“Even My Hair Hurt”
“I feel excellent,” remarked Royal Polaris skipper Billy Santiago Jr. to dock reporter Bill Roecker on the way from the boat to the Fisherman’s Landing office April 1. He wasn’t joking. He’d just brought in nine yellowfin tuna over 300 pounds, fish he weighed on the boat near Clarion Island, where the catch was made.
“I learned a lot from Frank (LoPreste) and Steve Loomis over the years,” continued Billy. “We got one more that I’ll weigh to see if it makes 300 (it didn’t). “Six of the nine we got came on the kite with salami mackerel baits. We only had a few flying fish frozen baits, and they were really after those. They bit every one that went out. They were bitin’!”
Steve Chambless of Long Beach popped a 310-pounder on a sardine bait and a 7/0 Mustad Demon circle hook on 130-pound Momoi line and 130-poundLine One spectra. He used an Accurate ATD 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Phenix 700 XXX rod he wrapped himself to take the fish in two hours.
Ted Patrick of Garden Grove got a “little” 267-pounder in 45 minutes, after it bit a mackerel on a 6/0 Owner Super Mutu ringed hook tied to 130-pound Yo-Zuri line and 130-pound Line One spectra on an Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Calstar 770 H rod.
Report by Bill Roecker at FishingVideos.com
