Frank LoPreste's Royal Polaris docked at Fisherman's Landing April 27 after a 22-day trip to Clipperton Atoll and the Hurricane Bank. All but one of the 22 anglers aboard flew home from Cabo San Lucas. There were seven tuna in the catch that exceeded 200 pounds.

The biggest tuna, a 274.2-pounder caught by Stas Vellonakis of Compton, a long-time RP fisherman, came on the kite and so wasn't eligible for the jackpot. Here is the report posted by the boat for April 21:

"Weather today consisted of 15 to 18 knots of breeze out of the north. We had overcast weather in the morning, and sunshine in the afternoon. Fishing today was fun and successful! We captured 31 Wahoo and 25 Yellowfin tuna. We had a morning bite for eight Yellowfin, largest of which was caught by Stas Vellonakis and taped out at 277 pounds. Bob Pound caught a 200-pound fish at midday and then we started scratching again at about 16:30 hours.

"Chico Leonard caught a 210 pound fish on a Caballito. This fish was long and skinny and really put Chico through an endurance test and kicked his butt, not only did this fish put Chico through the battle of the giants, the galley helper (Tony) put a gaff into the fish, the gaff ripped out and Chico fought the fish for another 20 minutes with a gaff still in the fish. Clyde Smith got a 208-pound Yellowing tuna on the same type bait, Tony Koehn, who was making his first long trip, got a 225-pound Yellowfin tuna on the kite. There were several other fish in the 100 to 190 category."

At the scales, Chico's tuna proved to be the first-place winner, at 217 pounds.

"I got it in the bottom of the ninth inning," said Chico, who has at least one huge tuna on an iron jig to his credit, "just at dark on the last night. I fought him for 40 minutes or so, and he stayed in both stern corners. The first gaff was torn from the deckhand's hands, and the fish swam strong for another 20 minutes with it."

Chico said he fished a caballito on a ringed 6/0 Super Mutu hook, tied to 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 130-pound Jerry Brown Line One Spectra backing, on a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 765 H rod.

Bill Nakaki of Tracy won second place for a 204-pounder. He wasn't at the weigh-in.

Clyde Smith of Scottsdale, AZ won third place for a 179-pound tuna. "I felt the caballito hit the back of his throat," said Clyde. "That cabby was running hard, so I let the tuna set the hook."

Gary Cotter of Santa Barbara caught a 236.6-pounder with a flying fish under the kite. He used a 12/0 7691 hook, 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 80 S reel and a Calstar 755 XH rod.

Tony Koehn of Clearwater, KS took a 219-pounder on a flying fish under the kite. He used a 12/0 Mustad 7691 hook on 130-pound clear Izorline with 130-pound Line One Spectra backing on a Penn 50 W reel and a Calstar 760 XH rod.

Mike Hieshima of Santa Barbara nabbed a 260-pounder on a rainbow runner and a 12/0 7691 hook. He fished with 130-pound Izorline, 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate 80 reel and a Calstar 665 XH rod. The fish fought for an hour.

Bob Pound of Elsinore got a 209-pounder.

Frank LoPreste summed up the experience on April 23:

"The trip departed from Puerto Vallarta on April 10th. Roy Rose, the crew and four passengers caught a beautiful load of bait, Mackerel at Cedros and plenty of Caballito at Puerto Vallarta. Our weather traveling to Clipperton was excellent and the weather at the atoll was outstanding. We never had to deal with any wind over 10 to 12 knots and that breeze was very nice in keeping things cooled off. Mid-day from about 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. was warm but tolerable by standards of most passengers.

"The fishing at Clipperton was definitely below par. The first two days there were good signs of 50 to 85-pound fish. There was poor sign of fish over 200 pounds. Other than Mike Hieshima's 260-pound fish we only had 8 other fish over 100 pounds. After 4 days of fishing we had tagged and kept 100 Yellowfin and 65 Wahoo. The Porpoise were a nuisance some of the time but not as bad as some other years. Had there been more fish at the atoll the porpoise would not have been a problem. Our move after the 4th day of the trip to Hurricane bank, definitely saved this trip.

"At the bank for 2 days of fishing we caught 141 Wahoo and 46 Yellowfin tuna. With any luck at least seven of those will be over 200 pounds. Our plans for next years Bill Nakaki/Tsujuschi (Chopa King) trip is to schedule the trip as a 22/15 day fly down/fly back Clipperton/Hurricane trip with final determination to be made by the first of December 2006. There is the possibility of changing the trip to a 18/12 day fly down/fly back from Cabo should the political climate change regarding the islands. Our next trip will be skippered by Roy Rose and Billy Santiago with David Choate Wahoo Dad's group."