His holds nearly full and with plenty of time to fish on his 18-day Taka Tanaka charter, Roy Rose took Royal Polaris from the Hurricane Bank to the inside waters off southern Baja to try for a few big tuna.

"We didn't have much room left," said Taka, chartermaster of his 15^th annual trip on the boat.?? "We came inside to look for big ones. We found really good biters on a bank. They bit everything. We had great weather the whole trip."

The Hurricane provided the bulk of the tuna and a fair catch of wahoo. The inside waters were biting so well the boat was topped off in no time, and returned a day early to Fisherman's Landing on January 18. There were six cows in the catch.

Ron Watanabe of Carson won first and second places for tuna of 217 and 207.9 pounds.

"He was a tough fish," said Ron of the larger tuna. "He ran 200 yards when he bit and it took me a half-hour to get him to the boat."

Watanabe said he baited a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 50 W reel engineered by Cal Sheets, and a Seeker 65 XXH rod.

John Woodward of Anaheim won third place for a 205.4-pound tuna. An eight-year long ranger, Ron got his tuna with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu. He used 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 30 treated by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 765 M rod wrapped by Taka Tanaka.

"He bit about 150 yards from the bow," said John, "after a long soak. I had a light rod, and I was worried about that. He never circled deep. He actually circled on the surface."

David Bebb of Hermosa Beach got a 203-pounder with a flying fish pinned to a 20/0 ringed Super Mutu hook dangled under the kite. He used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 80 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod. The fish fought for an hour.

Ron Kusumi of Rancho Santa Margarita also took a 203-pounder, with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He said he used 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XH rod by Taka, and beat the fish in 45 minutes.

Dan Shubin of Bloomington took a 200.6-pounder with a chunk bait on a 7/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He fished with 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra on a Penn 50 VSW reel and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod, and beat his trophy in 20 minutes.

"We mostly got our wahoo on the troll at the Hurricane Bank," said skipper Rose. "And we also got ???em on jigs and bombs during the troll stops."

Bob Mayes was one who jigged up a good "skinny," on a home-made orange, green and silver bomb.

Royal Polaris will depart on her next trip of 17 days on Sunday, January 20.