Roy Rose brought the annual Royal Polaris Taka's Tackle trip home to Fisherman's Landing January 17, a day early, with nearly-full fish holds. "I asked the guys what they wanted to do; stay another day and let everything go, or top off the holds and head home a day early," said Roy. "We had a lot of fish. They were ready to leave." Chartermaster Taka Tanaka of Buena Park won first place for the only one of the trip's four cows caught on the flyline. It weighed 221 pounds. "He made two runs," said Taka to dock reporter Bill Roecker, "and he took 500 yards of line. He stayed up and out from the boat. I hooked and landed him on the bow. I appreciated the crew. They really work hard." Taka baited a sardine on a 6/0 Owner ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 130-pound Yo-Zuri and 130-pound Izorline spectra, on a Penn 50 W reel modified by himself, the same man who built the custom 770 XH rod he fished with. Kim Hofer of Greenwood won second place, but not for his 201-pounder, which was kite-caught and therefore ineligible. That one came on a sardine and a 7/0 ringed Super Mutu on 130-pound blue Izorline, 130-pound Line One spectra, a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 770 XG rod wrapped by Taka. Kim's winning fish was a 184-pound yellowfin. John Corrigan of Garden Grove won third place for a 182-pounder. Blake Pulford of Buena Park got the trip's best tuna, a 268-pound whopper, on a squid coughed up by a tuna and then hung under the kite. He used a 7/0 Super Mutu hook, 130-pound blue Izorline, 130-pound Line One spectra on an Avet 80 reel and a 770 XH Calstar rod. John Russell of Newport Beach got a 212-pound tuna with a sardine rig under the kite on 6/0 Super Mutus, 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline spectra. He used one of the boat's Penn 50 reels and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod. A possible world record came to Craig Ito of Cerritos. It was a 17-pound whitefish Ito caught while flylining for tuna with moderately heavy gear. The giant whitefish bit on a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Owner Super Mutu hook tied to 50-pound blue Izorline and 65-pound Power Pro spectra. He fished with an Avet HX 6-3 reel and a Calstar 800 XH tied up by Taka Tanaka.