Here is Tom Gray from Davey's Locker Tackle Shop with the first yellowfin of the trip. Tom has the best stories! It was great fishing with you!

On the second day of fishing, we got into a late afternoon yellowfin bite. Here is Phil with one of his yellowfin.

Tom fishes a lot up in the San Francisco area. They don't get many yellowfin up that way!

Vince was hot! He was always hooked into something. Here he is with one of his yellowfin.

My dad was with me on this trip. He got into the action too.

This was Mike's first 5-day trip. Nice tuna!

Jay does a lot of long range fishing, and it showed. He got a lot of fish.

Barry didn't get left out of the action. He was right in the mix, and hooked into a bunch of fish. I had a great time fishing with you Barry!

Warren with another Yellowfin

Right before it got dark, Mike hooked into another yellowfin.

Here is John with his first Yellowfin Tuna. Congrats John! And yes, he did eat the heart!

Len Cunningham of Alpine won second place for a 273-pound tuna, his best in three years of long range fishing. Len has figured in most of the jackpots on his trips. He said he got this tuna on a sardine and an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook. He used 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra line, 130-pound fluorocarbon leader and 130-pound Spectra backing on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Calstar 765 H rod.

Yoshi Yamamoto of San Diego owns Yoshino???s Restaurant at Washington and India Streets. He won third place for a 259-pound yellowfin tuna.

???My best fish ever,??? said Yoshi ???very heavy.??? Yoshi is seen here with Len Cunningham.

George Davis made his eighth (his estimate) annual charter with Tommy Rothery aboard the Polaris Supreme, and met the boat when it returned to Fisherman???s Landing January 13 after an 18-day excursion. It was Friday, but definitely not a bad luck day or trip, as chartermaster George bagged a 257-pound tuna for himself as the boat fished off southern Baja.

???Everybody got a cow,??? said Tommy, ???and we released over 100 tuna. We ended up with 27 tuna over 200 pounds.???

The day???s big winner was Tom Hilton of San Clemente who scored a 293-pound whopper yellowfin with a sardine on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook, 130-pound red line, 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50T reel blueprinted by Cal Sheets, and a 760H Calstar rod tied by Sheridan Stanton (also on the trip). Hilton said he got the big tuna ????Ķin 25 minutes; my best fish ever. My biggest before was 178 pounds.

Independence arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing January 3 under Jeff DuBuys??? hand, after an eight-day trip with 30 anglers to the southern banks. ???We had some weather,??? said Jeff, ???a little chop on the banks. We found some 40-pound school tuna down there but they didn???t bite very well. The water was 69 to 71 degrees. The other boats located the big ones the day after we left, when the weather turned nice.??? Dave Smith of Alta Loma won first place for a 47.3-pound tuna, ???The biggest one I ever got.??? Dave said he caught it with a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 60-pound Big Game line on a Penn 15 KG reel and a Seeker 6465 XH rod. Thomas Horanyi of Northridge was second, for a 45.4-pounder, and his dad Gabor Horanyi, also of Northridge, was third, for a 45-pound tuna. Ed Coleman of Bakersfield tied Gabor with another 45-pounder in a tie for third.

High score went to Scott Brown of Costa Mesa, with six over 200 pounds, at 279, 269, 246, 240, and a pair of 225-pounders. Scott said he fished with sardines on 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks, on 100-pound Ande line, 130-pound Spectra backing, a Tiagra 50W reel and a Calstar 655 TSS rod.

Al Tokunaga had five, at 225, 222, 213, 208 and 201 pounds.

The 27 cows was no boat record, but 27 for eight anglers may make for some kind of mark.

A put-together trip with 30 anglers to Baja???s southern banks returned with 20 tuna over 200 pounds.

The super cow, a 320.2-pound yellowfin caught by Rick Newton of San Diego, won first place. Rick said he fished a sardine on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook, with 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Power Pro Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXH rod.