"There's good sign of tuna around Alijos Rocks," said Shogun skipper Bruce Smith after docking the rig at Fisherman's Landing April 8 following an 8-day trip with 20 anglers, "but there's so much bait, including a lot of red crab, that they're not biting very well yet.

"Most of the better tuna we got were on the kite," he added. "Tell the guys that if they're thinking about coming down to fish Alijos this spring they'd better bring some 80-pound rigs for fishing the dropper loop."

On April 5, Smith wrote, "Last night we spent on the anchor at the rocks proper and had better yellowtail fishing here than at the bank. Lenny Stahl was the hot YT killer ending the morning with three big fish. I made the mistake of grabbing an outfit with a 50lb. top-shot and a Salas 6x, got bit on the drop and never had a chance.

"That yellow just smoked it right into the rocks. If you are coming down here on one of these spring trips make sure you have some good stout gear for dropper loop fishing, and a handful of 6x's or similar sized jigs. The yellowfin didn't show for us quite as well at the last two days so at 15:00 we picked up our anchor and took off for Cedros."

First place, second place and the Rollo Jackpot for the best yellowtail were swept by Lenny Stahl of Lake Arrowhead, who took a brace of huge yellowtail that Smith checked in at 51 pounds apiece on the landing's certified scales.

"He took off like a SOB," said Lenny of the yellow he bagged on 30-pound line, "and he almost spooled me. This is a great crew and a great boat. The crew helped me a lot."

Lenny had himself quite a trip, with a good catch of yellows, tuna, and some big ling cod, reds and a large sheephead. He said he got one big yellow on the flyline with a sardine and the other on the bottom, with a scad mackerel. The flylined fish came on a number 4 Hayabusa hook, a tiny little sticker, on 30-pound P-Line and Accurate 270 reel and a Calstar 600 XL rod.

Lenny posed for a lineup shot with two of the other anglers: Noboru Takasaki and H.P.Yamashiro, both of Parlier. Noboru had the trip's best tuna, a 51.8-pounder on the kite and therefore no eligible for the jackpot. Yamashiro won third place for his 2-pound yellowtail.

Shogun's trip kicks off the spring season for multi-day trips. Royal Star is on her way down south on another eight-day trip, and will return April 15.