"We had 27 cows and the supercow," said Intrepid skipper Kevin Osborne January 20, after docking at Pt. Loma Sportfishing. He was just back from the 12-day West Coast Fishing trip with 18 anglers. "We had four great days out of six days of fishing."

Jack Gibson of Oceano had the supercow, a 338.4-pounder he fooled with a squid under a balloon. The big squish was pinned to a 20/0 Mustad circle hook, he said.

"He got most of my line on the first run," Gibson told dockside scribe Bill Roecker. "Then he made three or four more runs during the fight. When he came up at the end we got him at the bow. My best fish before this one was 45 pounds."

That made this one his best by 293 pounds, maybe the widest spread to date.

Gibson's fish wasn't eligible for the jackpot. He used a boat rig with 100-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Avet 50 reel and a Super Seeker 6364 XXXXH rod.

Chartermaster John Bakos of Phoenix won first place for a 277-pound tuna. He said he bagged it with a squid under the kite on the boat's rig after a fight of an hour and a half.

"My best fish before was a 72-pounder," he remarked. He also had a 210-pounder.

Kurt Kohler won second place for a 255-pounder.

David Tang of Tucson won third place for a 250-pound tuna, a fish he took with a sardine on a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook and a four-ounce sinker on 100-pound Seaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 100-pound Line One Spectra. He fished with an Accurate 12 topless reel and a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH rod. He also had a 219-pound tuna.

Kevin Fitler of Truckee caught a 255-pound yellowfin with a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a topless Accurate 50 reel and a Calstar 7465 XXH rod.

Eric "The Wireman" Berga of Kona, HI also bagged a 255-pounder, with a sardine and a 5-ounce sinker. He said he used a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook on 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon tied to 130-pound Momoi and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He fished with a Penn 50 reel treated by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 655 XXXH rod.

"I got him in 45 minutes," said Eric. "My best one before was a 197."

Jack Gordano Monterey had five cows: 237, 212, 202, 202 and 200 pounds. He said he baited sardines on 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks. He used 80-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon and 100-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 30 reel modified by Cofe and a Calstar 6460 XH rod.

Likely the biggest story of the trip was the catching of a 213-pound tuna by Jamie Massion of Calabasas on an Accurate spinning reel. It was the first cow to be caught on spinning gear. He's been trying to do it for a couple of years, as have several other anglers, but this time he was there at the proper moment.

The fight lasted an hour and a half, he said. The fish bit on a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad Hoodlum J hook. He used 90-pound Momoi leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate TwinSpin 50 reel. His spinning rod was custom-built by Bob Sands Tackle, a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH model, with the guides on "the wrong side," of course.

He fished the rig on the rail, he said, with the aid of a device he calls "Thunder Down Under," a cradle of sorts to keep the rig up off the rail, so the line goes back and forth without rubbing.

"I'm not sure what to say about it," he told Roecker. "This is my second season of trying.

It was a major achievement, and the fishing community has been waiting for it longer than Massion has been trying.

Other cow catchers aboard the Intrepid were:

Greg Winfree, 247, 200

Jim Hartshorn, 234

Tina Alafa, 225

Michel Wallace, 218

Kingsley Sherwood, 216

David Choate, 213

Ron Wait, 204

Daniel Hannegan, 202

Doyle Lloyd, 202, 201