"We are on our way home now," related the report from Red Rooster III and skipper Andy Cates December 5, "and just finished up the trip this morning. The last couple of days have been poor and we are thankful for the fishing we had the first five days of the trip. It was really a nice trip with lots of action and some big fish to go with. Tom just sent out a bunch of pictures so those should come up soon. We are finally back in communication and thank you for your patience. Christina has been forwarding the reports over the phone when we had service for a short time in the morning.

"So far we have good weather. It does sound nasty up above and we left with time to spare, I hope! This morning we had a couple of fish from 170 to 190 pounds and called it a trip. A lot more small fish around today that we did not need."

A year and a month ago I was on the Red Rooster III, fishing at Clarion in The Buffer Zone with skipper Andy Cates and Accurate's Jack Nilsen. Several of us got our first cows, and the pleasant weather combined with very good fishing to make the trip a success. Here's a paragraph from my account of the trip, posted on FishingVideos.com in the Latest Trips category.

We gave the Sportsman's Award of my book At The Rail, a copy of the IGFA yearbook, a new Salas 7X and a Five Star discount certificate to Bob Peterson of San Diego, who brought his 18-year-old son Caleb on his first long range trip. Caleb wanted a 100-pounder. The tuna obliged him beyond his hopes, repeatedly, and made him a new long ranger. Bob was also rewarded with his first cow.

Young Caleb is aboard the boat again this year, and you'd expect he'd be hoping for a cow, right? He did a tad better than that, and here's a shot to prove it, as Caleb poses with his supercow, a 320-pound tuna. Congratulations to this young man for his excellent feat!