Today finds many of the seven boats fishing for cows plowing their way homeward. While the weather has been rough for the past many days in deep southern waters, the boats have managed to do quite well, for the most part. Three over 300 pounds are said to be on American Angler, as a case in point. Today also marks the start of year 71 for this writer, and my imminent retirement from the position as I have known it for the past 20 years. That exact date remains unclear at the moment: I would prefer to finish the big fish season, in order to have a complete record for anglers to access in the future.

Then we received another post from the American Angler woith this information:

"The boat called tonight," reported American Angler January 15, "to fill us in with the details of their final fishing hours on this Accurate 12 day trip. They ended with an action-packed morning and were once again fortunate enough to hook a few big ones, but unfortunately only landed one of those. Kohei Kikuchi brought in a beautiful 245-pounder and at one point in the battle it became evident that there was a little more than luck involved with this catch.

"They are grateful to have topped of the trip with several 80 to 160-pound fish and are working their way up the line for a Saturday morning return. Check back for ETA and pictures on their return day!"