"The fishing is real good right now," said Skipper Joe Crisci after docking Qualifier 105 at Point Loma Landing November 21. "We spent four days on those real big ones, then we went and fished the ridge. But going after the tuna is your best bet right now."

Chris Hall of the Coastside Fishing Club chartered the fifth annual ten-day trip.

Steve Phillips of Windsor, CA placed first in the jackpot with a 218.8-pound tuna. Steve used a J-hook, 100-pound Berkeley Big Game test, an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar rod.

Cynthia Johnson of San Jose placed second with a 207-pound yellowfin. "They took it well that they got out-fished by a girl!" said Cynthia, who fished with 100-pound Berkeley HIBI Electric Blue line. "Everybody made fun of it, but it was all about the bling!"

Cynthia used a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook, an Accurate 50 W reel and a Calstar 760 H rod to finish her fish.

Jim Kirk of Huntington Beach placed third for a 187-pound tuna. "I lost the biggest one of the trip during a night-bite," said Jim. "We had two backups on that fish, and there was a lot of pulling."

"I got a 40-pound dorado on the kite with a squid bait," said Phil Lisi of Costa Mesa. "There were few wahoo on the ridge, and we had great weather the whole trip. Coming back was real nice."

John Trummald scored a personal best with a 187.6-pounder, and Dennis Nathan of Pacific Beach also landed a personal best, an 80-pound yellowfin.