Honey, I'm Home???Early!

Coming home a day early flush with tuna, Sam Patella docked American Angler at Pt. Loma Sportfishing February 17, shortly after dawn, and let his 18 anglers off. The excellent catch of Hurricane Bank tuna included five cows. There were also a few yellowtail and three dandy white seabass, encountered not far from Turtle Bay on the way up the Baja.

The best tuna weighed 232 pounds on the boat's scales. Unfortunately, Bill Miller wasn't entered in the jackpot. He said he got his yellowfin with a sardine on a 6/0 Mustad hook, 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He used an Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 rod he built himself.

"He beat the crap out of me," remarked Miller.

Galen Steward of Simi Valley won first place for a 223-pound tuna that sucked in a chunk bait on a 14/0 chunk hook swiveled by Burns Saltwater Outfitters. It fought for 20 minutes, he said.

"The crew did a great job," noted Steward. "We had good fishing and nice weather."

Zeke Harloff of Oceanside won second place for a 218-pounder, but he also had a 207-pound tuna.

"He wrecked me," said Zeke. "I've been limping ever since I hooked the big one."

Zeke also got his trophy on a chunk bait impaled on a swiveled 14/0 Mustad by Burns Saltwater Outfitters. He said he used 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 130-pound Izor Spectra on an Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 rod.

Sponsor Ken Corwin of Ken's Custom Reels in Oceanside won third place, for a 202-pound tuna. He fished a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon tied to 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 20 reel modified by Cal Sheets. He used a Calstar 7465 M rod.

"It was about a 20-minute fight," said Ken. "Fishing was as good as I've experienced. If you could flyline a sardine you got fish."

Phil Castillo of Newport beach and Mark Rubins of Carlsbad were two who found white seabass. Both used sardines on dropper rigs with eight-ounce sinkers. Phil's fish weighed 50 pounds and Mark's "biscuit" made 45.8 pounds, representing the best fish of the species so far this long range season.

The score as of February 17, 2008:?? 327 cows; 20 supercows.