"We got more goodies than any trip I've been on before," remarked a fisherman getting off the American Angler July 19. He had been on an annual five-day trip with chartermaster Jim Bostian, skipper Sam Patella and 22 other anglers. Shirts and reels were among the prizes being sported by the passengers.

"Well this has been an awesome day," wrote Patella July 16. "This morning we made the whole tour and saw a great sign of fish but it didn't really act the way we had hoped, but with a little luck things worked out just fine in the afternoon for us. We had steady 1 to 4 going for 4 hours of all of that premium grade Yellowtail, which just topped off the day with a bang, The photo of the day is of Travis Basom with one of his fish he caught on the plug.

"It is time to say goodbye to our Sunny warm lee of the Island and make our way offshore. Our goal is to make it up to the Albacore area for the day after tomorrow so we are going to do some looking on the way."

The trip's last day of albacore fishing produced 35 albacore and a bluefin. At the Point Loma Sportfishing scales, Patella weighed the winners.

Steve Mellentin of San Diego got the best yellowtail, good for first place in the jackpot. His 43-pounder took a sardine on a 2/0 Gamakatsu hook. He said he used 40-pound P-Line fluorocarbon leader, 30-pound P-Line, a Trinidad 20 reel and a 610 Calstar rod to whip his prize in ten minutes.

Mark Poehlman of San Diego won second place for a 37-pounder, and Travis Bason of San Diego got third place for a 35-pound yellowtail.