Jennifer Funk of Long Beach took the top two spots aboard Art Taylor’ Searcher October 8 following a seven-day trip with owner-operator Art Taylor and 21 anglers. Her 29.6-pound wahoo wasn’t huge for its kind, but big enough to beat out the boat’s near-limit catch of yellowtail and dorado. It was even more notable that it came aboard without ever being hooked by the scrambled eggs Salas 6X Jr. jig in its mouth. It just refused to let go until it was gaffed, and then the jig just fell out.
Jennifer’s jackpot was all the more remarkable in that she swept the top two spots for her second-place fish, a 26.8-pound yellowtail. The wahoo was brought to the boat on 50-pound Izorline on a Penn Baja Special reel and a Calstar 700 M rod.
“We had excellent yellowtail fishing on The Ridge,” commented skipper Taylor, “and we tried Cedros on the way home, but there wasn’t much going on when we were there. We got lots of dorado down below, too, in 75 to 76-degree water.”
Jim Marshall of Jackson won third place for his 26.4-pound yellowtail, a fish he bagged with a green and yellow CP 105 jig.
