The best way we got our better tuna was on balloons," said Red Rooster III skipper Andy Cates to dock reporter Bill Roecker March 24 in front of the new H&M Landing. He was just back from the 15-sday Loftus-martin charter with 20 anglers.

"They were 24-inch balloons with a single hook and a sardine. That way, we could get them out farther, avoiding most of the sharks.

"This year is way sharkier than last year," Cates continued, "but the balloons helped a lot. They were mostly those Galapagos brown sharks.

"We got most of our fish in the Clarion Buffer Zone," he noted. "We tried the Hurricane Bank one day but there weren't many wahoo m biting then. But in the Zone we had six days with 30 to 40 nice yellowfin each day."

A father-son team won first and third places in the jackpot. Matthew Wesselink of Hemet took first place for a 240-pound tuna. He said he got it with a sardineon an 8/0 ringed Super Mutu hook tied to 130-poudn Maxima and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6460 rod.

"It took an hour and a half," said Matt. "He bit on the grind, went down and then took me around the boat once. My best fish before was a 35-pounder. The first three fish I got this trip were all over 100 pounds!" Don Rolstad of Bonita, 82, won second place for a 196.6-pounder. He said he put two sardines under the boat's kite rig to get it. He used 130-pound Izorline Spectra on "The Tractor," an Accurate 80 reel and a Calstar 760 H rod.

"This one came in 50 minutes," he said. "I lost a better fish at color."

Skipper Cates said the one he lost looked to be about 250 pounds.

Les Wesselink of Paso Robles won third place for a 196-pound tuna. He fished with a sardine on a6/0 r5inged Super Mutu tied to 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, 100-pound Maxima and 100-pound Line One Spectra on a Tiagra 16 reel and a Super Seeker 6460 XH rod.

The trip's biggest fish wasn't eligible. The 273-pound yellowfin ran Phil Gray of Bakersfield out of gas and he handed the rig to second skipper Joe D'Aquisto to finish after a grueling hour.

Joe took about another hour with it, he said, but he got it to gaff. Phil's rig was a sardine on a 6/0 Hayabusa hook with 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6460 rod. Phil stood in with the winners and also with chartermasters John Loftus and Larry Martin.