A ten-day trip with 27 anglers aboard Independence with Jeff DeBuys ended January 5 at Pt. Loma Sportfishing.

"This was an Accurate trip," said Jeff. "Everything was perfect, the amount of big fish swimming around. There were big schools of cows. We had two days of the sort every angler dreams about. We had four fish over 3000 pounds and 19 over 200.

"The key was finding fish in the morning. Then you could stay with the school all day. We had a couple of epic days drifting, and on the anchor."

Andy Bosforo of San Diego won first place for his 346.8-pound yellowfin. The fish ate a squid on a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook under the kite on a boat rig: 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod. He said his best previous fish was a 130-pounder.

 

Excel skipper Justin Fleck returned January 5 after a ten-day trip that produced six yellowfin over 300 pounds.  The boat also produced 18 tuna over 200-pounds.

"For us," Captain Fleck said while unloading their catch, "it was a waiting game.  We didn't move our anchor for four days.  Sometimes we saw fish on the meter, sometimes we didn't.  But I've never seen anything like it.  I've never seen this amount of 300-plus pound tuna before. Never. They were crashing right through the stern."

Chris Kumai of Berkeley used the bow to get away from everyone else to cast a mackerel.  After an hour and half long soak, Kumai got a bite off the port side of the stern.  His fish weighed 344 pounds all said and done at Fisherman's Landing's certified scales Monday morning.

 

Kevin Osborne docked Intrepid at Pt. Loma Sportfishing January 5, following a ten-day Accurate trip with 23 anglers. Fishing on the lower banks was good, and the boat found four supercows and three more fish with kissing distance of 300 pounds.
 

Mick Coats of Whittier won first place for his 345-pound yellowfin. He got it with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 80-pound P-Line and 80-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with a Penn 16 VSX reel and a Super Seeker 665 XXH rod.

"My best fish before was an 88-pound bigeye," he said. "This one took me to the bow and kicked my butt. Then he came up, still at the bow."

 

Andy Cates docked Red Rooster III at H&M Landing January 5 after a ten-day New Years Special trip to the lower banks.

The big fish was the jackpot-winning 311-pounder caught by Paul Palmer of Temecula, on his first long range trip. Paul baited a squid under the kite, fought the fish for an hour and beat his personal best by 276 pounds. He used the boat's rig: 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on an Accurate 80 reel and a Calstar 760 XH rod.

"What I'll remember," said Paul, "was the total fight of the fish, how strong he was."

Tim Ivy of San Diego won second place for a 277-pounder that ate a mackerel on a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook. He fished with 130-pound unknown line, 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Shimano Triton 50 W reel.

 

Royal Star skipper Brian Simms returned 16 passengers January 5 to Fisherman's Landing after a ten-day trip.  Newell Reels, Hayabusa hooks, and Yo-Zuri chartered the trip.

Clyde Smith of Scottsdale, AZ landed a supercow after it bit a squid hooked to the boat's kite.  The 335-pound yellowfin was hauled aboard using 130-pound Blue Izorline with 130-pound Jerry Brown Line One hollow spectra, a 50 wide Penn International reel on a Calstar XXXH Grafighter rod.

 

The first boat in was the American Angler at Pt. Loma Sportfishing, with skipper Sam Patella. A remarkable fish was aboard. Sixteen-year-old Jake Abate of Charleston, SC took a handoff and then fought the 360-pound fish to gaff. He plays football and soccer at West Ashley High in Charleston, and fished with his father John.

There were four tuna over 300 pounds on the Angler. Jake's was weighed at 375 on the boat, but on the dock scales it went 360. It wasn't eligible for the jackpot because of the handoff. Jake said he fished a mackerel on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He used 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 100-pound Blackwater Spectra on an Accurate 30 reel and a Calstar 7465 M rod he borrowed from Nacho Camarena. Jack Nilsen was present and remarked it was the best fish yet on an Accurate reel.

 

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