There were lots of fish and birds biting at Cedros Island, said angler Pete Demers of LA after getting off the Independence May 19. The fish bit on yo-yoed jigs and flylined sardines. Some anglers added a sinker to the sardine rig to get the bait down and away from birds. Demers said the best jig colors looked to be blue and white and scrambled eggs.

Captain Jeff DeBuys sent a couple of reports during the trip. The first was dated May 15:

"Yesterday was spent off shore looking at some favorite early season areas. We saw quite a few kelps for not too much, mostly small yellows, and some bonito. Today we had good fishing on good grade yellowtail, 18 to 30 pounds, along with lots of wind. We plan on sticking around here to see what tomorrow brings for us.

The next day he reported: "We stayed in the general area as yesterday and had some really, really good yellowtail fishing on jigs, and bait. Toadies: the grade of fish was even better than yesterday's grade. Today was straight big ???uns biting all day long."

The trip was sponsored by Young's Tackle, and Izorline owner Steve Ichinokuchi was aboard, with product for the anglers.

Dan Caves of Morongo Valley won first place for a 41-pound yellowtail at the weigh-in after the Indy docked at Point Loma Sportfishing.

"I got him on a blue and white Salas 6X jig," said Demers, "the big one."

He used 50-pound Izorline on a new Avet HX reel and a Graftec rod.

Chartermaster Robin Joo of Young's Tackle won second place for a 37-pound yellowtail he took with a big mackerel on the dropper loop.

Jimmy Lee of Gardena won third place.

"It was a nice six-day trip," remarked skipper Jeff DeBuys. "We looked offshore two day, coming and going, and covered a lot of water, but saw no albacore.

"We had excellent spring yellowtail fishing on a good, big grade of fish. They were biting very good on everything. There's something for everybody, down below."