Line One Trip Scores 19 Cows

Jerry Brown didn't make the trip this time, but his friends and customers aboard the Royal Polaris on the annual 18-day, 18-angler expedition filled in the blanks for him with a catch of 19 yellowfin over 200 pounds. Skipper Billy Santiago docked the boat at Fisherman's Landing April 2, 2009 and weighed a few of the fish he wasn't able to get a good weight for on the high seas.

One of those was the trip's best tuna, a 279.4-pounder caught by Chuck Thomeczek of Green Valley, AZ on the kite with a flying fish. That combo got all the cows save one.

Chuck baited his flyer on a 12/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Line One Spectra (as did every angler who caught a cow on the trip), a Penn 70 reel and a Calstar 6460 XH rod.

"My rod was wrapped by Pete at Just Fishing," said Chuck, "and this fish fought harder than the 304-pounder I got eight years ago."

Skipper Billy Santiago Jr. said, "All the big fish came from the Hurricane Bank. Our conditions there were pretty good, and improved through the trip. The water was 79.5 degrees when we left. There was very goof sign of big tuna.

"The wind didn't bother us," continued Billy, "it was about 12 knots every day but one. We got our smaller fish on sardines. The kite was going off! We had some sharks at first but they left, and there were almost none around at the end."

Bob Wolfson of Dana Point won first place for a 248-pound yellowfin. He also had a 203-pounder. The big one took a flyer with a 20/0 Eagle Claw circle hook in it. Bob used a leader of 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, he said, and 130-pound Line One Spectra backing on a Cal Sheets-modified Penn 50 reel and an unknown brand rod, "?Ķa broomstick."

"That thing fought me for an hour," he said. "I'm feeling it. He fought me from the bow. I'm 73 years old. Wahoo fish was great, I got my limit; some on bait and some on my home-made blue bombs."

David Fay of LA won second place for a 234-pounder. He used the flying fish-kite combo, and put his bait on a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He fished 130-pound Line One on an Avet 50 SDS reel and a Calstar 760 XH rod to bag the tuna in 20 minutes.

"I saw the take," he said. "It looked like a tidal wave. I fought him on the bow, and that's where he came up."

Nick Truscott of Hayward won third place for a kite-caught 227-pound tuna.

"He kicked my butt for an hour," Nick said. His rig was a 20/0 Mustad circle hook, 130-pound Line One Spectra backing, a Penn 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 XH rod.

Seiji Iwamura of Modesto got some help, and took home a pair of cows at 235 and 226 pounds. He said he put his flyers on 20/0 Mustad circle hooks, and used the boat's kite rig.

Frank Matsuhara of Gardena caught a 227-pound tuna with a flyer on a 10/0 Mustad 76791 hook. He said he used 130-pound Line One on a Penn 80 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 765 H rod, and brought the tuna to gaff in 30 minutes.

Tom Blohm of Yuma bagged a brace of cows: a 219.4 and a 218-pounder. He baited his flyer on a 14/0 Mustad circle hook, and he used 130-pound Line One on a TLD 50 reel and a Calstar 760 XH rod.

Frank Harbin caught the only sardine-biter of the trip, a 218-pounder the sucked in a sardine on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook. He fished with 130-pound Momoi leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 50 SW reel and a Calstar 7465 H rod.

""They were all tough down there this year," said Frank. "They were extra tough; maybe I'm getting older."

Jim Estes of Santa Cruz got a 217-pound tuna with a flyer on a 20/0 Mustad circle hook. He said he used the boat's kite rig, with 130-pound Line One on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Calstar rod.

"He ran around the anchor line about 30 times," said Jim, who was on his first long range trip to the bank. "He came up there, too. I'm going again in September, and I'll probably take this trip again next year, too."

Vince Biondo of Del Mar took a 210-pounder on the kite. He said he used a 14/0 Super Mutu hook, on 130-pound Momoi and 130-pound Line One, on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod in only 15 minutes. He also caught a limit of wahoo.

Royal Polaris leaves again tomorrow for another expedition into southern waters with owner-skipper Frank LoPreste at the helm.