Today's sequence features my good friend and long time Royal Star angler Bill Grimsley who achieved his goal of landing a yellowfin tuna over three hundred pounds after fifteen years of consistent long range excursions. In addition to being a superb big fish angler, Bill has also played a pivotal role in the success of Royal Star Sport Fishing and long range fishing in general by creating and hosting the first vessel website and posting daily reports and photos. Before Randy and I purchased Royal Star in 1996, Bill and I had numerous conversations on the bridge brainstorming and developing ideas that would create a unique identity for our fledgling operation. Being in the computer business, Bill immediately suggested building a website and the wheels were put in motion. The idea quickly evolved into daily reports and photos that were unique to Royal Star for a couple of years before our colleagues followed our example. Since day one Bill's company, Corporate Network Professionals (CNP) has developed, improved, and hosted the Royal Star website and provided and maintained all of our computer requirements in the Royal Star office and on board Royal Star. Nowadays such endeavors are a cinch but back in 1996, developing and executing the process of sending in reports from the vessel at sea was a significant accomplishment. As such, we are indebted to Bill and his guys for their part in developing our reputation as innovators in the world of sport fishing. More importantly to me, Bill has become a valued friend and adviser over the past sixteen years. I cannot express how happy I was, and still am, for my good friend who earned this phenomenal catch through perseverance, and sticking to his big fish principles when choosing and maintaining his equipment.

If you examine the images, the massive girth of this monster indicates that the formula of length x girth squared divided by 800 is probably below the actual weight because of how much girth the fish is sporting behind it's mid section. At 337 though, no one is looking for a recount. This magnificent specimen in perfect form was back in the water within 90 seconds. With a few head shakes and flexing of it's fins (really) the behemoth cruised away to resume it's alpha male activities at Clarion island. Suffice to say that in the warmer sea temps presently around the island, this guy is busy every night. Again congratulations to Bill for this career accomplishment. Shimano, Blackwater, and Izorline were the winning combination that landed this beauty. The best do not disappoint. Look for photos to continue on Monday, May 3rd.

Tim Ekstrom

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