Justin Fleck pulled the Excel into her berth at Fisherman's Landing July 20, after the six-day Smith-Bell charter, which proved to be a "flyer," with a shot at the tuna around Alijos Rocks. Those fish won the jackpot spots.

"After hearing the Polaris Supreme's report of good fishing at the rocks, we decided to swing for the fence and make the run down there," wrote Fleck July 16. "We arrived at 0900, got the anchor down, and started to hook fish right away. After staying busy on 30-60 pound fish for about an hour and a half, it was as if somebody flipped a switch and all the life went away! Not only that, the wind increased to almost 30 knots, making it tough to fish. We stuck it out as long as we could but had to bail out around 1700 and head for the beach to try for yellows.

"I talked to a dive boat that happened to be anchored up in tight to the rocks and he said that it was weird, all the tuna and wahoo were in 50 feet of water or less, mixing it up with the triggers and rudder fish. We always assumed that when we didn't see the fish anymore, that it was out off the edge; maybe we had it backwards."

Three young men offered a view of the big fish they caught on the Excel. C.J. (11) and Luke Cunningham (13) of Tucson, AZ showed off a brace of big yellowtail, and Andrew Price (10) of Temecula had a nice tuna.

"It was real hard to pull in," said Andrew.

Rodger Elkins of Tucson, AZ won first place for a 58-pound tuna. He said he took that fish on a sardine and a 6/0 Eagle Claw hook. He used a 30-pound wind-on Basil leader tied to 80-pound Line One Spectra, with a Saltist 30 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.

"It was hard to bring that tuna up the last ten meters," said Elkins. "We got him thanks to Jordan "Shrek" Richards, the deckhand who helped me."

Todd Smith of Portland, OR was second for a 56-pounder, and Rick Furman of Reno got third place for a 55-pound Alijos Rocks yellowfin tuna.