"I never had a fish pull like that," said Tom McWhorter of Bosque Farms, NM at Pt. Loma Sportfishing December 5. "First, he tapped the bait like a bluegill; then he took off with it and the fight was on. He got into my Spectra, and he went straight down. I tried to stop him with my thumb, but I couldn't, and I had to put the drag lever up to full. I think I'll have him mounted." McWhorter wasn't talking about the 267-pound tuna caught aboard the American Angler on the ten-day trip with Brian Kiyohara, but about the 82-pound yellowtail he got while the boat fished at Alijos Rocks. Big tuna were also caught, but they were off the coast of southern Baja, not at The Rocks. First place on the trip was won by Mark Curry of Yuma, AZ, for a 221-pound yellowfin. Curry said he got it with a sardine on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook. He fished with 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Jerry Brown Line One Spectra, on an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod. David O'Halloran of Encinitas and M&M Rods took second place for a 214-pounder. He said he bagged it in 15 minutes, after it bit on a mackerel and a 5/0 Super Mutu ringed hook, on 130-pound Soft Steel line, 130-pound Jerry Brown Spectra, and Avet 50 reel and an M&M 6465 XXH rod. John West of Hollister won third place for a 181-pound tuna. Two larger tuna were caught, but were ineligible for the jackpot. Both were hooked and handed to anglers by Christian Rydgren of Santa Monica, skipper of the Spitfire, a ?? day boat, who said he handed off most of his fish. Larry Bolan of Santa Monica caught one of the pair, a 232-pounder. It bit a mackerel on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Izorline, 130-poundSpectra backing, a Penn 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod. Sam Yoshida of Compton got the best one of all, a 267-pound yellowfin, on a mackerel pinned to a 7/0 Super Mutu hook. He fished with 100-pound Big Game line, 130-pound Spectra, an Accurate 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod, also known as "the rail rod."

McWhorter's huge yellowtail bit on a Humboldt squid, "?Ķabout three feet long," he said, on a 12/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, tied to 80-pound Big Game line and 130-pound Spectra backing. He used a TLD LRS 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod.