"He could have rocked me or kelped me," noted Don Ballanti of Cerritos when his 65.2-pound yellowtail was weighed by Qualifier 105 skipper Brian Sims on the certified scales at Pt. Loma Sportfishing November 21.

"He made three or four runs. I'd already lost a couple of my jigs to big yellows that are now wearing them. I went to bait after that. It's a lot cheaper to lose a Mustad hook than a jig. It was over in about ten minutes."

Don's big yellow was good for first place on the ten-day trip with 26 anglers. He said he got it with a mackerel baited on a 6/0 Mustad hook, tied to 50-pound Big Game line and 80-pound Spectra backing. He used a Penn 16 S reel modified by Larry Cofe and a Calstar 765 L rod.

Steve Phillips of Santa Rosa was second, for a 51-pound yellowtail that bit a sardine, and Bill Vermeere of Napa Valley won third place for a 50.4-pound wahoo that took an orange Burns Bomb.