Skipper Roy Rose docked the Royal Polaris May 12 after a 17-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and other offshore southern waters, including a stint at Alijos Rocks, where he said his 23 anglers found some excellent fishing for yellowtail. Rose tied up at Fisherman's Landing after the rig's last long trip of the season.

Three cows, tuna of over 200 pounds, were caught by San Diegan Don "Big Daddy" Burnside, and regular long ranger and long-time patron of the Royal Polaris. Don got two on the kite with flying fish baits, at 209 and 229 pounds, on Mustad 20/0 circle hooks. He won first place for a 248.2-pounder that fell for his fly-lined puffer pinned on a 7/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. Don said he fished 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Seeker 6455 XXH rod.

Second place went to Jim Brady of Oceanside, for a 204.2-pound tuna. Rocky Oplinger of Cherry Valley and Clayton Ludington of Spring City, UT tied for third place with 160-pound tuna.

The trip produced a good catch of yellowfin and a very good catch of wahoo, with the Alijos yellowtail adding the top-off. One day of the trip inspired the following report from the boat:

"Happy Cinco De Mayo! Hello everyone, well they say good things come to those who wait, and believe me, we have been waiting. Let's talk about tuna fishing. You could not ask for a better day on the ocean. We had our first stop of the day on a troll stop, in which one of our trollers got spooled and the other one, the Marauder just couldn't hold up to the pressure of 100 pound test Izorline. But that was the only bad news we had today.

"We had very good fishing on Yellowfin in the 140 to over 200 pounds today. But with good tuna fishing, we took the pressure off the Wahoo, and they didn't show up during the Yellowfin extravaganza. We did see a few Dorado in the water, but they were just pushed out by the Yellowfin."

Joyce Toomey of Pacifica was one of several female anglers aboard, and she posed with a sleek 135.6-pound yellowfin.

Another notable fish was a 52-pound wahoo caught by Dennis Ludington of Spring City, UT, on 30-pound line and a sardine bait.

Royal Polaris will be back on the water June 12, after her boat work, said office manager Scotty Shintaku.