Skipper Roy Rose docked Royal Polaris after a five-day trip. The boat's 36 anglers got off at Fisherman's Landing August 21. Keith Fujimoto was chartermaster.

"The trip was real good," said Fujimoto. "We had about four hours of great fishing the first day, and the next morning we were fortunate again."

"We were offshore pretty much the whole time," said Danny Dinh of San Gabriel Valley. "We didn't go to Cedros, and we finished up along the coast to San Martin."

"It was fun, a lot of fun," said Rose, "We had good albacore fishing for the first two and a half days, then we went ahead and fished the beach for a half-dozen white seabass, a handful of yellowtail. I almost forgot; we got a 56-pound opah as well."

Angler Nolan Chew of Beaumont caught the opah in the evening, just before sunset in a brief albacore bite.

A 42.2-pound longfin caught by angler Clark Mills of Riverside took first place in the jackpot. Clark used a 4/0 Ringed Owner Mutu hook on 30-pound Spectra, a Daiwa Saltist reel, and a 3-foot custom rod built by Ed Robison dubbed the "Mini Whopper Stopper."

Drew Nakano of Torrance was second with a 40.8-pound albie, and Stephen Ventura of Valenda was third for his 40.6-pound albacore.

"The albacore shut off for awhile there," angler Judy Fisher of Redondo Beach said, "but we came in and did really well! If anybody asks, it was a great trip, I'm not complaining! And they've got the best boat in the fleet."