"Weather today was beautiful once again," read the report from Royal Polaris August 14. "We had a slight breeze to keep us cool, but the seas are flat, and the sun was shining. We had another excellent day of Yellowfin fishing. It was almost a repeat of yesterday, but I think the grade of fish is better. Most of the fish were in that 75 to 80-pound range with a few going over 100 pounds, and one fish right at 140 pounds. The lucky angler was Shaun Maruyama. We had few Wahoo and Yellowtail also."

When skipper Roy Rose docked the rig at Fisherman's Landing August 18, he weighed some big fish.

The first one was a 38.6-pound skipjack, the second-largest this reporter has ever seen. It was caught by John Yoneda of Escondido, who said he'd look into its potential as a line-class record.

John got the giant skippie on a sardine and a 3/0 ringed Mutu hook, with 40-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to 50-pound Jerry Brown solid Spectra on a Tiagra 12 reel and a Calstar 700 H rod.

But the big news was the 148.2-pound yellowfin tuna caught by Shaun Maruyama of Los Altos, on a flying fish and a 6/0 Hayabusa hook, 50-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader and 60-pound Line One Spectra backing on a Tiagra 12 reel and a seven-foot Calstar rod. That fish will now stand as the best yellowfin caught so far this season, and it won first place in the jackpot for Shaun.

Kevin Leong of Aliso Viejo won second place for a 111.8-pound tuna, and Charles Tanaka of San Francisco took third place, for a 104.2-pound yellowfin from Alijos Rocks.