Making his first-ever long range trip, rookie angler Paul Oleson of Farmington, UT caught his first tuna and his first wahoo. The tuna turned out to be the best fish of the trip, naturally, a 209-pounder, so Paul won first place jackpot at H&M Landing when skipper Andy Cates docked the boat after the Loftus-Martin charter May 19.

"It took about an hour," said Oleson. "It was fun; he was taking more line off than I reeled in."

Paul used a flying fish baited under a balloon on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook to take his prize-winner. He fished with 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra backing on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH "rail rod."

"We fished at the Hurricane Bank, where it was slow, but with fish around," said skipper Cates. "We went in to the island and then came back out again only to find everything was still the same, with sharks all over the place. We had beautiful weather with a heavy shark presence."

Cates also had some good news, spotting good tuna sign on the way home.

Ed Scheenstra of Ontario, a Rooster regular angler, won second place, for a 206-pound yellowfin tuna.

"It fought for about an hour," said Ed. "It fought harder than my last big fish, a 280-pounder. I can handle anything."

Ed fished a flyer under a balloon on an 8/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra backing on a Penn 50 SW reel and a Seeker 6460 XXH rod.

John Wichmann of Oceanside won third place for a 173-pounder, and Fred Pease of lake Elsinore had the next-best fish, a 163-pound tuna.

"When we came up the line we saw a lot of fish," said skipper Cates, "we saw very good schools of bluefin of 35 to 45 pounds at about 200 miles from San Diego, and we also got jig strikes on smaller yellowfin and albacore in the same area."

The Red Rooster III departs on her last long range voyage of the season Saturday, May 20, returning June 4.