Hello Anglers, We departed yesterday on a 15 day open trip with 25 passengers. After putting on a beautiful load of sardines we cleared the point just after 1000. As of now we are headed for the bank to start our trip. Today we will have our tackle seminar and start making leaders and rigging other tackle. A lot of people ask me how we make our leaders here on the on the Excel. Although there are a ton of great ways to rig up, I will give you a few suggestions on what we have had success with. For fluorocarbon leaders from 40-200 pound test we use Berkley Trilene Big Game100% fluorocarbon. This stuff really stands up to the test of a big tuna. Also for the leaders, we like to use Sevenstrand double copper sleeves with chafing gear. We finish them off with an 8/0 or 9/0 Eagle Claw 2004 circle hook on one end and an appropriately sized swivel or tuna ring on the other. Our swivels are 2/0 - 4/0 sizes. I was definitely reluctant to believe in the beginning that having fluorocarbon on would make any difference at all, but now I am a true believer of this product. Most of our cows were caught on these leaders this season. Hopefully the anglers time spent and effort will pay off for us. The weather now is flat calm. Wish us luck........ JUSTIN