Jerry Finberg of Camarillo was first, for a 74.8-pound yellowfin he nabbed with a sardine baited on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook, 40-pound P-Line, a TLD 20 reel and a Calstar 765L rod. "I got stuck in the corner with him," said Finberg. "He was a tough fish."

Paul Whitehead of Corona was second, for a 74.3-pounder, and Calvin Miller was third, for a 70-pound yellowfin tuna.

In the Keller
Art Taylor took his anglers into the Keller Canal, south of Cedros Island, where they found some good fishing for big yellowtail. The five-day trip returned June 21.

Dave Williams of Denver, CO found the biggest, a 38-pounder. The mossback sucked in a Salas 6X Jr. jig in blue and white, on the end of William's 40-pound clear Izorline. He said he fished a Penn 113HL reel and a Seeker six-foot rod. Chuck Cox of Carson City, NV and Chris Mann of Seal Beach were second and third, for yellowtail of 33 and 29 pounds.

"Right At Sunset"
"I got him right at sunset," said Ron Hobson of Chino Hills, "at Chester Rocks. Boy, do those rocks stink. There's all kinds of birds on there." Hobson fished with owner-skipper Randy Toussaint aboard the Royal Star. The trip returned June 21, after six days at sea.

Hobson said he fished a sardine on 40-pound clear Izorline on a TLD 20 reel with a Calstar 665 rod. Bob Miller of Livermore was second, for a 40-pounder, and Don Heisig of Holt was third, for a 39-pound yellowtail. About 50 large albacore were also in the catch. They weighed up to 38 pounds. Royal Star's anglers had near-limits of yellowfin and more than half-limits of bluefin.

Co-Captains Cates, DeBuys
"Starting things off with a quick run down to an area about 180 miles south of San Diego, the Red Rooster III found tough fishing for the albies at the beginning of her latest 5-day trip," said the boat's Internet report.

"Turning east at that point and heading in towards San Benitos, they worked their way down to an area outside of Hipolito Bay where they tied into a nice batch of decent-sized yellowtail. From there it was back up to Cedros Island and then Chester's Rock, where they tied into another nice batch of yellowtail in the 25 to 40 lb. range. At that point, with limits of yellowtail plus some miscellaneous bottom fish already aboard, they decided to go back after the albacore for a second time. The result was the addition of near-limits of albacore to the Rooster's count. Big fish for the trip, a 42-pound yellowtail, went to Erin Roth of Costa Mesa, CA. Bob Bardwell of San Diego, CA. took the jackpot with his 40-pound yellowtail. 2nd place jackpot: 36.9-pound yellowtail caught by Calvin Tani of San Diego. 3rd place jackpot: 36.7-pound yellowtail caught by Norman Orida of San Diego.

Loaded Up Fast
"Drifting for tuna was so good we only needed one day at Alijos Banks," observed Q-105 skipper Rod Okimoto June 23. "The yellowfin were a great quality, up to 75 pounds. We looked for bluefin, and tried San Pablo on the beach. It was good for yellowtail of 15 to 25 pounds. So was Hipolito. We ended up with limits of yellowfin and yellowtail."

Tom Boland of Austin, TX won first place, for a 75-pound yellowfin. He said he got it on a sardine, a 6/0 Super Mutu hook, 60-pound Maxima line, a Penn 30S reel and a Calstar 660 HRS rod. Jeff Nichols of Huntington Beach was second, for a 74-pounder.

Anthony Crawford, 13, of Chico and Bidwell Junior High, took third place for a 70-pound yellowfin tuna. "I've been on nine trips," said Anthony. "And I've been in the jackpot three times. This tuna bit on a Raider blue and chrome jig, with 40-pound line. It took 20 minutes."

Bassers Bag Bluefin
Tommy Rothery took his Polaris Supreme anglers south, his boat loaded with four seaworthy skiffs, for an annual bassing expedition. He described some of the adventures on the Internet, and moored at fisherman's Landing June 23. These edited entries from his report tell the story:

WED JUL 20
"The 20th was spent at Benitos island, this is where they send all the bad sea lions. Fishing for yellow tail was very good drifting on bird schools we ended up with 50 for the day out of probably 100 hooked. The sea lions munched the rest. Bad sea lions!

THU JUL 21
"On Thursday we had great yellowtail fishing of Pt. Agustin at Cedros Island from the big boat we had no trouble from Bobo (slang for seal) and the gang. We think the reason it hasn't been the wide-open fishing we normally see is the amount of kelp and feed. The kelp beds have grown out to the deepest depths possible and the bait life in them and around them is staggering. It's really easy for an already full bass to find a place to hide. We will have a little time to fish open ocean for albacore tomorrow.

FRI JUL 22
"We finished up the day 220 miles from San Diego with some great bluefin tuna and albacore fishing. For only 3 hours of fishing, we picked up 40 albies and 31 bluefin. Both are in the 20 to 35-pound grade, just beautiful fish. All fish were caught on sardines. Our next trip is a 6-day research trip. We will be picking up tuna and heading to Guadalupe Island to tag Great White Sharks with pop up satellite tags."

Vince Schriver of Buellton won first place, for a 37-pound bluefin. He said he whipped it in 20 minutes, after it took a sardine on a 3/0 Super Mutu hook, on 30-pound P-Line, a Trinidad 20 reel and a Calstar Grafighter 700M rod. Dan Felger of Thousand Oaks and Al Scow of Palos Verdes were second and third, for bluefin of 36 and 35 pounds.

First Guadalupe Yellowfin
"We had to leave the albacore biting three times," said American Angler skipper Dan Sansome June 24. "It's about as good as it can get. Most of the albacore were on anchovies. The solar temperatures are coming up fast." Sansome's five-day anglers limited out on albacore and a mix of tuna. They found some big yellowtail and several yellowfin tuna at Guadalupe Island, the first there this season.

Barry Gambarana of Las Vegas used a sardine to trick a 51-pound bluefin for first place. He pinned his bait on a 3/0 Super Mutu hook, with 40-pound P-Line, a Cal Sheets-treated Penn 12T reel and a 765L Calstar rod. The fish came to gaff in 20 minutes. Brad Pearson of Encino took a 48-pound yellowtail for second, and Robert Withsosky of Ocean Beach had a 47-pound yellowfin for third place. Aubrey Pollard of San Diego got honorable mention for a 68-pound bluefin tuna.

Alijos Rocks Blowout
Bruce Smith brought Shogun home June 24 after an excellent trip to Alijos Rocks for limits of yellowfin tuna and a mix of other species.

"We transferred a large fund of yellowfin from the Alijos bank account into the Shogun account today," he wrote June 18."Fishing here is still excellent, if anything is different from last time we were here, it is that the yellowfin are biting better and are a little bit larger, 20 to 45-pounders, with some 60s and 70s mixed in. We did not arrive to the bank until 14:00, it took 15 minutes to find our one school for the day, one-stop shopping.

"The yellows are biting right now, so I have to go. The big problem now (23:45) is that nobody wants to fish!"

Clay Trueman of Yorba Linda won first place for a 69.4-pound yellowfin he jigged up with a 4/0 Tady in scrambled eggs motif, on 50-pound blue Izorline. He used a Penn 12T reel blueprinted by Cal Sheets, and an 850H Calstar rod, and whipped his prize in ten minutes.

Sabin Hernandz of Flagstaff, AZ was second, for a 61.5-pounder. Alan Forbus of Yorba Linda was third, for a 60.5-pound yellowfin, and Bob Ryan of Laguna Niguel and Ben Hartnell of Ponto Basin each had 51-pound, surface-caught Alijos Rocks yellowtail.

"Doesn't Get Any Better"
Mike Lackey took his Vagabond anglers on a super eight-day trip to Alijos. "It was outstanding," he said at the dock June 24. "We found a few fatso albies on the way down. Alijos was unbelievable. We got so many fish on our first drift that the next couple of days we had to cut off everything under 40 or 50 pounds. Then we ran up for some more albacore and bluefin, ending up with full limits for the trip. It doesn't get any better than this."

Steve Tommasino of Thousand Oaks had a 55-pound yellowtail to go with his 80-pound Yellowfin, which won first place. Skipper Lackey held the yellow for a jackpot picture. Tommasino used a sardine on a 118 Mag hook, 25-pound Big Game line, a 332 Newell reel and a 6485 Calstar rod on the tuna; and a sardine with 40-pound Big Game on the yellowtail.

Blaine Lake of Sebastian FL had a 70-pounder for second place. Richard Macias of Glendora slipped one by his dad, with a 64-pound yellowfin, good for third place. Dad Al, also of Glendora, got the season's largest yellowtail to date, a 60-pounder. Also posing with the winners was Mike Clouser of Riverside, who found a 45-pound Alijos wahoo.

Main Herd Coming
"This is awful good fishing," noted Spirit of Adventure skipper Mike Keating June 24. "There's more and more fish showing, and bluefin, too. This looks like the main herd is on the way. We got limits on those fatso albacore, fishing in the 200-mile area on our four-day trip."

J.P. Menvielle of Del Mar won first place for a 51-pound bluefin tuna. He nabbed it after a 45-minute scrap. It took a sardine on a 1/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound Ande line, a Daiwa 30HV reel and a Calstar 800M rod. Jeff Taylor of Mesa was second, for a 38-pound albacore, and Chris Natividad of San Jose won third place, for a 36-pound hunky albacore.