Well, granted that one may not have been Moby halibut but there was a near monster halibut that got away last week.

At slightly before 8:00 AM I located a school of sardines at the end of Goleta Pier. I proceeded to catch two and put one on a halibut style rig.. 15 lb. test line. Five minutes later one huge bite which bent the 10 foot pole horizontal then slack. It was coming toward the pier! I tighteneed the line, confirmed a fish was on and set the hook. After about a four minute fight with some hairraising runs, pulling drag out I raised a monster halibut. It looked over three feet long and two feet wide.
I did not have a net with me so I tried to pull it up onto the pier (about 30-40 above the water's surface). It was very heavy and bent the pole severely. at about a foot out of the water it gave many violent shakes and shook itself off the hook. I nearly cried. Maybe it is still out there.