Art Taylor took his 25 anglers on a four-day trip to the local albacore grounds, to capitalize on the proximity of the longfin, which are as close a s 20 miles from San Diego.

"We had a lot of tries in 66-degree blue water," said Art at Fisherman's Landing July 8, "but they're not biting as well as you'd like. My plotter was just a bunch of circles from all the tries we made."

His anglers still managed a decent catch of longfin. The best one was a good as any so far this year, at 35 pounds.

William Barnes of LA got that one, good for first place. It was the first fish caught on the trip, before dawn the first morning, before anyone else was up.

Barnes said he got his prize-winner on a sardine pinned to a Mustad ringed hook in the 3/0 size. He used 40-pound blue Izorline, and Avet LX reel and a Calstar 700 H rod.

Jerry Reynolds of Cambria was second, for a 32.6-pounder, and Dave Dubuy of West Monroe, LA won third place, for a 32.4-pound longfin.