Thurdsay night I made sort of a last minute decision to go out on the Seahawk LXV out of Sea Landing for a shot at the grande sized white sea bass and halibut they've been getting lately at the islands. We left the harbor around 10:30pm and headed out. The conditions going across were fairly lumpy, not too much swell but some big chop. At about 3am we pulled up along side the commerical boat Outer Banks. I came on deck and watched as the Merit, Rick, and Mike scooped about 100 scoops of squid from the full float they had going around the light boat. It was really a sight to see. We started fishing nearby ( we were at Eagles Rock to be specific ) around 4am. Most of the guys came out and fished and just as the sun was coming up I hooked the first white sea bass, a relatively small 8 or 9 pounder. A few minutes later we had our best bite of the day with three guys hooking up at once and landing seabass of 12 to 15 pounds. The sun came up and things slowed down until around 7 when the first halibut was hooked, a 20 pound fish. Two more halibut followed in the next hour, one at 28 pounds and other toad at 42 pounds. Then I hooked another wsb about the same size as my first one. We also had during this time, two moster black seabass boated and carefully carefully released. They were both about 150 pounds. Another sight to see. We had one more wsb landed just as left this spot to go after some kelp bed fish and maybe fill the sacks. We'll the kelp bed fishing wasn't too great although the last spot produced 5 or 6 nice sheepshead to abou 10lb on the live squid. Since it was almost time to go we headed back to the east for a last shot at the seabass. Two more nice ones were caught as well as a number of 100lb bat rays that gave some passangers a run for their money. In all a solid trip. <BR>If you are going I would reccomend the following gear. A 20lb, 25lb, and 40lb setup. Sliding sinkers from 1/2oz to 2oz (most of the fish were caught this way because there was very little current). Torpedo sinkers from 3 to 12 oz in case the wind/current picks up, and lastly, make sure to bring some big hooks, 4/0, 6/0, and even 8/0 are ideal. I fished 6/0 and that seemed about right. Merit said that the larger hooks seemed to be resulting in more hookups. His other advice, which definitely held true, was that if you are bit, let the fish load the tip up, set the hook and then wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind wind, oh and then wind some more. You get the idea....