Long Range Fishing Reports

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Royal Star angler and chartermaster Chris Yamada of Fountain Valley pulled off the hat trick at the weigh-in May 20 when he hung three yellowfin tuna over 200 pounds. The largest, at 218 pounds won him third place. Chris got the big one on the kite with squid, and the others, which went 207 and 209 pounds, on chunks. He said he fished with 9/0 Super Mutu hooks, 100-pound clear Izorline, a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 760M rod.

Yamada posed with sons Austin, four years old, and Tanner, one and a half.

Tim Ekstrom skippered the last trip of the Royal Star’s long range season, and spent the whole time at Clarion Island, where his anglers caught seven fish over 200 pounds. Fishing was so good, said one angler, that all fish of 100 pounds or less were released during the last couple of fishing days.

Walter Ford of San Diego, who works for Let’s Talk Hookup, won first place for a 251-pound tuna. He bagged it with a squid under the kite, on a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 100-pound clear Izorline, 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 6455XXH rod. "It was a mean fish," said Walter. "It took about an hour." Last season, Ford took a 299-pounder.

Second place went to Bob Knapp of Santa Rosa, for a 232-pound tuna. Bob chunked the fish on a 9/0 Super Mutu hook, 100-pound clear Izorline, a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 760M rod. 

Bob Krigbaum of Long Beach took a 209-pounder with a flying fish baited under the kite, on an 11/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Spectra backing on an 80W reel and a 760XXH prototype boat rod. He whipped the tuna in 20 minutes.

"I hung a sardine out there on a long soak," said Ed Janoski of Fountain Valley, who also took a 204-pound yellowfin, "and a big sailfish, maybe 125 pounds, ate it. He jumped about a dozen times and showed some spectacular moves, then he just laid there while we unhooked him and he swam away happy as heck." 

All-Time Top Trip

Royal Polaris owner-skipper Frank LoPreste knew he had a good catch at Clipperton Island. He thought he had at least one fish over 300 pounds, and maybe two dozen over 200 pounds. The scales at Fisherman’s Landing fairly smoked when Frank weighed the catch, however, as fish after fish came in at a higher number than estimated.

At the end, there were four giant yellowfin tuna over 300 pounds, and a total of 38 tuna over 200 pounds, an all-time record. There have been trips with more 300-pounders, to be sure, but never any with more over 200; at least, not that anyone at the docks June 6 could remember.

It left LoPreste jubilant, his crew stoked and his passengers more than satisfied. "I was concerned when the sardines died," said Dan Manelli of San Anselmo. "But we had some caballitos, and the skipjack saved the day for us."

Manelli used a sardine to take one of the top four fish, a 301-pounder. He pinned it on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook tied to 80-pound blue Izorline on a Shimano Tiagra 50 reel and a Seeker 66465XXH rod. It was only Manelli’s second long range trip, and he also caught tuna of 276 and 217 pounds. "Could I be any more lucky?" he asked.

Ken Verderame of Melbourne, FL pulled in the best fish of the season. Ken had Fish of the Year in 1998 with a 325-pounder, and apparently pulled the feat off again this year with a 331-pound yellowfin.

"I got it with a five-pound skipjack tuna," said Ken, who is leaving the US Space Plane project to head up another in Australia that will allow him flying time. "This one was a lot tougher. Frank (LoPreste) says these Clipperton fish are 25 percent stronger that the tuna we catch in other places."

Verderame put an 11/0 Mustad hook in the skipjack, and fished 130-pound Izorline on 135-pound Spectra, with a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 6460XH rod. 

Stas Velonakis of LA and Jerry Brown of Gold Hill, OR took second and third places with tuna of 309.7 and 303 pounds, becoming the fifth and sixth members of the season’s elite group to take a 300-pound yellowfin.

Stas got his on a skipjack with a 12/0 Mustad hook, 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 50SW and a Calstar 6460XXH rod. He just missed the monster mark with another tuna of 294.6 pounds and one more of 230 pounds.

Jerry Brown distributes his own line of Spectra, and used it with an eight-pound skipjack, and 11/0 Mustad hook, 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra and 130-pound Brown Spectra on a Penn 50SW reel and a Calstar 6460XXH rod. He also took a 272-pounder.

Jim Aljin of Santa Rosa had an incredible four fish over 200 pounds, weighing 278, 234, 217 and 213 pounds respectively. He said he fished with skipjack on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook, 130-pound Brown Spectra, a Penn 50SW reel and a Seeker 6460 XH rod, taking the smallest one in a quick 20 minutes.

No other trip has ever produced such a catch, either at the tiny distant Clipperton Atoll where these tuna were caught, or at the more usual places off the coast of Baja and at the Revillagigedos archipelago. Royal Polaris will be in for paint, polish and other boat work before she travels out again this summer looking for bluefin, albacore and other game species much closer to home.

"It came on a wahoo strike on the troll at Socorro Island," told Chris Nickerson, Polaris Supreme deckhand at the dock June 3. "I saw it come out from under the boat."

"We stopped the boat," related shipmate Danny Hall, "and there was that thing laying in the water right up next to the stern. It was so big I thought it was a shark. I hollered and everybody came and threw a bait."

"I got rolled on and picked," said Nickerson. "I thew again, got bit, and jumped right intot he skiff with Danny and Tom Pfleger and JJ. We stayed on top of the fish and an hour later he came up and floated.

"My best one before was 150 pounds. This one’s going to be mounted. The same fish knocked Tom Pfleger’s balloon bait 10 feet right up out of the water. When we landed it the hook was just hanging in the skin of his lip."

Nickerson’s tuna weighed 284.8 pounds. It ate a salami bait on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook, with 80-pound P-Line on a Tiagra 50 reel and a 655 TSS Calstar rod.

Keith McCue caught a 213-pounder on a chunk bait, an 8/0 Mustad hook, 100-pound P-Line on an 80 Tiagra reel and a 655XXH Sabre rod. He also used the skiff, and nabbed the tuna in ten minutes, he said.

The Pfleger charter of eight anglers produced two more big yellowfin. Don Meier of Mammoth Lakes boated a 201.6-pounder after it bit a caballito on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook on 80-pound P-Line, a Tiagra 50 reel and the 655 XXH boat rod, after a 30-minute fight. He also satellite-tagged and released a tuna of over 200 pounds. Numerous yellowfin of 50 to 180 pounds were also tagged and released by the group. 

Pfleger is currently building a large research and propagation center for black sea bass, squid studies and other marine projects at a new center in Oceanside, and is said to be starting on a new vessel of 90-plus feet, which could aid in acquisition for research. The Oceanside project will be open to the public when it’s finished, and will display work in progress as well as marine species of interest. 

Long Range Trips