"We had good fishing for better yellowtail tight to the lee side of the island," remarked Shogun skipper Norm Kagawa on May 24 after a five-day trip. "And we got a really big halibut, along with a couple of smaller ones."

Kagawa weighed the best of his catch at Fisherman's Landing. The halibut won first place.

"I just put a sardine on the dropper loop down about 80 feet, and wham!" said David Smith of Laguna Niguel, "I got bit right away."

His big ???but weighed 48.4 pounds on the certified scales. He said he used a 4/0 Mutu hook, 50-pound Izorline, a Tiburon reel and a Calstar 6465 XH rod to haul in his prize in about five minutes.

Kagawa noted that surface iron produced few fish at the spot, but the yo-yoed jigs got plenty of fish, along with bait. The two largest yellowtail, which won second and third places, took Salas 6X Jr. jigs in scrambled eggs color.

Ron Richer of Encinitas got a 34-pound yellowtail, and Bill Hawkesworth of Oildale found a 33.2-pounder.

Don Sullivan of Alpine told of the boat being rushed by a huge school of yellows that didn't bite, an unusual event.

"They must have been just passing," he said. "The whole length of the boat just lit up with yellowtail."