Mark Frankenberger of Dalton, GA had been on at least one ten-day trip, but this 18-day trip with 14 anglers and owner-skipper Frank LoPreste on the Royal Polaris was his first truly long trip. Mark wasn't at the dock when the boat arrived April 19, having flown home from Cabo, so he couldn't be interviewed, but he became one of several "rookies" to bag a 300-pound tuna.

LoPreste weighed the fish fresh on the boat at 314 pounds, making it the 21st supercow of the 2007-2008 season.

"Sensational fishing," said Frank. "Here, ask Gary Edwards what he thought about it."

"My best trip ever," replied Edwards, standing nearby. "My best of 15 of these trips."

"We had great wahoo fishing at the Hurricane Bank," said LoPreste. "In fact, we got 37 while on the anchor one day. The tuna fishing at Clarion was out of this world. We got 41 yellowfin on our best day there."

The big fish was ineligible, as were a couple of other big ones, so Sue Beck of San Clemente won first place for her 222.4-pounder. She got it with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra. Sue used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6460 XH rod. She said the fish fought for an hour.

Steve Tsujiuchi of Rosemead won second place for a 213-pounder that the decked after a half-hour tussle. He also fished a sardine, on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Blackwater Spectra. He said he used a Penn 50 S reel and a Yo's custom 6465 XH rod.

Keith Patterson of Santa Fe Springs was third, for a 198.6-pounder. It kept him busy for 45 minutes, he remarked. It was also a sardine fish on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook. He fished with 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra, with a Penn 30 SW reel. He brought his winner to gaff with a Seeker 6460 XH rod.

Bruce Wheeler of San Diego had an ineligible 280 pounder. It didn't count because the crew had to help horse it in through the sharks, noted LoPreste.

Richard Losey of Carlsbad posed with one of the big wahoo from the Hurricane, a 60-pounder he got with a pink Raider. He said he got two that were larger.

All told, the trip produced seven tuna over 200 pounds, including the rookie-caught 314-pound monster yellowfin.