Justin Fleck docked Excel July 30 after the annual Stires five-day trip.

"We fished offshore this trip," said Justin at Fisherman's Landing. We had very good paddy fishing. There are a lot of paddies; it doesn't take long to find one. All the paddies we looked at had a little life on them."

Any downside? "There's a lot of commercial traffic (seiners) out there," said Fleck.

Oral surgeon Mike Marshall of Huntington Beach won first place on the trip for a nice big opah of 87.6 pounds. It was his first trip, and he said he fished "?Ķup on the other end of the boat from everybody," to keep from messing anyone else up.

"He bit about 75 feet down," said Marshall, "on a blue and white 6X Jr. My line just stopped while I was cranking, and I though maybe I was stuck on the prop, because they had just said for everybody to reel up, we were leaving.

"But then he started pulling line. He didn't run fast or hard, he just ran for a short distance. Then he came straight up, circling like a tuna."

Marshall said he fished with a 40-pound rental outfit, with a Penn 6/0 reel and a Seeker rod.

Tom Trainer of Encino won second place for a 31.4-pound yellowtail. Lee Erlandson of Rancho Mirada won third place for a 28.8-pound yellowtail. They were joined in the lineup shot by Jon Scobey of Bartlett, TN and his 27.5-pound yellowfin tuna.

Marcus Cohen of Erie, CO buggy-whipped a pair of dorado in the 20-pound class. He said he used a sardine fly and a 12-weight fly rod.