“We had limits of yellowtail,” said chartermaster Larry Brown at Pt. Loma Sportfishing after the Qualifier 105 docked September 7, “and we had a lot of fun. Over two dozen of the yellows were big ones, and we got 14 wahoo.”

The trip had 26 anglers aboard, and visited The Ridge and The Rocks on its six days at sea. The best tuna weighed 78.6 pounds, from Alijos Rocks, weighed by crewman Tim Hall.

That big one was caught by David Lodge of Encino, on a sardine and a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook. He said he used 40-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon, 40-pound Big Game line and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra on an Avet LX reel and a Shimano eight-foot rod.

“It felt like it took about three days,” said Lodge, “but it was only about 40 minutes.”

Paul Jensen of Rocklin won second place for a 67.8-pound yellowfin, and Bobby Park of Studio City took third place for a tuna that weighed 66.6 pounds. Joe Crisci captained the trip.

Be Happy, Go Fishing

So says Gary “Cowboy” VanderLyke, who let us know about the Boss Hoag/Cowboy TRU (Tuna RoundUp) Open coming up November 14 through the 24. The prime time 10-day trip will be aboard the Qualifier 105, and it’s priced at just $2495. Call the boat at (619) 223-2786 and jump on while the tickets are still available!



Benitos Seals Are Gone

Sea lions gave his group of 22 anglers no problems at the San Benitos Islands, said Red Rooster III skipper Joe D’Acquisto at H&M Landing September 7.

“We fished there for a day and a half on our four-day trip,” said Joe, “and we got our limits of yellowtail in clean 68.5-degree water.” He added that offshore fishing along the way produced two yellowfin and a dorado.

Ken Klopfer of Thousand Oaks won first place for a 43.2-pound yellowtail. He also got a 33-pounder, he said. The big one came on a sardine and a 2/0 Mustad hook on 40-pound fluorocarbon and 40-pound mono. He used a Daiwa Saltist reel and a six and a half-foot Ugly Stick rod.

“He’s my best yellowtail ever,” said Ken. “He came up along with a big wad of kelp.”

Robert Yakemonis of Mira Loma won second place for a 33.8-pound yellowtail, and Alan Walbridge of Ventura, fishing with his two grandsons, got third place for a 33.4-pound yellowtail.



Wounded Warriors Trip

For the past couple of years, Big Al’s Tuna Tourney has taken a group of wounded servicemen, all with Purple Heart awards, on his five-day Excel trip. This year the six chosen veterans were: George Rapciewicz, Bernardo DeJesus, Neil Avant, Larry Summerfield, Budd Pongah and Timothy Evans. The $1,995 cost to bring each one was made up by contribution.

This year skipper Justin Fleck took his anglers deep into southern waters, more so than five-day trips usually go.

”We went to the 13 Spot, Benitos and Abreojos and Sac Reef,” said Big Al Gross, the chartermaster.

One of the vets, Larry Summerfield of San Diego, won first place for a 32.4-pound yellowtail.

“My sardine ran straight down, and he bit it near the bottom,” Larry told dock reporter Bill Roecker at the Fisherman’s Landing scales. He used a 4/0 hook on a 40-pound rental outfit.

Ryan Kluver of San Clemente won second place for a 28.8-pound yellowtail. Bart Dixon of Vista found a 28-pound yellowfin tuna to win third place.

Bob and Skii Kubota of Huntington Beach are both SDSU alums. They married in San Diego in 1948 and lived there for many years. They’ve been regulars on the Royal Star since the boat was new, and they just celebrated their 62nd anniversary on a five-day trip with owner-skipper Randy Toussaint.


Randy docked the boat at Fisherman’s Landing September 6, after fishing at the islands and offshore. Yellowtail fishing was great, and tuna were available north of the islands.

Len Cunningham, another long-time Star rider, posed with a typical yellowfin.

“We had one troll stop, and hit a kelp for our tuna,” he told dock reporter Bill Roecker.

Pate Aivavijian of Pasadena won first and second place for yellows of 37.5 and 32.5 pounds. He said he got the big on e on a mackerel and a 5/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 60-pound Izorline Spectra. He fished with an Accurate 870 two-speed reel and a Phenix nine-foot rod. He said the big fish came to gaff in five minutes.

Paul Paolasso won third place for a 31-pound yellowtail.

Owner-skipper Tim Ekstrom will take the boat out next, on a six-day trip. He posed with a copy of the boat’s new brochure, featuring Star regular Warren Sakamoto with a cow tuna ready for release on a tagging trip to the Revillagigedos.



Charlie Bear’s Trip

Mike Keating’s Spirit of adventure arrived at H&M Landing September 6 after a good five-day trip that brought home limits of yellowtail from the San Benitos and Cedros islands. Chartermaster Charlie Bear said they encountered some yellowfin north of the islands. He called the yellowtail fishing “real good!”

Steven Goodman of San Luis Opisbo won first place for a 36.5-pound mossback. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Owner Flyliner hook tied to 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Trinidad 40 reel and a Kencor custom six and a half-foot rod.

Sam Sorenson of Paso Robles won second place for a 35.6-pounder. Scott Daniels of San Luis Opisbo won third for a 33.3-pounder, but couldn’t be found at the scales for a lineup shot, so Goodman and Sorenson posed with their winning yellowtail.



Pasture Yellowtail Nibble

“Today we had a beautiful morning on cow yellow” deadpanned Red Rooster III skipper Joe D'Acquisto September 5. “The fish was 25 to 35 pounds with a few better ones. The afternoon was slow. We had no conditions and the water was a degree and a half cooler. We saw plenty of fish they just didn't want to bite. All the folks are happy and we are hopping to catch some tuna tomorrow offshore.” 



80 Does Five

Bob Taft’s Top Gun 80 returned from a five-day trip to H&M Landing September 6 with 23 anglers on board, guided by owner-skipper Taft.


“We had limits of ‘tails to 39 pounds,” said Bob. “We also got 11 yellowfin and two albacore. The seals left us alone at Benitos and fishing was real good there. Cedros was good, too. On the way back we metered lots of bluefin, but it was the same old story; they wouldn’t bite.”

“We ran up the line all day searching for clean and warm water,” said the report from American Angler September 4, “and it took us until the afternoon before we found the blue 67.5 degree water. By that time we were pretty much on a course line home, but we did have two stops on good grade yellowfin tuna. In both stops we had them boil up, hooked baitfish and we landed 8 fish between the two stops.

“It is an encouraging sign as maybe with more time in that area someone can put a few more stops together. One of our more interesting catches of the year was made by our very own Taro when he tossed a jig into some boils and came up with a four foot long snake mackerel.”



Tuna Luck

“We were fortunate enough to get into an area where we found good sign of yellowfin tuna,” reported Excel skipper Justin Fleck September 5. “At first they seemed reluctant to bite but in the afternoon they got with it and it was game on! The size of the fish was from 12 to 30 pounds, a nice grade of fish. By sundown, everyone had their fill of tuna, so we decided to head back to the islands and finish off on yellows. The weather out here is as good as it gets.”



Bengay For The Boys

“Today we started our fishing for the trip after a day of rigging and resting yesterday,” noted the report from Qualifier 105 September 3. “We started out on The Ridge. It took us a little while to find a high spot with some fish. It was a mix of tuna and Yellowtail that stopped us while we were trolling. We drifted with the fish for a while and scratched a nice box full of fish, some smaller fish were released and we tagged a few. We then dropped the anchor and started fishing on the hook. We ended up scratching for a few hours and had a few flurries were almost all our anglers had fish tugging on their lines. No wahoo today but we still have time for that. We ended up out off shore looking for kelps and or porpoise. We hit the jackpot late in the day and found some tuna with a school of porpoise. It was good fishing for tunas around 18 to 25 pounds. Most of the gang tagged a nice mix of fish today and the galley smelled of Bengay by dark!

“We hooked a big marlin yesterday on 40 lb test and most of the crew had a chance to pull on it. At one point Tim Putt the drag in full and pulled as hard as he could not letting this fish take any drag. The reel, an Avet, the line, Izorline 40-pound, and the Phenix rod pulled the fish to the boat like it was 130-pound gear, very impressive! We released the fish and it swam away in perfect shape.”

Roy Rose docked Royal Polaris at Fisherman’s landing September 4 after five days at sea with a Shimano charter and 32 anglers. Chartermaster Robbie Gant was aboard, supplying some of his company’s products for anglers. In fact, the trip’s best fish came on a Shimano Butterfly 160 jig in green.


That yellowtail was a 27-pounder caught by Joey Hubbard of Chico. He gave his fish to the processor, so it wasn’t available for a photo. He said he got it with 60-pounder fluorocarbon in the form of a Butterfly Wind-On leader from Shimano tied to 65-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Trinidad 16 reel and a Trevala 66 MH rod.

“It was awesome on the small pole,” said Hubbard. “I got him in about ten minutes.”

Alex Gillis of San Diego won second place for a 26-pounder, and John Gillis of San Diego, Joey Hubbard and Andrew Cicisly pf Morgan hill all tied for third place with 22-pound yellowtail.

Charlie Bullan of Ono posed with a typical yellow from the trip, a fish of 20 pounds.



Nine-Day Southern Special

Tommy Rothery docked his Polaris Supreme September 4 after the nine-day Gary Roberts annual charter with 24 passengers. They fished in southern waters where Rothery recorded a warm temperature of 77 degrees.

“We had good wahoo fishing,” said Tommy, “and some real good dorado fishing. We also had lots of releases. Two of the guys, Mike Brennan of Martinez and Dave Rouse of Fresno, released more tuna, yellowtail and dorado than just about anybody. Most of the wahoo came on bait with wire.”

Brennnan’s karma from all those releases was good. He won first place for a 71-pound tuna he got with a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Owner Mutu hook on 50-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon tied to 40-pound Izorline and 50-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Talica 10 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6460 H rod.

Mike Grella of Sylmar won second place for a 66.8-pound tuna. Todd Haraldson didn’t make it to the lineup shot, so Vincent Foster of Pacific Palisades posed with his third-place 65.8-pound tune.

The trip’s best wahoo and the biggest so far this fall was a 64-pounder caught by Oaul Lacas of Long Beach on a chrome Salas 6X Jr. jig.

“Our weather was a bit windy today,” said Royal Polaris September 2, “with 15 to 18 knots of breeze, clear skies, and sunny.”


“Our early morning started out with a decent Calico bass bite. Most of the bass were in the three to four-pound range. Around 05:00 Roy moved the boat, and the rest of the morning was slow. Around lunch the dinner bell went off. We had one drift for over two hours. It was steady, but not wide open. We had a good afternoon of Yellowtail fishing. Most of the fish were in the 12 to 15-pound range.

“We departed the area around 18:00 hours and now we are headed northwest. We will try our luck at offshore fishing tomorrow. So wish us luck and we will keep you posted on our daily events.”



Fishing With Marines

“We departed yesterday,” said Excel skipper Justin Fleck September 3, “on our Big Al five-day trip and once again, Al has dedicated several spots for the Purple Heart Foundation, for Marines injured in Iraq. The soldiers and anglers are excited to be out here on the water. We are currently headed south toward the islands to start our trip off with some action on yellowtail.”



All Day Long

“Today was good fishing for us on the Indy,” noted the report from the bridge. “From sunup to sundown we were pulling on some thing, bass or yellowtail. All types were the hot ticket for the yellows, jigs, bait etc. The weather was good as well. We are going to try this tomorrow in hopes of a repeat.”



Back In The Saddle

“We successfully made it through a very sloppy night of weather,” said the Polaris Supreme report for September 1, “to arrive our destination in the early morning hours. After trolling around for a bit and with only a small handful of wahoo to show for our efforts we decided to drop anchor to get setup for tuna fishing. Not long after we got established in our spot the tuna's started to bite a little bit and this trend would continue throughout the morning. Nice grade of fish too. 40 to 65 pounds. with a few bigger and a few smaller to round out our already stellar catch of fish. We certainly didn't land everything we hooked and we had some real heartbreaks. Whether it was pulled hooks, chew-off's, or shark related incidents we did lose our share of fish, but that's fishing. Needless to say, we were happy with what we threw in the fish holds this morning.

“While doing work on the tuna the wahoo seemed to build up as the day progressed as well and we picked away at them when they rolled on through. It was kind of herky-jerky fishing, to be honest with you. Does one tie on a wire leader for wahoo and risk the chance of not getting a tuna bite or does one stick with straight mono and risk the chance of landing a wahoo? Either way, we still lost a lot of wahoo and when the tuna bite disappeared we pulled anchor to go take care of some wahoo fishing proper. Marauders, bombs/raiders, and wire leaders.

“We were ready to roll as were the wahoo and we slowly but surely put a really nice day together on the skins, a real nice grade of fish too. Definitely a few more hoos from 40 to 60 pounds were captured today. Breaking it down, we had a very nice day on the skin with a nice mix of tuna to go along with it. We're happy and we couldn't have asked for a better way to end our stay down here.

“When all was said and done, our wahoo honey hole had dried up and we pointed her on-course for yellowtail land to try to not only get in a few hours fishing tomorrow but also to try to avoid the weather that's forecast.”

Ray Lopez docked American Angler September 2 at Pt. Loma Sportfishing after a five-day trip to Cedros Island. The James Hardware charter carried 27 anglers including chartermaster David Samarin of La Habra.

“We worked hard,” noted Samarin. “It was never full-speed fishing. We went to Benitos the first day and the next morning at the South End of Cedros we were in 61-degree water. We slipped around to the Salt Plant and it was 70 degrees. The premium yellowtail were there. We also tried the North End but it was scratchy.”

Steve Samarin of La Habra (David’s brother) won first place in the jackpot for a 41.8-pound slugger yellowtail. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Eagle Claw hook on 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, 30-pound Izorline and 65-pound Power Pro spectra on a Saltiga reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

“It was a 15-minute fight,” said Steve. “He took me around the bow twice. Thanks to the crew I kept him on. He came up on the port corner.”

Dan Agalsoff of Hacienda Heights tied with Walt Babashoff and chartermaster David Samarin (both of La Habra) for 34.4-pound yellowtail. In fact, Samarin got two at that weight. Ties aren’t uncommon with school fish in the summer, but a triple tie is rare.



Daily Winners

Shogun arrived at Fisherman’s landing September 2 under skipper Bruce Smith’s hand after four days of fishing offshore and at Cedros Island. There were two daily winners aboard the Larry Fanchard charter.



Barrett Johnson of Folsom won the first day for a 33.6-pound yellowtail, a jigfish that snapped up his blue and white 6X Jr.

“It was about halfway up,” remembered Johnson, “on the grind. It took about 20 minutes and ended up in the stern corner.”
He said he used 40-pound Blackwater leader on 65-pound Power Pro Spectra on a reel he’d just won in the Rollo Drawing, a Torium 20. He used a Calstar 765 XL rod.

The second winner was John Collis of Thousand Oaks, who caught a 68-pound broomtail grouper on a sardine and a 3/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook. He said he used 40-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 65-pound Power Pro Spectra on an Accurate BX 400 N reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

“I got him in about 15 minutes,” said Collis. “He was in shallow, maybe 60 feet.”



Lonesome George

“Our weather continues to be good,” reported Royal Polaris September 1, “with lots of sunshine, clear skies, and just enough breeze to keep the heat down. We started morning looking for yellows, but there was none to be found. So we made a move to the north, and we started picking away at the yellows. Most of the fish were in the 12 to 15-pound range.

“We made a short move to try our luck at some calico bass, and we didn't get disappointed. We had a steady bite on the calico, and one lonely halibut (about 15 pounds). With the offshore bite not happening, we will give it another try for the yellowtail tomorrow. So wish us luck, and we will keep you posted on our daily events.”