"We did our yellowtail business outside the West Island, after we made bait at Cedros and tried Chester Rocks. The bait was green mackerel. We rained 'em on for three tanks in 45 minutes."

Barry Gambarana of Henderson, NV won first place, for an 88.5-pound yellowfin. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 5/0 Eagle Claw 2005 hook, 50-pound clear Izorline, and TLD 20 with a Tiburon frame and a Calstar 765ML rod, after a 20-minute fight.

Chris Oliphant of Phoenix, AZ was second, for an 87.4-pounder, and David Ibrahim of Spring Valley got third place, for an 86.7-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna.

Major Tuna Success
"Weather today remains much the same as it has the whole trip, which I would have to say is excellent," wrote Frank LoPreste aboard his Royal Polaris April 11. "We did not have any rain today. The bite this morning started at 04:15 hours. It kept us very busy until 07:30 hours and was excellent fishing. In that time frame we caught 17 fish of which six were over 200 pounds.

"Largest was a 260-pound fish caught by Stas Vellonakis, of Compton. The others were 240 pounds down to one that taped 200. The rest of the fish were in the 110 to 180-pound range. Our big fish were caught on Caballito, Skipjack, and Rainbow Runners. We lost several other big ones that were hooked on 100 to 130-pound mono. Those fish (5 of them) chewed through the line.

"The rest of the day was quite encouraging, as we saw much better sign of "BIG" fish around the atoll. Before noon they were non-biters, but in the afternoon we scratched another 11 fish in the 110 to 170-pound range. So we ended up with 28 Yellowfin tuna and four Wahoo. Six of our anglers went ashore again and had a good time beach-combing, fishing, and snorkeling. Ryan our crew member met face to face with a 200-pound plus Yellowfin tuna (est. weight).

"Something worth mentioning is that we have had excellent bait fishing. Every night we have been here catching two to three at a time and getting done in about an hour."