A mid-June evening.....temps a sultry 85 degrees with a gentle breeze blowing.....its midnight, half tide on the rise. I am fishing a favorite Cape beach with my best buddies (they know who they are) we are spread just far enough apart that we can still see each others silhouette under the quarter moon and the light cloudcover dims what little light that gives. The surf rolls in gentle.....you can hear the eels slapping the water as they drop......all is quiet for the first dozen casts until I see one of the guys haul back and set the hook.....I can hear the drag scream.....as I slowly crank in my eel I can feel a bump.....I stop the retrieve for a moment and sure enough, the line begins peeling from my reel. I count 3 and tighten up.....I got her on and she is big. My buddies are all landing nice fish.....25.....30 pounds.....I gain some line after the first run, not much and she is off again with a 60 yard take......I get her stopped turn her around and slowly bring her into the wash....20 feet out I see her tail thrash the water.....the tail looks huge.....the rod is almost doubled over as I keep it coming in......I let the gentle surf help me slide her up the beach and all I can think is get your hands into her gills and get her out of the wash before she throws the hook. I slide my hand under the gill plate and struggle to get the fish above the high water mark. By far the biggest striper I have caught....."looks like its at least 50" one of my buddies says as he comes over to help......the belly is like a football and the fish measures 54 inches......"man, that is a cow" one of my other buddies says.
Next morning early at the tackle shop to weigh her in....I am hopeful it clears 50 pounds.....it is my largest striper to be sure so I am happy for that. We get her on the scale and wait for the reading....."49 pounds 15 ounces" the weighmaster says
Yup! Thats my luck!