Sam Patella skippered American Angler on a three-day trip with 28 anglers, who also found yellowtail under the paddies. Nine bluefin were caught, but a 77-pound Opah or moonfish won jackpot honors, and generated a bit of excitement.

Gabriel Slatton of San Diego caught the big red fish on a blue and white Salas 6X Jr. jig, about dawn, near a paddy. It's early in the season for an opah, but those are the usual conditions to encounter one. It bit at about 200 feet, said Slatton, who had plans to have the fish mounted.

"I thought it was a big squid at first," he remarked at the scales at Point Loma Sportfishing when the boat returned May 28. "But while it was fighting, it kept surging down."

David Gross of Oceanside won second place for a 37-pound bluefin he bagged with a sardine on 20-pound Izorline, and George Swarberg, San Diego maker of the Rod Knobie, was third, for a 27-pound bluefin tuna.