Florida Fish Report

Pete Gray's Let's Talk Hookup five-day trip aboard Independence returned to Pt. Loma Sportfishing July 9 with a mixed catch of bluefin, yellowtail and other species. Jeff DeBuys skippered the trip, and he called it, "Off the charts coastal fishing." Pete Gray said, "It was the best yellowtail bite I ever saw."

Valerie Otero of Boulder, CO won first place for her 34.6-pound yellowtail. She said it bit on a sardine and a 2/0 ringed Mustad Hoodlum hook on 30-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 50-pound Izorline spectra on an Okuma Andros reel and a six-foot Super Seeker rod.

Darrell Hansen won second place for a 33-pound bluefin and Greg Kuno tied him with an identical fish.