"It was wide open," said Wayne Martin of Catchy Tackle at Pt. Loma Sportfishing October 25, "as good as it gets, on flat water. The new boat was fabulous, way beyond the others, and Javier Quintanar is the best chef in the fleet."

Wayne was chartermaster on the ten-day Intrepid trip, skippered by Kevin Osborne.

"I had one over 200 pounds on," he said, "but I didn't get it in. We lost a few of the big ones."

Skipper Osborne said, "We took a gamble, and went to the Hurricane Bank on an 11-day trip. We got our daily limits and had to quit the kite, it was too busy."

Hot stick of the trip was Bill Hall of Mountain View, who bagged a brace of cows at 211.8 and 235 pounds. The big fish was good for first place.

Bill said he fished with a sardine on a Super Mutu ringed 5/0 hook tied to 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 100-pound Big Game line connected to 130-pound Power Pro Spectra. He used a Penn 30 S reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6463 XXH rod.

Jason Winbigler of San Bernadino was second, for a 219.6-pounder. He got it with the kite and the double trouble sardine baits on 7/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks on a boat rig: 130-pound Soft Steel line, 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 W reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH rod.

Kevin Chung of San Francisco got his 206.3-pounder in 45 minutes, good for third place. He used a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 100-pound Izorline and 100-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Penn 30 SW reel and a Calstar 765 M rod.

92-year-old Joe Talasy of Bellflower had a little help with his 219.8-pounder. He stood in with the group as an honorable mention. He said he hooked his monster on a sardine and a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He used an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH rod to bring it in after a half-hour.