Brian Kiyohara docked American Angler September 2 after a five-day trip to Baja's west coast islands. He tied the boat at Pt. Loma Sportfishing and weighed the winners.

"Good Karma," wrote Brian Saturday. "Call it what you want, but it sure seems that quite often with our group representing James Hardware Gang, we have something special on our side. With recent reports of scratch fishing we went to the grounds with the hopes of catching a few tuna. The morning started off with a small flurry of biting fish, then it turned into all show and no go. We watched fish boil around for hours and found bites extremely hard to come by.

"After several moves we found one that wanted to bite a little bit and were able to settle in and pick away at the fish for the rest of the day. We were lucky to end up with over sixty fish for the day. The bulk majority of the fish were school-sized fish but there was enough better grade fish mixed in to keep it interesting."

Dave Urane of La Habra Hills won first place for his 87.6-pound yellowfin.

"He bit around five in the afternoon," remembered Urane. "We were already in shadow, and he bit near the boat, on a belly-hooked sardine. He ran very hard right away. I think he hooked himself."

Dave used a 2/0 Super Mutu hook with 50-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 65-pound Izorline Spectra on a Shimano 12 T reel with a Baker topless conversion and a Calstar 765 XL rod. The fish gave it up after 40 minutes of fighting along the port side.

Morrie Beliakoff of Hacienda Heights won second for his 80-pound tuna. It fought for a half-hour. David Samarin of La Habra Heights was third for a 63-pounder, and Jack Sussoev of Al Habra Heights got a 51-pound yellowtail. He stood in with the winners.

This year the James Hardware trip sported three anglers named David Samarin, With some coaxing from Bill Roecker, they posed for a portrait.