Intrepid docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing February 14 (Valentine's Day) after a 15-day trip with 16 anglers aboard. Kevin Osborne skippered the adventure and chartermaster Steve Volkers of the Rod Rack was also aboard.

"Some of the weather we hit was sloppy," said Volkers. "We fished on The Ridge, up inside a little, and on the southern banks. We scratched a bit, for lots of 60 to 100-pounders and some from 100 to 200 pounds."

There were two couples aboard: Bud and Marilyn Ruschhaupt of Fresno, and John Whitley and Valene Garrison, and they scored very well. Bud and John made it into the jackpot, and the gals each got more than one good tuna.

Valene had a story to go with her best tuna, one she hooked on 80-pound gear.

"It was harder than childbirth," she remarked. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I fought the fish for three hours. He took me around the boat five times. He weighed 180 pounds.

Marilyn's fish was smaller, but her story was also compelling.

"My knee replacement fell apart," she remembered. "I had to fight my fish on one leg."

Bud Ruschhaupt of Fresno won first place for a 218-pound tuna. He fought it for 50 minutes, until it came up in the port corner. He said it bit on the kite on a squid. He used the boat's kite rig: a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook and a Mustad 16/0 circle hook, tied to 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod.

John Whitley of San Jose won second place for a 210.4-pound tuna that bit a sardine on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He used 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 2 x 4 rod, to beat th4e fish in a half-hour.

Art Green, Newport CPA, won third place for a 202.2-pound yellowfin he caught with the kite and "double trouble" sardines. He said he used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Tiagra 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXXH rod.

"It was a pick bite," noted skipper Osborne. We had 51 tuna on our best day and 43 the next."