"Today started out slow with no fish around in the early morning. Around 0800, we could see a large bird school with tuna and porpoise pushing a large bait ball around. After drifting for a few minutes we started hooking some heavy fish on fly lined sardines and a couple on rubber flyer's. The first few fish were in the 80 to 100-pound class and they just kept getting bigger all the way up to a 300-pounder that David Choate caught on a Braid Flyer on a helium balloon down wind. I wish everybody could have seen the boil it made--wow!

"Andy Marcum also caught his personal best, a 264 pounder. There were a few heartbreaks loosing big fish next to the boat. Didn't see much for the rest of the day until just before dark when got another school to stick. We hooked a dozen fish but were only able to land four of them. A big jag of brown sharks got on us and ate all the heavier tuna that soaked on the lines. Tomorrow we will stick to the same routine and try to capture some more trophies. The weather is really nice now and we will spend our last two days in this area."

Bill Casper Jr. spoke with David Choate via sat phone May 12, and told Bill Roecker that Choate's big fish taped at 297 to 300 pounds, and that Choate had some confidence it would make the mark because the taping was conservative.

Choate told Casper the fish "?Ķblew up on the plastic flyer under a balloon, but missed, and then came back and got it."

Casper thought Choate was using an Accurate 50 reel, with 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He was unsure about the size or make of the hook.