Billy Santiago Jr. docked Royal Polaris October 9 after a ten-day trip with 33 anglers that visited the southern banks below Magdalena Bay. He tied up the rig at Fisherman's Landing and weighed the big fish not going directly to the processors. Billy and his crew felt very positive about seeing big tuna so early.

"The fall season is upon us," read the boat's report for October 3. Weather today was just gorgeous, with flat seas, clear skies, and very warm days. With great weather what more could you ask for?

"We had excellent Yellowfin fishing. That's what I said. We had an excellent day of Yellowfin tuna fishing. Most of the fish are in the 65 to 80-pound range, and we are seeing fish over 175 pounds. The outlook for the fall season looks great. So if you haven't made your reservation yet, it might be a bit too late.

"Our morning started early with a handful of fish coming aboard. But as the day went on, the fishing just got better. We caught fish on the kite, fly-line Sardine, sinker rigs, Flying Fish, Iron. There is so much life down here right now, it really looks good for upcoming trips. We have another boat in the area, and they are seeing just as much action as us. This is early for the fish this year, and we don't know what to expect on the inner banks, once we start fishing that far south. It could be another banner year."

Billy added to that while standing on the dock. "We had good dorado fishing," he said, with a few skinnies on the kelps. We found the tuna up to 175 pounds, and got some to bite. We got some on the meter, too. We stayed the next day for 84 tuna.

"It was flat calm. We held a school for a couple of hours. Next we fished up The Ridge, but the weather came up. We got some yellowtail and a few wahoo. We had excellent yellowtail fishing at San Pablo, and Cedros Island was also good. We got nine keeper halibut and a good catch of rockfish."

Ray Magpali of Santa Ana won first place for a 129-pound tuna he bagged with a sardine on a 6/0 Mutu hook on 60-pound pink Ande line and 135-pound Izorline Spectra. He used an Avet 30 reel and a Calstar 6465 XH rod to do the job in 20 minutes. "He was mean, " said Magpali, "he dived right away."

Leonard Yee of Sacramento had a 45-pound olive grouper on a mackerel and the dropper loop.

Ron Kono of Thermal won second and third places for tuna of 106 and 92 pounds.