Right On The Corner!
"Yesterday was another great day," wrote Red Rooster II skipper Andy Cates on June 8 at Hurricane Bank.

"We started off early looking for the fish we got on yesterday. Just after daylight we had a drift for 10 fish; all over a hundred pounds and one fish a little over 200 and another one very close. After looking around we got on a school. We threw scoops of sardines and the whole stern exploded. In a matter of seconds everyone had one on, and chaos was about the boat just like yesterday.

"We saw nothing but 150 to 200-pound fish blowing out in the corner and free-swimming. After we got stabilized, we realized we had 20 fish going and 15 of them were pilled up on the bow. After an hour or so when the dust settled we had 16 fish 170 to 200 pounds. We ended up with 30 tuna for the day, and after re-stacking the fish holds found that we had no room left.

"We decided to go and look for the log we found the other day and see if there were any more wahoo on it. Early afternoon we found it, and got 30 wahoo and crammed them in the cracks. We are now on our way to Cabo."

Cates moored Red Rooster II June 14 after the last trip of the big tuna season, a 15-day expedition. "We really had some action," he said. "Those fish were off the bank. We found them as meter marks. We'd stop and the whole school would come up, like albacore."

Bill Wirth of Bonsall won first place for a 230-pound yellowfin that came up dead. He hooked it on a sardine on a 6/0 hook, 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra, on a 50W Beastmaster reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

Earl Sandefur of Ojai was second, for a 212-pounder. He tricked it with a sardine on a 5/0 Eagle Claw 118 Mag hook, 100-pound Jin Kai line, 100-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50SW reel and a six-foot Calstar rod.

Bogart Michaels of Encino was third for a 188.7-pounder. He also won the trolling jackpot for a 184-pounder. The trip produced about 50 tuna over 150 pounds, said skipper Cates, and a good catch of wahoo, providing a fitting end to a better-than-expected season after the loss of the Revilla Gigedos archipelago.

Shogun Albacore Mix
Limits of albacore on the first day of fishing started an eight-day Shogun trip with skipper Norm Kagawa in a big way. The trip ended June 15 with a mixed catch that included most inshore species as well as yellowfin tuna and yellowtail after the boat visited Alijos Rocks for a few large tuna.

"We got yellowtail at the 13 Spot," said Norm, and we looked for bluefin, "and tried San Martin, which was good for reds and ling."

Len Gottschalk of LA won first place for an 88.3-pound Alijos yellowfin that bit a sardine on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook.

"I had a lot of good help from the crew," said Len, "and I fought the fish for an hour and 15 minutes." He fished 40-pound Big Game line on a Penn GLS 40 reel and a Roddy six-foot rod.

Peggy Rose of Falls Church, VA was second, tied with Tony Postolov of Venice with identical 86.9-pound tuna.

"Was Spitting Cotton"
Former LA Water & Power mechanical engineer Bob Chow of Wilmington is 77 years old, but he still shows 'em how to fish, as he proved aboard the Vagabond with Mike Lackey on an eight-day trip that returned to Point Loma Sportfishing June 15. Bob had a 68-pound yellowtail, the second largest of the year, and a 98-pound yellowfin tuna, which would have placed first in the jackpot had he not taken it with a balloon, which made it ineligible by boat rules.

The 68-pound yellowtail bit on a Salas 6X Jr. iron jig in scrambled eggs color. "It took it on the grind," said Bob, "about a third of the way up. It ran out and down. I was spitting cotton the whole time. I was surprised to see how big it was when it came up. It took two gaffs."

A number of old-timers did very well on the trip. Jan Ishi of Rancho Palos Verdes got a 52-pound yellowtail on a scad, which would have been a real attention-getting fish had it not been for Chow's huge slug. But Jan also got an 87-pound yellowfin, good for second place.

Wayne Campbell of Huntington Beach took first place for a 91-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna. He said he used a sardine on a 4/0 Mutu hook, with 60-pound Soft Steel Ultra line, a Trinidad 40 reel and a Calstar 765M rod, and that the fight went 20 minutes.

Jim Audette of Downey was third, for an 84-pound yellowfin. Ed Person of St. Augustine, FL got the season's first bigeye, a 69.9-pound tuna. The five posed with their fish ordered by weight. Steve Tommasino of Thousand Oaks caught a yellowtail snapper, called pargo amarillo in Mexico, at Alijos, a possible first.

Five-Day Albacore
Excel returned June 6 after a five-day trip with skipper Shawn Steward. Top fish was a 36-pound albacore caught by Sam Valdez of Santa Ana on a sardine, with an Owner 2/0 hook. Valdez said he fished 40-pound Ande line, on a Trinidad 30 reel and a Calstar Grafighter seven-foot rod. Scotty Pomeroy of Montclair was second, for a 32.2-pound bluefin tuna, and Jack DiSabatino of San Diego was third, for a 28.7-pound bluefin.

Big Hammer Skiffers
Qualifier 105 moored June 6 after an eight-day chartered skiff trip for bass to the islands of Cedros and the San Benitos. Doug Frasco of Moorpark was the jackpot winner, for a 50-pound yellowtail he got with a Hammer seven-inch swim bait in the "Steve's Shad" pattern, on 40-pound line.

Mike Lanning of El Camino Village was second, for a 49-pounder, tied with Scott Martina of Harbor City and another 49-pound yellow.

Excellent Fishing, Cuisine
A seven-day trip with skipper Shawn Steward and owner Bill Poole aboard Excel paid off with limits of albacore for 28 anglers, including this writer. Yellowtail fishing was very good at the San Benitos Islands, both in "The Slot" and northeast of East Island, under fast-moving bird schools as much as a mile long. There, anglers got bites from the surface to 300 feet down.

The fast-moving Benitos yellowtail weighed 16 to 35 pounds. They bit very well on the yoyo iron in scrambled eggs and dorado or blue and chrome, or blue and white. Surface iron in sardine pattern also got bit by both yellowtail and albacore. They also bit fly lined bait and baits weighted down to 10 or 20 fathoms, either in the traditional dropper loop method or with slip sinkers.

The albacore were from 14 to 38 pounds, and the longfin showed Excel's anglers many moods. Some stops only brought in a fish or two. Other stops produced as many as several dozen, lasting up to 45 minutes or so. When the fish were hot to bite, they took sardines well. When they weren't, many 'dines came back "bit and spit."

A varied group of anglers was aboard the 124-foot sport fisher, with three couples, and at least two sets of father-son fishermen. Their ages ran from the 20's to the 80's. After fishing, they dined well on prime rib, albacore, pork roast, coconut-crusted yellowtail, flank steak, chicken fettuccini and snacks like spring rolls, lox and bagels or sushi during afternoon breaks.

Anchovies produced best when fishing was tough. Even then, any anchovy on light line with a small weight that got down to the magic 60-foot level seemed to be readily taken, and several anglers took advantage of that to land fish when others couldn't get bit.

When the "Alberts" were hot, fishing with light line was a ticket to disaster during the inevitable pileups in the stern corner. Some fishermen went to 60-pound line in the few frenzies, and the fish didn't seem to care. They also bit plastic swim baits very well, as did the yellowtail in The Slot between East and West Benitos.

Cook Jason Fleck took several with plastics meant for bass there, and his twin brother Justin, who works the deck, got 'em on the iron. Second skipper Mike Prichard (there were three Mikes in the crew) took his pleasure with the surface jig, adding calico bass to the mix at Cedros Island. Big Ed, our other cook, also came out to fly line bait at the Lunker Hole at East Benitos.

Bill Poole, recent recipient of a special skipper's career award from the IGFA, enjoyed some rail time with his passengers. He hooked and handed, and brought in an albacore and yellowtail for himself. He also used the ship's speaker system after a stop went sxour fast, to inform anglers of errors like failure to follow a fish, blocking access to the bait tank, or fishing baits across the trollers' lines.

Poole suggested pinning an anchovy on a small hook and sinking it with a split shot or tiny rubber core sinker.

"Those anchovies can't handle heavy line, or a big hook and a heavy weight," he said. "You get 'em down there all right, but they can't move. But you get an anchovy down there swimming, and they'll bite it."

The albacore came to the 64-degree surface at the first part of a jig stop, but then often retreated to 10 or 20 fathoms shortly after. They bit well on iron then, but even better on Poole's anchovy method. One longfin had very recently swallowed a small pelagic octopus; most had been eating very small anchovies and mackerel, bait too small to put on a hook. That may suggest why the fish didn't want to stage extended bites.

The water at Cedros Island was a muddy green, with little sign of yellowtail. Mackerel bit well, and Excel replenished her bait tanks with green and Spanish mackerel. Just across the way at Benitos it was a brilliant blue with the slightest tinge of aquamarine. There was life in some of the areas holding albacore, but not in others. We saw terns, young albatrosses, shearwaters, petrels and a pair of ospreys at Benitos. Clouds of gulls and shearwaters marked the yellowtail schools two to three miles off East Island.

Weather on the trip ranged from an 18-knot breeze with a chop to flat calm, and mostly was quite pleasant for fishing, with less than eight knots and a small, ruffled swell. "June Gloom" was pervasive, but on one flat calm day, the sun broke through for a glorious afternoon 20-some miles west of the islands.

At the Fisherman's Landing dock, Bryan Porter of Downey took first place honors with a 37.6-pound albacore. Porter often fishes off southern California in his own boat. He got the big longfin with a sardine pinned on an Eagle Claw 2/0 circle hook, with 20-pound Big Game line, a Penn 975 reel and a Penn 270 rod.

Gary Gropp of San Diego was second, for a 35.7-pound yellowtail. Bryan Salvati of Temecula, fishing with his father Omar, a retired pilot, was third for a 33.8-pound yellowtail.

It was fine fishing for the early summer season; quality time, as they say. I took all the fish I wanted, 360 minutes of DVCAM footage and about 70 high quality digital still images. I made friends with Mike Ramirez, Opie and Scot; Excel crewmen who worked hard on the deck all day helping anglers and stood watch at night. I'm sorry the trip is over, because now I've got to go back to work punching these keys.