Intrepid skipper Kevin Osborne posted January 18:

“Another early A.M at the rail today, but today we didn't have the kinda fishing we had yesterday. Some smaller grade fish in the dark, then a handful of fish in the 80 to 120-pound range was all we caught this morning. A few slips of the ground tackle kept us from establishing a solid bite during the prime hours along with less sign overall. It just wasn't our turn this morning, but that didn't stop us from having some light tackle fun, catching a couple more personal best Tuna before hitting the road en-rout to our next destination. We will travel the rest of today and tomorrow, then spend a day at the rail once again.”

Gratifying

Tim Ekstrom reported from his Royal Star January 19:

“An immensely gratifying turn of events as luck this morning was in our favor. Perhaps there was a little more to it than luck – lessons hard learned tend to elicit hyper astute evaluation and adjustments, but still, no matter how much fishing the fisherman is responsible for, the fish themselves, and conditions, must align. There have been an awful lot of days in my career when I figured the reason something didn't go our way correctly and made the necessary adjustments only to have conditions change again and add to my vexation. But that didn't happen today.

“A classic morning hit on the big baits produced hot and heavy action for the better part of an hour. A handful of jumbos, biggest of which weighed 267, a couple more handfuls of mid grade 100 to 150 pounds, and a boon of smaller, havoc-wreaking fish in the 25 to 70- pound class had the boys jumping and energized. After piecing this fishing together over the past few days more or less one at a time it felt good to stretch out, cut loose, and do some bona fide clobbering. Ahhh...

“And even better, a few hours after the morning session, we settled in for a successful afternoon of steady scratching. It wasn't a barn burner, and we had to scrap with the locals winning some battles and losing others to get the job done, but the quality was right and the hatch continued to open; a good note to end the day on.
“Primo weather and conditions were the icing on the cake. Especially poignant after enduring a couple of days of the opposite participation on deck was notably affected. Everyone was out and at it enjoying the good fishing and beautiful weather combined. Enduring even a little of the opposite has a distinct way of illuminating the value of such divine opportunity. Today nothing was left on the table.

“Photo today features long time Royal Star veteran Jim Marshall. No stranger to battles with giant yellowfin Jim handily dispatched this 267 on the big gear. No mercy, direct drive; exactly how we like it.”

And The Winners Are…

Tom Ferrari brought Red Rooster III home from a trip into deep southern waters January 20. His anglers fished at Hurricane Bank, Clarion and Alijos Rocks for 84 yellowtail, 81 wahoo and some big tuna on the Loftus-Martin 15-day charter.

First place: Jeff Harnish of Piercy, 201.6-pound yellowfin tuna

Second place: Jonathan Jeffers of Redway, 195.8 pounds

Third place: John Peterson of Lancaster, 191-pounds

Trolling Jackpot: George Blanks of Irvine, 60.4-pound wahoo.