Today I fished the Shimano Corsair owner's saltwater derby onboard the Seahawk. We left the dock at<BR> 7:00am with about 50 pieces of live squid from the previous days trip. Despite only being a 7-4 trip Captain<BR> Merit Mcrea made the decision to head all the way to the back side of Santa Rosa and fish the eagle rock<BR> area. I for one was pumped and after a three hour boat ride in beautiful conditions we pulled around the<BR> back corner with only the Cat Special in sight. Our first couple drifts were slow with only a few short bites but<BR> the crew was able to jig good numbers of live squid. Setting up on the anchor I was the first to hook up on<BR> what turned out to be a solid 7-8 pound barracuda which fell for a live squirter with a 1/4oz slider and a 4/0<BR> hook. That was that however and we set out drifting again. First cast on the drift and I was bit solid on the<BR> bottom, again on the squid. Winching the fish up to color it was a toad halibut which Rick the deckhand stuck<BR> with the gaff before it could even make a run. When he bounced it I knew it was the biggest fish I've ever<BR> caught. Weighed on my digital scale it went 31 pounds and some change. Same drift a guy hooked up on<BR> what was probably a black seabass but broke it off after about 5 minutes. Two more slightly smaller cudas<BR> came over the rail in the next hour, but none of the sought after white sea bass. If it sounds like I'm glossing<BR> over the rest of the trip, I'm not because it really was picky and there were really only four fish landed, but<BR> we worked hard at it. By 1:30 it was time to go and we headed back. I took JP with the flattie for $250, a<BR> corsair 400, and a compre rod courtesy of Shimano. Their reps on the boat were great, actually replacing a<BR> couple of corsairs for people that had problems with theirs and helping to make squid while everyone else<BR> fished. I didn't win the $1000 for big fish overall despite having the largest fish. Someone down south got a<BR> 25lb white that counted double points (points=pounds) but it was still a great day on the water and I have<BR> to hand it to Merit for making the run all the way out there. At least we stood a shot against the other boats<BR> by doing that, the day has to rate up there on my all time sweetest trips.