The lineup shot for the Excel's anglers featured seven species September 26, as skipper Shawn Steward stepped in with a dorado caught by Let's Talk Hookup chartermaster Gary White of Lawndale.

"We awoke this morning to good biting squid and flat calm seas," wrote Steward September 23. "What better weather to be looking for kelps in today. We found a line of kelps and picked some 15 to 25 pound dorado and a few wahoo up to 55 pounds. The first kelp we found we hooked 10 wahoo and landed 4 of them. Then we went a while before we had any more wahoo but hooked two more in the afternoon and landed one of them. We had good dorado fishing and tomorrow we are going to try for some trophies at the island."

The only trophies encountered at Guadalupe Island proved to be a yellowfin tuna and a white seabass, but the variety found on the rest of the six-day trip was spectacular. After Steward weighed the fish he help seven of the anglers pose with their fish, and helped Gary White by posing with his best dorado.

Pete Simokaitis of Chicago, IL won first place for the tuna, a 69.5-pound yellowfin. He said he got it with a sardine on a 4/0 Eagle Claw hook, 40-pound Ande line, a Trinidad 30 reel and a seven-foot Seeker rod.

"It took me 25 minutes," said Pete. "It was a good fight with a slipping drag."

Paul Lucio of Brawley was second, for a 54-pound yellowtail, and chartermaster White won third place for a 39.6-pound mossback.

In the lineup after the first three place winners were Jeff Esquivel of Moreno Valley, with a 54.8-pound wahoo; Frank York of San Diego, with a white seabass; Mark White (Gary's son) of Massillon, OH, with a 24.4-pound halibut; John Bochler of Iron River, WI, with a small bluefin tuna taken in 73-degree water; and skipper Steward, with a good dorado.