Tim Sanderson of Laytonville wasn't expecting more than the nice wahoo he caught one day fishing on the Qualifier 105 with Joe Crisci.

He put a sardine on his 3/0 forged Mustad hook. His rig sported 60-pound wire, 80-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra backing on a five and a half-foot rod of unknown make.

"I had just got a nice wahoo," he told Bill Roecker at the Pt. Loma Sportfishing scales January 25. "So I put a bait back on my rig and tossed it out there, and bam, I got hit. The first run was straight down, and I thought it felt too heavy for a wahoo.

"About an hour later, after a couple of times around the boat, he came up in the middle of the port side! This was the most fun fish I ever got, and the biggest on light line.

"I also reeled in a few wahoo heads," continued Sanderson. "The sharks are showing on the bank."

Sanderson won first place for his 266.4-pound yellowfin tuna. It was the sole cow.

Chartermasters Martin and Loftus came in second and third, with tuna of 169 and 159 pounds.

"We had gorgeous weather," said skipper Joe Crisci.

"But the current was wrong most of the time at the Hurricane Bank. We had pretty good wahoo fishing, though. We tried the Buffer Zone and it was good for tuna of 40 to 110 pounds. We got the big fish there in mixed fish, mostly found on bird schools. On the way back we saw a big swordfish and had contact with an albacore."

Holding his 49.6-pound wahoo, Adrian Kisser stood in with the skipper and the chartermasters for a lineup shot, with his new wahoo clock, for the trip's best skinny.