How big do wahoo get? Big enough to sweep a jackpot on the Royal Polaris. Skipper Roy Rose backed the rig into Fisherman's Landing October 24 after a ten-day trip with 33 anglers, who fished on the Ridge and below Mag Bay.

Roy's fishermen nearly limited on yellowfin, and also had a very good catch of yellowtail, wahoo, dorado and grouper. Rose said he spent two days fishing below Mag Bay, and saw lots of life and mammals, but no cows.

"WAHOO! Read the report (likely written by crewman Dharyl Shelbourne) for October 21. "That was the call of the wild this morning. Our morning started out with a bang. We were hoping to catch a few Yellowtail today, but the Wahoo had a something else in mind. Roy started trolling at 06:00 hours, and that's what we did on this day in 2006. We caught Wahoo up to 75 pounds.

"It was an excellent day of Wahoo fishing. They bit the iron, the bombs, bait, and of course, on the troll. Everyone caught at least one Wahoo today. Roy doesn't like to put numbers up on the report when he runs the boat, but it was a good day. Most of the Wahoo were in the 45 to 50-pound range. We are now traveling up the line. Since this trip is almost over, we have to make up some time."

Two brothers swept the jackpot with three wahoo. The biggest one came with a story nearly as tall as the fish.

Mike Stout of Huntington Beach got that baby, a husky 65-pounder. He hooked it on a mackerel on a 2/0 Mustad hook and 27-pound light wire leader. He had 30-pound Izorline and 65-pound Spectra behind that, on an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 700 H rod.

Stout hooked the beast way upswell. It ran straight at the boat, went under, and came up on the other side. Naturally, Stout's gear was well-fouled under the rig. The crew all got involved, he said, and first they got out the fork to hold the line off.

But that didn't work. The fish was still fouled under the boat. They gaffed the line on the other side, brought it up and spliced it into the boat's heavy backup rig (meant for big tuna), and Stout finished it off that way, when it came up on the bow. Skipper Roy Rose did the gaffing.

Stout also got a 54.8-pound skin, also on a mackerel, and it won second place. Brother Milton Stout of Riverside won third place, for a 50-pound, gold Raider-eating wahoo. Skipper Rose assisted in the lineup shot with one of Mike Stout's big wahoo.