This writer just returned from a 10-day long-range excursion aboard captain Sam Patella's 90-foot American Angler from Point Loma Sportfishing in San Diego. The quantity and variety of fish was outstanding as usual, and the boat had limits of yellowfin tuna [over 300], near-limits of yellowtail, 12 wahoo, several handfuls of dorado, and hundreds of small game fish like bonito, skipjack tuna, calico bass, whitefish and sheephead, some 27 species in all.

The boat spent time fishing at Cedros Island, Alijos Rocks, Magdalena Bay, Thetis Bank, San Pablo Bay and several other locations along the central Baja coastline.

The highlight of the trip was fishing offshore from Magdalena Bay, chasing schools of yellowfin tuna that were traveling below pods of porpoises. Time after time, Captain Patella expertly maneuvered the vessel in front of the fast-traveling mammals. A deckhand then chummed liberally with live sardines, and the tuna came voraciously boiling to the surface. The result was red-hot fishing for as long as the school hung around.?? ??????