After a very brief 25-minute tussle, Greg Stoney of Ventura landed a 314-pound yellowfin that "bit right by the boat, he almost spooled me on that first run."

"After that," continued Stoney, "he turned around and came straight to the boat, where I got half of the line back. It was a great trip, as always on the Angler."

Stoney fly-lined a mackerel on a 7/0 Gorilla hook on 130-pound Izorline and an Accurate 50 reel on a Seeker 6463 XXXX rod.

Jay Love of Carlsbad landed two cows. One was a 240-pound tuna that was good for second in the jackpot. He also got a 236-pound tuna. Wes Cogan of Vista stood in for him in the lineup.

Christian Rydgren of Santa Monica (Spitfire twilight skipper) won third place for a 235-pound yellowfin. Rydgren, who is the twilight Skipper for the Spitfire, out of Redondo Pier, said his fish fought for two hours and "almost spooled me twice."

Rydgren fly-lined a mackerel on a Eagle Claw 2005 4/0 hook, 80-pound Izorline, a Tiagra 16 reel, and a Seeker 6463 XH rod by Bob's Sporting Goods..

Karl Kristkeitz of Santa Monica caught a 227-pound tuna. Karl used a mackerel on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook, 10 feet of 130-pound Momoi fluorocarbon leader, a Penn 50 reel, and a Calstar 6465XH rod.

"They were all around the boat," said Mark Rubins of Carlsbad, "but they just weren't biting. We had great bait, too.

"I hooked a big one and fought for an hour before I got him to color, ready to gaff, but the boat was rockin' and by that time, something was gonna give! So it did, and he popped off. But even though I was just beatin' up by that big one, I threw in another bait, and ???Boom!' I hooked up on a 165-pounder."

"From the get-go," said Wes Cogan of Ken's Custom Reels in Oceanside, "Brian put us in the best position to catch a 250-pound plus tuna. He could tell we wanted to go after the big ones instead of fishing the smaller schools. The fish we got were quality fish. At times it was as frustrating as it could get, but I had a blast."

Anthony Iuni, of Queens, New York, said the American Angler surprised him with great food. "It's a different style of fishing than on the East Coast," said Iuni.