Bob Stafford of Minot, ND won first place at the dock November for a 107-pound yellowfin he tricked with a sardine on a 4/0 Eagle Claw hook, tied to 50-pound P-line on a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar rod.

Bruce Chisholm of Temecula was second, for a 93-pounder. Eunice (Mrs.) Chisholm was elated over her trip. "I didn't get seasick and I got lots of tuna up to 70 pounds!"

Chartermaster Larry Brown, who oversaw fish donations to Feed The Hungry, won third place for an 89-pound Morgan Bank yellowfin tuna.

Lower banks good
The first annual www.Gottqckle.com charter aboard Qualifier 105 arrived November 6 with Brian Sims at the helm. "It's pretty good on the lower banks," said Sims, "for nice quality tuna on mackerel and sardines. We had no kite fish. We lost one fish after three hours on 50-pound gear. I guarantee that was a cow (tuna over 200 pounds)."

John Lingenberg of Covina won first place on the ten-day trip, for a 96.8-pound tuna he caught on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook, 50-pound Big Game line and 80-pound Spectra on a Penn 16S reel, with a six and a half-foot Penn rod. "It took about 20 minutes," he said. "We re-anchored during the fight."

Eric Cates was second, for a 93.8-pounder. He tied with Chuck Constable of Riverside, who had a yellowfin of identical weight.

X bank produces
An unnamed bank produced some huge tuna for anglers aboard the Excel with skipper Pat Cavanaugh. He moored the big rig November 6, with 24 anglers returning from a 10-day trip to the southern banks.

"Some of these cleaned our clocks," noted Cavanaugh. "There's very good sign of fish down below. The bigger ones are coming on mackerel, and the water there is in the high 70's and low 80's. If I were leaving on a ten-day trip right now I'd be very happy about my prospects."

Roger Wilson of Las Vegas won first place, for a 162-pounder. He bagged the biggie on a mackerel and a 6/0 Gorilla hook, with an 80-pound fluorocarbon leader, 60-pound clear Izorline, an Accurate 50 reel and a Loomis five-foot rod.

Harry Mauras of Pebble Beach was second, for a 131-pounder, and Steve Bening of Chino Hills was third, for a 116-pound yellowfin. Steve Franizza of Glendale got honorable mention for a 175-pound tuna. He was not entered in the jackpot.

'Gun gets 'em
Norm Kagawa moored Shogun November 6 after a very good nine-day trip to Alijos. "We got about 75% of our fish on the kite," he said.

Tammi Van Wagoner of Paso Robles and her hubby Mark won first and third places, but posed together, putting Young Lee of LA on the right. Tammi's fish weighed 82.7 pounds, hubby Mark's weighed 81 pounds, and Lee's weighed 81.1 pounds.

He's booked up
Apollo skipper J. J. Gerritson moored his boat at Fisherman's Landing November 6 after a five-day trip to Guadalupe Island that produced a good catch of quality tuna. "We saw a few sharks," he said, "but they didn't take many fish. When they did, it was exciting. One came halfway out of the water."

Rodney Eldridge (photo at top of page) of Redway took first place with a 103.4-pound yellowfin, one of the best fish if not the best one to come from the island this season. He said he got it with a sardine on a 3/0 Gorilla hook and a 40-pound rental outfit.

"It took a half-hour," he said. "It's my best tuna ever, and only my second trip. He took a hell of a lot of line at first. I'm booked up for next year's trip."