The fishing kite produced the best fish on the Spirit of Adventure trip that returned to Lee Palm Sportfishers August 5. A flying fish was the right bait for a 123.8-pound yellowfin that came to Mike Manoukian of Canoga Park, who hung the tuna on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook and 100-pound Izorline. He said he used a Fin Nor Ahab 30 reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"He came to the gaff hot," said Mike, "and they got him with three gaffs after three attempts. He got one gaff away from them but we got it back."

The fish wasn't eligible for the jackpot.

George Mayfield of Escondido won first place for a 90-pound yellowfin. He said it took a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook tied to 50-pound maxima line on an Avet 4/0 reel on a Calstar 700 H rod.

"It was great fishing," said George. "I got him wearing my Crocs."

John Cornelius of La Canada was second for an 84-pounder, and Gary Wulker of Simi Valley won third place for an 83-pound yellowfin tuna.

Skipper Mike Keating ran the seven-day trip. The best tuna came from Alijos Rocks, he said, where the temperature is now up to 77 degrees.

"It was 79 degrees out at Alijos Bank," said Mike, raising his eyebrows. "There were so many small tuna at the rocks we didn't object when a seiner started stringing his floats and catching some of them. For a while you couldn't get a bait through the little ones to get at the big ones."

Mike related very good yellowtail fishing at Cedros and Benitos islands, and noted encountering white sea bass of 32 to 36 inches near Cedros. He also mentioned diving locally.

"What do you think is getting the kelp here?" I asked.

"A friend of mine is a scientist who studies kelp," he said. "And he thought the problem might be a kind of fungus that's affected it before the water got hot."