Independence docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing December 18 after a 10-day trip with skipper Jeff DeBuys at the wheel.

"We saw a lot of fish," remarked Jeff, "but they didn't want to bite much. On our best stop we hooked seven and got three aboard."

The trip's hot stick was Jesus Ortega of Las Vegas, who hooked three giant tuna and boated two. The big one weighed in at 264 pounds, but he also had a 241-pounder.

"This is a dream come true," said Ortega to Bill Roecker at the scales. "It's the result of a ten-year quest. My best fish before was a 40-pound albacore."

Ortega said he used a sardine bait on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, tied to 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 100-pound Izorline and 100-pound Izor Spectra. He fished with an Avet 30 W reel and a Seeker 6460 XXH rod and brought the tuna to the boat in two hours, after it took him around the deck three times and came up in the starboard corner.

Art Lyons of LA won second place for a 238.6-pound tuna he got with a mackerel on a 9/0 ringed Super Mutu and 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon tied to 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used an Avet 50 reel and a Seeker six-foot rod.

Gene Housworth of LA won third place for a 134-pound yellowfin.

Eric Garris of Garden Grove stood in with the lineup group with his honorable-mention 296.4-pound tuna. He said he baited a mackerel on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook on 100-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound Big Game line and 130-pound Spectra. He fished an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 6455 rod he built himself. The fight went an hour and 20 minutes.

"It wasn't as bad as I expected," he told Roecker, "thanks to the crew."