Justin Fleck skippered Excel on a ten-day Braid trip with 25 anglers that started out at Guadalupe Island.

"We spent our first two days hiding from the weather at the island," he said at Fisherman's Landing October 18, "and the yellowfin tuna fishing was outstanding. We were between the weather disturbances there and as a result had really nice weather the whole trip.

"When we got to Alijos Rocks the water had turned over, so we didn't stay there long. We left and went down to the lower banks, where we saw very good sign of bigger fish. We saw tuna up to about 150 pounds, and we had one about 125 pounds up to the boat when it got loose."

Jim Barker of Boulder City, NV won first place for a 90.4-pound yellowfin tuna he bagged with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad circle hook tied to 50-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 50-pound Big Game line. He used 80-pound Power Pro Spectra backing on a modified TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 765 L rod.

"He came up quick," noted Jim, "in about ten minutes."

Tim turner of Northridge won second place for a 71.9-pound tuna. Bob Boldt of LA won third place for a 60.9 pound tuna, and WON editor Brandon Hayward, acting as chartermaster, got a dandy 53.8-pound wahoo that he brought into the lineup shot.