Norm Kagawa brought his Shogun home June 14 after an eight-day trip with 23 anglers to Alijos Rocks. He tied up at Fisherman's Landing and weighed the best of his mixed catch, which included one dorado, a good catch of yellowfin and near-limits of yellowtail from Alijos Rocks. Fishing was good at "The Stones," said Norm, but he was equally excited about his trip back.

"We got 47 bluefin on the way home," he told Bill Roecker. "We got some off a breezer and the rest off a spot of jumpers. They were 30 to 40-pound bluefin, and most of them came on 30-pound line, on the flyline. We also got a dozen albacore.

"At The Rocks the tuna bit steady during the day, but at four o'clock each afternoon the current changed and that was it. We went out to Alijos Bank two nights and made some bait and got some good yellowtail, mixed fish of 25 pounds and up.

"I think we might get a shot a bluefin tuna this year," opined Kagawa. "There's only two seiners working right now. They're seeing small schools of little interest."

Roecker talked with two of the anglers who caught bluefin tuna. Kerry Iwanaga of Brea showed off a pretty tuna.

John Cunningham of Norton, MA had one a little bigger, one of three he got at the same stop.

"Marvellous," said Cunningham. "This was my first trip, and it was an eleven on the scale of ten. No question about it, I'll be back!"

Keith Barnett of San Diego won first place in the jackpot for a 65-pound yellowfin tuna. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Mustad hook tied to 40-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 40-pound Izorline and 65-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with an Accurate 870 two-speed reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 H rod.

All the jackpot fish were caught on 40-pound line. Wayne Gray of Camarillo won second place for a 64.6-pounder. Andre Rerolle of San Diego took third place for a 51-pound yellowfin, and Gus Angelidis of Roseville stood in with the winners in a lineup shot with his best-of-the-trip 43-pound yellowtail.