My comfort level isn't quite as "deep" as yours Jim so didn't benefit from that perch that night...Had fun listening to your reel whistle though...

I tend to feel more comfortable in a wetsuit vs waders whether its sand or rocks near deeper water, current is the thing I respect most. On calm nights most can push themselfs to farther points and rocks but its those fishy rough nights where you had best know the terrain and face the water at all times. Although I know there are never any garrentees, experience speaks volumes and how well you learned from people you've fished with. Something as small as knowing how to brace yourself at waves can mean all the difference in fish & ofcourse health wise. You don't have to be a surf junkie to fish rougher water just do it smart. I think to many guys are afraid to get wet. Don't get confused with...some place's you just shouldn't be in the water.

Rogue Wave
 

I recall as a kid surfcasting in Marshfield during an incoming tide. 1-2 ft swells were common, the tide was 75% full (about 1 hr from Hightide it was windy out of the SW (offshore). As we stood along shoreline were noticed and heard the rumbble and crackle of the rocks underneath the water being sucked out at a tremendous undertow....we were amazed as the ocean seemed to just want to go outbound...1-2-5- -6 ft out from where it was....we pulled in our lines..and as we did we saw on the horizon a black/ grey wall of smooth water rising and dancing on the horizon(probably 1 mile out)...It was an incoming huge wave appx 25 ft -30 ft high!!
we scrambled off the beach as did everone else ...across 25-30 feet of dry sand to the stairs on Hartford Road and over the seawall....about 5 seconds latter the wave broke about 5 ft from the seawall and oversplashed wall as water ran down Hartford rd,,,,we ran to wall afterward to see towels coolers and tubes all going out to sea and the ocean as clam as before,,,this happened about 1966 or so never saw anything like it before or since

I'm a bad person to ask. The best bass waters are the worst for humans.

[QUOTE=Pete_G;446905]Being bashed ON the rocks is what scares me. If I'm on rocks where there's more rocks behind me, anything above the knees sends me running.
QUOTE]

I was slammed this yr.On a T jetty in NJ.Big ground swell.Bailin nice fish..I was in a trance looking at a wall of water.
I remember thinkin to myself wow thats a big wave..
It blasted me like a 300 lb lineman an thru me back 10 ft back on the rock on my back..
I didn't have a scrape.or a bruise..Got up my friend asked me if i was alright.Looked like he had seen a ghost..The big guy was watchin over me that day..
As time goes on the legs don't have as much will to do some of the things i used to.Or at least as many of the things i used to..
Standin on a barof bowling ball rocks over my waiste in Montauk as 3-6'6" guys keep pushing out is not really as much fun as it used to be.especially when its cold an they are not biting..
There seems to be a risk reward factor I still will be willing to breach when the all is right..
I also Have way less fear at night.I look at some of the things I have done in the daylight an I scratch my head....
I had scary crossing one night to a island when there was alot more current than expected..We pushed the envelope try to get to this spot early.we had on our wetsuits but the 150 yd crossing was not going as planned..I ended up usin my pole to push me the last 30 yds..
One of my friends broke away an was only a few yds from no return..
We got up on the beach relieved an went an caught some fish..
Now a days I weigh the comfort level against the productivity.
Still getting overly abused by the waves gets old fast an keepin one eye on the water.an one eye on what I'm doing hurts my head..
So i find myself fishing spots like the oldtimers section in the canal..It's as close to Tom Mc Cann fishing as u can get..
When the surf calls I can still here it..

Things that go "bump" (or chomp!) in the night
 

Those who know me know of an "incident" at an extreme east end location I fish with a couple of other guys. That scared the bejeezus out of me and although I still fish there I am more careful than ever about the tides, dead-reckoning etc. I do not want to ever go through that again...

As far as the more mundane goes, I am actually afraid of sharks. There, I have fessed up! Despite the fact that I can be found way offshore in the middle of the night on a rock, and don't seem to have a problem on the way out there, I am always apprehensive about stepping off the rock into deep water at the end of the night. I guess it’s because by that time I have had hours to think (and worry) about it. Yes, I know a shark attack on a wetsuiter in the middle of the night on Long Island has never (to the best of my knowledge) been reported but with my luck I’ll probably be that guy who breaks that long-standing record….