At the dock Nov 20, Cavanaugh weighed the best of his catch. "This is my personal best," said first-place winner Ron Moy of Riverside. He got a 74-pound tuna on a mackerel on a 7/0 Hayabusa hook, 80-pound Big Game line, a Tiagra 30 reel and a Calstar 760M rod. The fight went 15 minutes, he said.

His brother Dr. Alan Moy, an ER physician at Long Beach Memorial, took a 78-pound wahoo on an Orange and black Marauder, and posed with Ron and second-place winner Woody Smith of Pacific Beach, who had a 66-pound yellowfin tuna. Three grouper and 12 black seas bass were released by Excel anglers, who limited on tuna and had a good catch of yellowtail, wahoo and dorado, along with seven albacore.

No easy trick
"Dick (the lobster) Laub drew the admiration of all," wrote Larry Eilbott for the Royal Polaris Nov 14, "when he managed to somehow land 2 tuna on one bait. One got caught up in the line and the other was caught honestly. We also broke the no wahoo curse with a beauty hooked on the troll but at the moment the count is frozen at one."

A couple of days later things changed. "We had a few dorado stops, which were unremarkable both in size and quantity. Up until almost dark the undisputed highlight of the day was a monstrous wahoo caught on the troll by Clyde Smith. It went an estimated 75 pounds. Too bad trolled fish are jackpot ineligible, because as of now it's the biggest fish in the freezer. Just when we figured the day was a washout Eddie spotted a nice log that looked like it had some dorado. What ensued was a classic wide-open dorado bite with many bonus wahoo thrown in for good measure."

Roy Rose skippered the ten-day trip with 21 anglers. At the dock Nov 21, Clyde's wahoo did indeed weigh in at 75 pounds. He said he caught it on a large Catchy Tackle Spinner Head, with a hot pink and black skirt. "It came to the boat and then went straight down," said Smith, a regular on the RP.

Jim Sullivan won first place, for a 60-pound yellowfin he bagged with a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, on 40-pound blue Izorline with a TLD 20-2 reel and a Calstar seven-foot rod.

Nick Truscott of Hayward was second for a 50-pounder, but did not pose for the jackpot picture, which featured Sullivan and George Hamilton of LA, whose 47-pound tuna was good for third place.

Angler mixes it
Fishing was good, allowed Dan Sansome after mooring his American Angler Nov 21, "...about the same as it's been the last four trips." This one was an Angler's Choice/Rod & Reel Radio sponsored ten-day adventure, with 23 fisherman.

"The gold Raider jigs were hot for wahoo," said Bill Ghiselin, one of the radio hosts. Luc Ofield, owner of Angler's Choice Tackle in San Diego, was also hot, taking third place.

Taylor Carter of Rancho Bernardo won first place, for a 67-pound wahoo. He got it on the mono, with a sardine tied to 100-pound clear Izorline leader on 50-pound clear Izorline, and a Penn 113H reel and a seven-foot Calstar rod. Freddy Hatashita of Jamul was second, for a 57-pound yellowfin, and Ofield got his third spot for a 54-pound yellowfin tuna.

Searcher islands trip
An eight-day fly-down, fly-back trip aboard the Searcher with Art Taylor ended Nov 25 with the offloading of the fish and gear.

"Both of our big fish were from Clarion," said Art. "One was a kite fish and the other one came on a trolled Marauder. The jig was red and black, and Dennis Lyons of Oakland was the angler."

That fish weighed in at 174 pounds, ineligible for the jackpot. The first-place tuna went 155 pounds. It was caught by Michael Janke of Helgoland, Germany, said Art, on a flying fish under the kite, on a 12/0 Super Mutu hook, 80-pound clear Izorline and the boat's rig: a 50SW reel and a heavy Seeker rod.

Ted Scotton of Manhattan Beach was second, for a 103-pound yellowfin. "The sharks ate most of our fish," he said. Doug Hgue of San Diego was third, for a 79-pound yellowfin tuna.

Short of record
Tim Halligan of Lakewood had a couple of big fish on the Soft Steel-Seeker charter that arrived Nov 25. One was a big rainbow runner, which was thought to have a shot at the world record, but Tim brought it in on 100-pound blue Izorline after it ate his tube mackerel on a 6/0 Super Mutu ringed hook. He used a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 765H rod, because he was fishing for big tuna. The gear would seem to make any record unlikely. The present record is a 37-pounder in the all-tackle class. Ralph Mikkelsen has a 33-pounder on 50-pound line, the best of the line class records.

But Halligan wasn't sad about his 35.1-pound runner, because his 191-pound tuna was good for third place. "I had a good trip, he said.

Bill Mueller of Eagle River, AK won first place and a boodle of prizes, including a new rod and reel, for his 234-pound yellowfin. "He got about two thousand dollar's worth of stuff," said chartermaster Carl Burns, who posed with wife Rose with the big fish in Mueller's absence. Mueller had flown home earlier.

Skipper Norm Kagawa said Mueller used a flying fish on the kite, with an 11/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 130-pound Ultra line and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod. Gary Edwards was second, for a 193-pound tuna, and Rose Burns had an honorable mention fish, a 167-pounder.

"We got two decent fish at the Hurricane Bank," remarked Kagawa, who said the trip was a 12-day fly down, fly back adventure.