Tusker tuna from Alijos Rocks arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing June 19 when Joe Crisci docked Qualifier 105 after the AHI 20th annual charter. There were 24 anglers aboard, including chartermasters Dallas Lamb and "Cowboy" Gary VanDerLyke and several 100-pound-class tuna.

"We had a pick bite on bluefin and albacore on the way down," said Lamb to dock reporter Bill Roecker. "We spent two days at Alijos Rocks for a good bunch of 30 to 60-pound yellowfin with a few 100-pounders thrown in. We fished the shallow there for yellowtail, too.

"Then we went back up into the middle of the fleet on the bluefin grounds. We saw tonnage there but it shut off. So we tried the outside for albacore and got a few more."

Skipper Crisci said, "At The Rocks we saw a football field-size school of yellowfin come through, finning and eating little red crab. We got a half-dozen of them and then they were gone."

Gary Thomas of Miami, FL won first place for a 118.2-pound tuna he bagged with a sardine on a 3/0 Super Mutu hook. He said he used 50-poundsrem fluorocarbon leader, 50-pound Big Game line and 50-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Talica reel and a Kencor four-foot, 10-inch rod.

"He fought great," said Thomas. "He made four long surface runs and came up on the port stern corner after a 40-minute fight."

Tom Marquez of Wilmington tied with Chris Perez of Westchester for second and third places with identical 108.4-pound yellowfin.

Chris Cattell of Reno, NV won the Sportsmanship Award for hooking and handing 30 fish.

Former South Coast sportfishing regular contributor Roger Holmes, now of Durango, CO had a most unusual experience, catching a calico bass, a sheephead, a yellowtail and a yellowfin tuna on the same stop, all on a blue and white Salas 6X Jr. jig.