A brace of 300-pounders tied up the loose ends of the big tuna season when the Red Rooster III, skippered by Andy Cates, arrived at H&M Landing June 12 after a 15-day June Heat trip sponsored by Accurate. Leo Reihsen was chartermaster. There were 11 tuna over 200 pounds.

The first-place winner came in at 315.3 pounds, caught by Laurens Rhinelander of San Diego, whose friends told Bill Roecker he was on his first two-week long range trip. "It took 45 minutes," Rhinelander told Roecker. "I thought he was a shark. I hooked about 40 of them the day before. He ran about 200 yards after he was hooked, heating up the reel pretty good. Then he went up and down the side."

Laurens' tuna took a salami mackerel on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He fished with 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Jin Kai line with 130-pound Line One spectra on an Avet 50 SDS reel and a Calstar 7609 H rod.

Rookie long ranger Alec Robbie hadn't been out for more than eight days (that trip was on the Rooster with Bill Roecker and got Alec into the Sportfishing Calendar for July 2009), but that didn't seem to matter as he caught three giant yellowfin on this excursion. The fish weighed 314.8, 285.5 and 221.5 pounds: not bad for a rookie.

Robbie told Roecker he only got sharked once on the trip, which says something about his luck, since everyone else had many more contacts with grinners. Alec is eligible for a new Accurate ATD reel, since he got his supercow on an Accurate trip with an Accurate reel.

The college student used sardines on Mustad 6/0 ringed Demon circle hooks. He fished with 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon, 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Line One spectra on an Accurate 30 reel and a Calstar 770 XXH rod.

"He took me down to my last 20 wraps," said Alec. "The clips were on the backup rig. He fought for 45 minutes and stayed outside the whole time. He took me around the boat once, and he came up on the bow.

"I expected tough fishing. I put in a lot of time at the rail and stayed out there at night, and it paid off with a 221-pounder that I got about 11 PM when everyone else was in bed."

In third place for his 297.2-pounder, Bill Walsh of Chino Hills also had tuna of 244.5 and 230.2 pounds. He fished mackerel on a 12/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 130-pound Yo-Zuri, 130-pound Line One spectra on an Accurate 50T reel and a Phenix 700 XXXXH rod.

Bob Goka of Northridge bagged a 286-pound yellowfin with a sardine on a 6/0 Demon hook tied to 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One spectra.

Bob Terry of Santa Monica spent a 45-minute interlude with a 270.2-pounder after it sucked in his mackerel on a Mustad 15/0 hook on 130-pound Izorline. He used 130-pound Izorline spectra on an Avet 50 W reel and a Calstar 7455 XXH rod.

Bob Michener of Oxnard got his 221.4-pound in a half-hour. It bit a kite-flown squid on a Mustad 9/0 7691 hook, and Bob used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline spectra on an Accurate 80 W reel and a Seeker five and a half-foot vintage rod.

Jesse Baker of Culver City baited a mackerel on an 11/0 Mustad 7691 hook to catch a 216.7-pound yellowfin in 20 minutes. He fished with 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Line One spectra backing on an Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 770 XXHG rod.

This was the last big tuna trip of the 2010-11 season.