Randy Toussaint brought his 22 anglers aboard Royal Star home with a very special load November 26. The fishermen had 12 tuna over 200 pounds caught on the Las Rocas trip of 11 days.
“They were the most enjoyable days of cow fishing I can remember,� said Randy. “It was calm as the harbor, and the fishing lasted from an hour after dawn to dark.�
A very special fish came on one of those days, a potential new IGFA record for 130-pound line class. The giant yellowfin weighed in at 381.1 pounds, and co-owner Tim Ekstrom hung it both by the head and the tail on the certified scales at Fisherman’s Landing for the same numbers. That would seem to make the mark needed to set a new record over Corky Yokoe’s 376-pound, six-ounce fish caught in 1996, if it’s approved by the IGFA.
“I’ve been fishing for about ten years,� said Williams, 49 and a Carlsbad Mercedes mechanic. “I had no idea this would happen. My best before was about 120 pounds.
“I had a nice bait,� he continues, “and I saw him roll on it. The guy next to me said it was on his bait, but it was my light that went tight. He went out, down, and back and forth. It was very hot and humid, and he came up on the stern and I heard a deckhand say ‘Oh, my God!’ before they started putting a bunch of gaffs in it. I’m gonna sign up again for next year!�
Dennis Williams baited a sardine on a 9/0 Eagle Claw circle hook on 100-pound blue Izorline with 130-pound Line One Spectra backing. He used a Tiagra 50 LRS reel and a Calstar 760 M rod to beat the huge yellowfin in an hour and a half.
Asked about the gear and the event, skipper Toussaint said, “It’s the most IGFA eligible fish I’ve seen.�
Tom Kurata of Hawthorne had another giant at 308 pounds, good for second place. Jimmy Ramirez of Carlsbad won third place for a 290-pound tuna. All of the tuna were very rotund, as though they had been on the bank for some time, eating well.
“There were big fish blowing out all around us all the time,� said angler Steve Kimbrough of Huntington Beach. “The sign was incredible.�
The Cow Catchers On Royal Star
Dennis Williams - 378
Tom Kurata - 308
Jimmy Ramirez - 290, 208
Butch Kuflak - 271
Glenn Evans - 265
Dale Kurata - 260
Steve Ong - 255
Steve Grove - 235
Peter Lupo - 227
Tom Walker - 225
Tom White Jr. – 203 |
