"Talked to the boat tonight and the mystery angler that caught the 323.5-pound tuna this morning was Capt. Joe Machado," reported the office for American Angler January 14.

"Just to give you a little history, Joe has dedicated his life to catching bait for the fleet for over the past 35 years and spends long hours producing the most quality catches possible and no one will argue that he is the best at what he does.
Fishing and hunting is his way of life and his wife Kim relayed that he was really happy about joining the elite 300-Pound Club. Congrats, Joe! It is fitting for him, who has day in and day out given his all for anglers to have the finest bait possible for catching fish, that now he should be on the receiving end of this.
So next time you're on a fishing trip out of San Diego and you nose hook, gill hook or belly hook your anchovy or sardine, and it swims away from the boat, know that there is a entire layer of the process that we as anglers many times take for granted and shouldn't.

"Fishing on the whole was a little slower today, but other highlights today were Gary Graham with a 224-pounder and Kohei Kikuchi with a 205-pounder!"