"On our first day the offshore fishing was bad," related Royal Polaris skipper Billy Santiago Jr. at Fisherman's Landing July 12, "so we went down to Cedros Island and had a fantastic day fishing yellowtail on the surface iron and on bait.

"Then we went back to Guadalupe to see if fishing had picked up. It had. We got 38 big yellowtail from 25 to 45 pounds and seven yellowfin, including the big one. We spent our last day fishing albacore, and we had a fair day with 91."

The big fish weighed 107 pounds when Billy weighed it on the certified scales. It was caught by Okuma California sales manager Rick Zimmerman. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 4/0 Eagle Claw hook, 40-pound DAM line on an Okuma Titus Gold 10S reel and an Okuma Caltalina seven foot, MH rod.

It was late in the morning at Guadalupe when he bit," said Zimmerman. "I had the bait out on a long soak. He bit and ran upcurrent. He saw the boat and took off again. The gear performed flawlessly."

Chartermaster John Bretza of Santa Ana brought 50 Okuma outfits along for anglers to try on the five-day trip, which had 37 aboard.

Robert Hoffman of Torrance was second, for a 50.9-pound tuna, and Mike Ferrard of Winchester was third, for a 48-pound yellowfin tuna.