The waiting by long range fishermen appears to be over, Excel skipper Justin Fleck reported November 12: "The skill of our fisherman produced our first two cows of the season! Carl Dorton caught the first one on the kite and Greg Vourdouris soon followed with a cow on a flylined sardine. We had 14 other big fish most from 130-190 pounds. We are spending the night on the anchor and will do it all again tomorrow."

The rest of the fleet is aware of the development, said Royal Star skipper Tim Ekstrom, and will be hustling to take advantage.

Ekstrom wrote the following for the Royal Star website: And just like that, it happens. The guys blew out of Guadalupe mid afternoon gladly taking their twenty five 50 to 120 pound yellowfin while charging below for reports of exactly what we have been waiting for all season. Our valued colleagues on the southern grounds, through perseverance and appropriate timing, knocked it out of the park with several good stops on trophy yellowfin in the 130 - 200 pound and larger class. The signs of big fish were reported as "the real deal" and needless to say we are practically jumping out of our skin at the thought of finally getting some justice on this season's extremely crafty giant yellowfin tuna. So there it is in living color.

"If you look at history," said Ekstrom to dock reporter Bill Roecker November 13, "November is always the best month down there. It isn't at all uncommon for the big fish not to show up until then."