pound Izorline and Spectra, a Penn 50SW reel and a custom Taniguchi-built Calstar 6460XH rod. "He broke two of the first three gaffs," noted Shoaf. "I kept one for a souvenir."

Gary Franks of Chula Vista took a 219-pounder on a chunk and a 16/0 Mustad circle hook. He fished 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra on an Accurate 50SW reel and a Calstar 6460XXH rod. "Every fish I caught on this trip was my best one ever," said Franks.

Pat Maloney of La Jolla caught a 206-pounder on squid under the kite. "I was using a 15/0 Mustad hook," he said, "and Jack Nilsen's Accurate 50W reel, and a Seeker Rail Rod.

The trip's hot angler was the only woman, Rachael Bull of Costa Mesa. Her best was a 174-pounder, but she caught more tuna than the rest, and was nearly pulled off the rail and into the drink by a hard-hitting yellowfin tuna.

"I loosened my drag then," said Rachael. "The reason I did so well this time was I didn't fish for wahoo. I made my mind up to fish for tuna. I got better at keeping in touch with my bait. Fishing with just a topshot of mono made it easier. This is my seventh season, and my best fish was a 260-pounder in 1995.

"I'm more aggressive now," continued Rachael. "I'm not afraid to move the drag up. I got most of my fish on 60-pound line. The biggest one came on 100-pound line, and it was a chunk fish."

2-16-01

Satelite Tagging Tuna
"Roca Partida is at its finest," wrote Polaris Supreme skipper Danny Hall Feb 7. "The amount of life we see here is awesome and when the current wants to cooperate the fish seem to really put on a show. Today we had a steady bite on some beautiful grade wahoo. With this nice weather we launched a skiff and it produced 6 wahoo and many lost ones while slow trolling live sardines. The big boat produced its share also and we ended the day with 26 of the fine eating critters. We finally landed a decent tuna today weighing in at 187 pounds, and caught by Tommy's partner Tom Pfleger. The group got together and put one of Tom's satelite tags in it. It will be quite interesting to see what these tagged tuna end up doing.

"Other than that we caught 11 more nice tuna, all weighing in between 90 and 125 pounds. Not bad fishing considering we had a total of around 6 guys at the rail throughout the day. I suppose I'll mention the heart breaker. While chunking we had a tuna feeding that was well over 200 pounds. All went as planned and we hooked him on the right gear with a massive 11/0 Supper Mutu circle hook. We called the skiff in from slow trolling, the fish never stoped pulling line and the fish broke off as we were waiting for the skiff. We can't tell exactly what happened. It broke at the knot."

Polaris Supreme moored Feb 16. Robert Kalatschan of Huntington Beach won first place, for a 188.8-pound tuna he chunked up on a 12/0 Mustad hook, 100-pound Ande line, a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar Boomer rod, after a half-hour fight. "It was a good, tough fight," he said, "in the middle of a panic with four fish going."

Tom Pfleger was second, for a 187-pound tuna that he released with a satelite tag. Jack Bernstein of North Hollywood was third, for a 156-pounder.

"By the way," wrote skipper Rothery a day before Hall's entry, "the four tuna that we tagged last year with satellite tags all stayed where they where caught and released, for approximately three months, until the tags released their data. One tuna was tagged at Socorro Island and three at Clarion. The four tags we are putting in this trip will hopefully stay in for the full year."

"We Were Constantly Bit"
"We were cutting off everything under 125 pounds," said Qualifier 105 skipper Rodney Okimoto after he moored Feb 16. "We made enough caballito bait at San Benedicto for our whole trip, then we spent three days at Cabo Pearce on Socorro Island, and the next seven days at Roca Partida. It seemed like we had a fish or two going all the time."

Richard Bell of Imperial Beach took top honors with a 230-pound tuna. He nabbed it with a chunk bait on an Eagle Claw 12/0 circle hook, 100-pound Big Game line, a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 6455 XXH rod in 45 minutes. "This is the second tuna I ever caught," he said. It was his first long range trip.

Vincent Hannan of Costa Mesa was second, for a 210-pounder he fooled with a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook, 60-pound Big Game line, a Penn 6/0 reel and a Calstar 6465 XH rod. "I used a Bimini connection," said Vincent, "and this is my best fish ever, thanks to Spike (second skipper John Ivans) and the crew."

Marty Parsons of Imperial Beach was third, for a 191-pounder. George Williams was the release king. He cut off 18 tuna up to 125 pounds. The boat released 78 yellowfin, said skipper Okimoto.