"Today was a great way to end our Seaguar 5-day trip," reported Red Rooster III skipper Joe Crisci August 10. "We had our daily morning bite for 12 BFT, then had a very long drift through lunch for 118 quality bluefin tuna and a handful of good size dorado. The majority of the Bluefin were the larger 25 to 40-pound tuna, beautiful grade fish. For a while it was pretty chaotic, we had four fish in the bow and at least four fish in the stern, with new fish being hooked as others were gaffed aboard. There were a lot of boils and guys screaming hook up and Gaff! It was great long range style tuna fishing.

"A special thanks to our two hosts Dale Hightower and Jerry Benedicto. Jerry brought some very nice give-a-ways from Seaguar including spectra, flourocarbon, hats and t-shirts. Dale brought a bunch of fishing rods to raffle off thanks to American Spirit and lures from Catchy tackle."

At the H&M dock August 11, Crisci weighed the fish and summed up the trip, which had 31 fishermen aboard, including Brandon Hayward, saltwater editor at Western Outdoor News, and Gerry Benedicto of Seaguar and Dale Hightower of H&H Outdoor Marketing.

"It was lots of work," Crisci said, "but good all-around. We didn't see as many kelp paddies on the one. We had that good last-day bite on a sonar mark."

Brian Friesen of Fresno won first place for a 40.8-pound yellowfin tuna. He told Roecker he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 Gamakatsu hook and 25-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon. He fished with 25-pound P-Line on an Avet MXL reel and a Seeker seven-foot rod.

Carl Schielzeth of Westminster won second place for a 38.8-pound yellowfin, and Sergio Perez of San Pedro took third for a 38.6-pound yellowfin tuna.