Independence docked December 20 with a remarkable catch of giant yellowfin tuna. The ten-day trip with 25 anglers, skippered by owners Mark Pisano and Paul Strasser finished up with 16 cows, or tuna over 200 pounds. The crowning glory, though was the weighing of three tuna over 300 pounds on the Point Loma Sportfishing certified scales.

The trio of super cows went 356.2, 350.8 and 302.8 pounds! Such a lineup hasn't been seen at the San Diego sportfishing docks for about a decade.

The biggest fish, caught by Dan Taketa of Lompoc, nearly broke into the ranks of the all-time top ten tuna taken by long rangers. At 356 pounds, it was only about six pounds short of making that mark.

"It took about an hour and a half to get him in," said Dan. "When he bit, he just kept on going. He was hard to stop."

Taketa said he hooked his fish on a sardine and a 4/0 ringed Super Mutu circle hook. He used 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 50 S reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He also got a 210.8-pound yellowfin.

Dan's monster nearly spooled him, and a couple of other anglers did get spooled by the big fish around the Indy.

"It was a fantastic trip, the trip of a lifetime. Our best bite was a sunsetter," remembered skipper Pisano, "and we got about 20 fish that day. Other days, there weren't so many. But everyone aboard got a 100-pounder. We released four marlin, and there were uncountable dorado up to 30 pounds. "The big tuna down there are a bit scattered, but they bunch up enough for sportfishing. We found most of