Bigger bluefin bite
"Hello Everyone," wrote Polaris Supreme skipper Vic Moore Aug 18, "Another great day of fishing. The grade of bluefin improved from 30 to 40 pounds, up to 40 to 70 pounds. We've been thinking of going to Guadalupe Island, but decided not too. We have two more days of fishing and this type of fishing is too hard to pass up."

Ron Smith of Alpine won the jackpot, for a 67.5-pound bluefin. He said he caught it on a size two Mustad hook hidden in a sardine, tied to 50-pound Big Game line on a TLD 20-2 reel and an old Fenwick six-foot rod. Buddy Bales of Spokane, WA was second, for a 65.3-pounder, and Richard Cook of Placentia was third, for a 64.7-pound bluefin tuna.

12-hour stop
"We had a 12-hour stop on our first day of fishing," said Dan Sansome after mooring American Angler Aug 22. "Other than that, it was a little slower."

Mike Ray of Huntington Beach won first place, for a 48.2-pound bluefin he whipped in ten minutes, after the tuna took a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound P-Line on a TLD 15 reel, on a Sabre 665 rod. Bob Chapman of Newport Beach was second, for a 47.7-pound bluefin, and Dr. Gordon Booth of Escondido was third, for a 43.9-pound bluefin tuna. Jahnny Earle of Carlsbad got honorable mention. She outfished most of the men aboard the three-day trip.

Albacore found south
Rodney Okimoto moored Qualifier 105 Aug 22. "I went south," he said. "It was pretty grim where everyone else was at, so we fished about 90 miles off San Martin." The move paid off with a good catch of albacore of varying size, along with a few yellowtail and dorado.

John Nakatani of Walnut Creek won first place for a 35.5-pound albacore. It bit on an anchovy, he said, on a 20-pound Ande line, a Daiwa 30SH reel and a seven-foot Sabre rod, and he fought it for 15 minutes. Ken Takayama of Castro Valley and James Snodgrass of Whittier were second and third, for albacore of 34 and 33.8 pounds.

OK on albacore
"We had okay albacore fishing," said Vagabond skipper Mike Lackey Aug 22. His three-day trip also produced some bluefin, but albacore had the first two places.

15-year-old Doug Brink of Bellflower won first place, for a 40.3-pound albacore. He said he got it on a sardine, a 1/0 Super Mutu hook, 30-pound Ande line, a Newell 332 reel and a Sabre 196-7 rod cut down six inches. John Bakker of Long Beach was second, for a 39.4-pound albacore. Gary VanderWeide of Chino Hills was third, for a 38-pound bluefin tuna.

Luckier than do-do
"We were luckier than do-do," said Excel skipper Pat Cavanaugh Aug 23 after a successful five-day trip to waters about 110 miles south of San Diego. "But I'd rather be lucky than good." On our first day we drifted for 60 to 90-pound bluefin. One the last day we drifted from 7:30 a.m. top 5:30 p.m. It was the annual Herb Sitton Tuna Wars charter."

Bob Neufield of Wasco found an 88-pound bluefin to take first place. He said he did the deed in 20 minutes, after the tuna ate his sardine on an Eagle Claw 2004 4/0 hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a Penn 30SW reel and a Calstar 6460H rod. Don Geivet of Ft. Tejon had a 77-pounder, and Mike Wattenbarger of Bakersfield was third, for a 72-pound bluefin tuna. The boat had about two-thirds limits on bluefin and half-limits on albacore.

Big Guadalupe yellowtail
"There were more tuna down at the south end of the island," said Norm Kagawa Aug 24 after a five-day trip. "But we heard from Tim Ekstrom that the sharks were really bad down there, that they were taking every tuna after they showed up in the morning, so we didn't go down there." Fishing away from the white sharks produced a scratchy catch of yellowtail and yellowfin tuna, with a few large fish.

Joe Dingman of Ontario won first place for a 65-pound yellowfin. He beat it in 20 minutes, he said, after it took a sardine on a 3/0 Super Mutu hook, on 40-pound Tuna Tuff line, a Penn 113H reel and a Calstar 765L rod. Bruce Wheeler of San Diego was second, for a 42-pound Guadalupe yellowtail, and Bobby Targowski of Gardena was third, for a 38-pound yellowtail.

Three-hour battle
R. C. Mora, a Spring Valley retail manager, is a big guy, but he found he had almost more than he could handle in the form of a 124-pound bigeye tuna. "I hooked up on the Searcher about 5:30 in the morning," said Mora Aug 24, "and he made a little run, took me up the rail five or six times, went around the boat, and then ran 150 yards twice. Then he made a big run of more than 250 yards. That burned him out. He was pretty much done at the end."

The end came at 8:45 a.m., said skipper Kevin Ward. "We got a couple of albacore, too, but that fish was basically it when we started up that morning."

Mora said he used a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook to connect to his tuna. He fished 40-pound P-Line on a Penn 4/0 reel and a seven-foot Seeker Classic rod. Chas Harris of Simi Valley was second, for a 53-pound bluefin, and Albert Birkley of Stockton was third, for a 46-pound bluefin tuna.

Queen scores bluefin
Sam Patella and Brian Kiyohara brought their Pacific Queen home to Fisherman's Landing Aug 24 after a three-day trip about 100 miles south. Dan Larson of Torrance won first place, for a 54-pound bluefin. He said he caught it in ten minutes, after it ate his sardine. He said he fished with an Eagle Claw 2004 hook sized 7/0, on 40-pound Ande line and a Calstar Grafighter 700M rod. John Luce of Monrovia was second, for a 42-pound bluefin.

Fluorocarbon takes pot
Wind, swells and scratchy fishing held the numbers down for anglers aboard Polaris Supreme with skipper Vic Moore, but a variety of albacore and bluefin provided a fair catch. The boat arrived Aug 25.

Ruben Lopez of Fontana won first place for a 44-pound bluefin. He said he baited a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook. He fished with 30-pound Stren fluorocarbon on 50-pound Spectra backing, with a Penn 990 reel and a Calstar 700M rod. Charles Schmidt of San Diego and Tsugno Okamoto of Torrance were second and third, for bluefin of 40.7 and 40.4 pounds.

Four-day bluefin
Spirit of Adventure skipper Mike Keating found some good-sized bluefin on his foray into rough waters about 110 miles south. The first-place fish was a 73-pounder caught by Dave Kingston of Redondo Beach. He bagged it with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad hook, he said, and 40-pound Ande line on a TLD 20 reel, with a Seeker five and a half-foot rod. The fight lasted an hour. Heather Sansky of San Francisco was second, for a 65-pound bluefin tuna.

Sharks eat tuna
Tim Ekstrom took his anglers in to Guadalupe Island for a couple of days on the anchor near the southern end, where good-sized yellowfin tuna were staging a pick bite.

"A beautiful, flat calm day of scratch fishing for quality Yellowfin in the lee of Guadalupe," wrote Ekstrom Aug 20. "The action was actually not half bad with a good show on both 25 to 35-pound yellowfin and also 50 to 70-pound fish. The unfortunate arrival what has become our chief nemesis at this island really put the hurt on our catch total and ultimately our day. Great white sharks, with what appears to be an insatiable appetite, arrived on scene and patrolled the area, picking off every bigger fish we hooked for about two hours. Luckily, we managed to land about six of the bigger fish before the sharks arrived, but after their arrival it was truly a hopeless cause. After Whitey cleaned us out, we moved around the island, spotting some encouraging signs, but the caliber of the fishing never did match our first anchor job."

Jeff Beckert of Ventura had an 81-pound yellowfin for the top spot. He whipped it in 20 minutes, he said, after it took his sardine on 40-pound blue Izorline. He fished a Penn 16S reel on a Calstar 765L rod. Tak Tsuji of Temple City was second, for a 76-pounder, and Darren Lew of Montebello was third, for a 73-pound Guadalupe yellowfin.

Stopping leak brings fish
After several of difficult trips, Frank LoPreste discovered an 80-volt leak from a bad electrical ground aboard the Royal Polaris. Fixing it should let tuna and yellowtail come to the chum again, he said Aug 26 at Fisherman's Landing. This time, he had limits of yellowtail and half-limits of yellowfin tuna for his 35 anglers on a five-day trip.

Michael Rayner of LA won first place, for a 29-4-pound albacore. He bagged his longfin on a sardine, with a 2/0 Mustad hook, he said. He used 20-pound Big Game line, a 229 Newell reel and a Truline LM8 rod. George Thieme of Oakland was second, for a 28.6-pound albacore.

Alijos Rocks variety
"Alijos Rocks got rough the second day," said Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates Aug 26, "so we went up to Cedros and Benitos. We got some albacore, yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, yellowtail and dorado, but it wasn't real good on any one species." Another boat had recently skimmed most of the wahoo off Alijos Rocks, said Cates, but he still managed a catch of 39 wahoo, mostly larger fish of 40 to 50 pounds.

"Coach" Cliff Clark of Union City won first place for a 65-pound yellowfin tuna. He also had a 53-pound wahoo on the troll. He said he got the tuna on a sardine, a 3/0 Mutu hook, 60-poud Izorline, a TLD 30-2 reel and a Calstar 760M rod. Marty Pollex of San Francisco was second, for a 58-pound yellowfin, and Ken Davis of Chino Hills was third, for a 56-pound yellowfin tuna.

Rookie's greatest luck
Catching a swordfish your first time out on the ocean must have about the same odds as winning a 50 million-dollar lottery. No, the odds couldn't be that good. No one at Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego had ever heard of it. Only a handful are caught here by rod and reel anglers each year, and they're almost always salty, grizzled vets who've been looking for a broadbill for years.

James Blanks of Wikenburg, AZ is a man with that kind of luck. Fishing with his boss Elijah Hopkins on a Hopkins Fence Co. sharking charter aboard the Aristokat, Blanks hooked and landed a swordfish, without assistance. The group was in such a hurry to get back on the water after a photo session that they loaded ice for their swordfish and left without weighing it, but it appeared to be in the 60 to 80-pound range.

Aristokat owner-operator Tim Linskey said the swordie took a mackerel with a lightstick on a 9/0 Mustad hook at 120 feet as they drifted for sharks in 69-degree water. They caught a mako and several blue sharks as well. Blanks' rig had 150-pound wire leader on 60-pound Ande line, with a 6/0 Penn reel and a Seeker 660H rod. The fight lasted an hour.