I took Ric Davenport and his fiancee Amanda out to Waquoit after dark for an evening of drifting the bay. Absolute perfect evening; clear black sky, stars by the millions, no bugs, no wind.
Few fish; couple bumps, one bass in the boat; some splashes here and there, but quieter than the evening before.
Highlight of the evening was driftng past the Reel-Time conga line where about 4 or 5 of you were fishing the channel and hearing you all chime in as we drifted by.
Almost lowlight of the evening is when my slimy wiggly meat pattern was picked up. After a fierce struggle I worked what seemed to be a keeper sized bass to the boat. Reaching down to control it and wresttlt into the boat; I grasped for the lip a couple times; missed, and tried to horse it up onto thr swim platform by the leader. The fish came off the hook and lay on the platform.
I grabbed for its body; couldn't grip it; grabbed for the lips and missed and watched the muscular lean body go back into the water.
Cursing I stood up and looked at my meat pattern, rather than a slimy wiggly thing i found shreds of flesh and skin on the hook and the 60 pound leader chafed with dozens of nicks.
I had come within 2-3" of thumbing a 10 pound+ bluefish!
I'm not sure Amanda quite understood why i was a bit shaky after that....