Andy Cates brought Red Rooster III home to H&M Landing October 30 following the annual Loftus & Martin 14-day trip to Hurricane Bank and Clarion Island's offshore waters. There were 23 anglers aboard, and they had a very good catch of large tuna from 90 to 268 pounds.

The big 268-pound yellowfin was caught by John Wichmann of Oceanside, who used a fresh Super Seeker 6463 XXH rod he'd won in a raffle aboard the Rooster on the way south. It was custom-wrapped by Smitty G., he said. "My fifth cow and the best one yet," said Wichmann. "He was the strongest one so far. I was only out with my bait maybe three minutes in water that was full of sharks. My last ten bites were all sharks. This guy took off like a freight train, and he stayed outside during the hour and a half fight." John said he used a Mustad 9/0 7691 hook on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Izorline spectra on a Penn 50 VSW reel and his new rod.

Terry Robb, on his second long range trip, bagged the second-place fish, a 214-pounder. He said it bit on a sardine and a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook tied to 130-pound Maxima fluorocarbon and 130-pound Maxima line on a an Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Black Steel Seeker 6460 XXH rod. "I got him in 20 minutes," said Terry. "He came up in the port corner."

Fred Wakefield of Santa Ana won third place for a 197.6-pound yellowfin tuna. The anglers spent their last day of fishing at the San Benitos Islands, where they caught bass from the boat's skiffs and a nice bunch of yellows from the big boat, noted skipper Cates.