The new season for big tuna is over a month old, and even though the big tuna, the cows, were hard to find at first they're located and biting now. The score for November was 68 cows (counting the pair listed yesterday by the Royal Polaris) or tuna over 200 pounds, including four supercows, tuna over 300 pounds. One of those, the 381.1-pounder caught by Dennis Williams of Carlsbad aboard the Royal Star, is an apparent new world record in the 130-pound line class, if it's accepted by the IGFA. He is shown here fighting his giant in the traditional standup style.

Even better news is that the fish remain where they were found, on the southern banks. The brief period when the last boat left the banks to come home for Thanksgiving didn't cause the fleet to "lose the handle," as often happens during holiday layovers. Right now, the Royal Polaris is catching big tuna, as seen from the boat's latest report, on November 30.