"We decided to finish our trip at the beautiful island of Guadalupe looking for trophy yellowfin tuna," wrote Excel skipper Justin Fleck on the Phil's Prop charter August 10. "We started out fishing the south end of the island where we saw a few fish, but unfortunately only got a handful to bite. After looking around the island after lunch and trying a few different spots we returned to the south end where we set up for the afternoon. We started picking at them around 1500 and an hour later we had 2 to 3 hanging until dark.

"Unfortunately, we had up to 3 white sharks around the boat and they took their toll on our hook-to-land ratio. All things considered, we had a good day and were able to put some trophies on the boat. We ended up with 34 tuna that ranged from 45 to 90 pounds. We also got a couple of beautiful yellowtail that will be close to 40 pounds. We stuck around the island and hoped we could get a few in the morning but just as they started to splash around we had to head for home. We did get a couple more tuna along with a good flurry on yellows."

Tom Machado of Newman won first place for a 71-pound tuna that beat him up for an hour and a half. He said he got it with a sardine on a 4/0 Super Mutu hook, 40-pound Big Game line, a Penn 545 reel and an Ugly Stick seven-foot rod.

James Zavas of Redding was second, for a 69.8-pounder, and Lee Ward of Anderson won third place, for a 64-pound Guadalupe Yellowfin tuna.