The season's first cow tuna, yellowfin over 200 pounds, arrived at Pt. Loma Sportfishing October 15, when skipper Joe Crisci parked Qualifier 105 at the main dock to offload his 17 anglers, their gear and fish from the Hurricane Bank. The 14-day trip was a Loftus-Martin charter.

Wahoo and tuna weren't easy to come by, said the anglers, but there were enough fish so some anglers had two or three cows, and many fish, over 100, of tuna between 100 and 200 pounds. There were 12 cows.

Joseph McNamara of Campbell got two of those big tuna, and one fish took first place in the jackpot. It weighed 239.6 pounds; the other tuna went 201 pounds even. The big one came on the kite with a flying fish for bait.

McNamara said he used a 12/0 Mustad 7691 hook on 130-pound maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra, with an Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 760 H rod, to do the job in a long hour and a half.

"He went down, then out and around the anchor line," said Joseph. "We got him, thanks to the crew. It was awesome! Of course I'll do it again."

Wes Cerny of Fallbrook won second place for a 237.6-pound tuna. He took that one with a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook on 130-pound Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon and 130-pound maxima line with 130-pound Big Game Spectra on a Penn VSX 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6455 XXH rod. He said the fight went an hour and 15 minutes.

Moe Alcala of Westminster won third place for a 229.8-pounder. He also caught one that weighed 217.6 pounds. He said he used the double sardine rig under the kite, with 7/0 Mustad Demon hooks, 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Big Game Spectra on a Penn 80 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod. He also got a big fish of about 180 pounds on the troll, with an orange and clack Marauder.

Co-chartermaster Larry Martin got a brace of cows at 218 and 206.6 pounds. He fished sardines on 8/0 Eagle Claw hooks tied to 130-poundSeaguar fluorocarbon, 1230-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Calstar 7465 rod wrapped by Smitty G.

"I got those on the "Dolly Parton" rig," said Larry. "Two bobber balloons. The big one fought about a half-hour."

Rich Vos of Westminster bagged a brace at 221 and 215.4 pounds. The big one came on a sardine under the kite, he said. He used a Mustad 7/0 hook on 130-pound Maxima line and 130- pound Line One Spectra on a Penn VS 70 reel and a Calstar 755 XXH rod. The fish was onboard in only 20 minutes.

Ron Hirao of Huntington Beach took a 217-pound yellowfin with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad Hoodlum hook, with 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, 130-pound Jin Kai line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Shimano 50 LRS reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod. Ron said the time of the fight was one hour.

Dan Harnes of Thousand Oaks caught a 208.4-pound tuna on a squid under the kite. He pinned the squish on a 12/0 Mustad 7691 hook tied to 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod.

Co-chartermaster John Loftus bagged a 201.6-pound tuna with a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 130-pound Maxima fluorocarbon, 130-pound Maxima line and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He used an Accurate 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod, and got his fish in 45 minutes.

Sharks weren't a problem, said the anglers on Qualifier 105. Skipper Crisci said his sardine bait didn't care for the 85-degree water on the bank, however.

"They got real weak after a couple of days," he noted. Still, he had a good catch for the first trip into the deep southern waters this season.