Too close for comfort

[Rockfish9]

This week weather has been outstanding for night fishing ( it's about time!)... Wednesday night was no differant... clear moonles skies, light westerly wind ... light surf.. the sox game on playing for the division.... perfect for fishing the beach...my methods of fishing are differant than many...I run the boat tight to the beach ( 2-6' of water) troll with the electric moter and toss eels onto the sand....as the sox prepared to bat in the 12th inning I slid the net under a "filter fish" by this I mean a fish that is 33 1/2 to 33 3/4" long... just under the comercial limt ( most of these fish have battle scars or hooks in their anatomy)as the fish came over the gunnel i see to my horror a boat is bearing down on me at a high rate of speed... I'm in 4' of water all my lights are on ..including a headlamp....I was in the bow of the boat attending to a fish...my signal devise was out of reach... the dark missel turned away close enough for me to touch it with a rod tip.... as the boat sped down the beach( with out lights) , my knees buckled.... my heart pounded and i had to sit.... my mouth had a weird coppery taste...i tried to spit it out...no saliva was available... I DO NOT scare easily... I've had plenty of close calls and awakenings.. this took a few years of of my life... the sox won the game in late extra innings and my knees were still shaking... the 30 minute drive back to the dock seemed like an eternity... at home, although i had only had 16 hours of sleep since Sunday.. sleep would not come... each time i closed my eyes i saw that black missel and the wall of white water from it's wake as it turned just prior to collision... I did not fish last night.. i took a night off ( and slept like a baby!)

Normaly I keep this stuff in my inner circle.. but i feel compelled to tell the event to heighten awareness... I've been just as guilty as many in the past of running and fishing with lights off... mainly in areas where I did not expect another boat to be driving at a fast rate of speed..... not just to conceal my location but on dark nights I can see much better... lucky for me I was lit up... although i think the flash of my head lamp may have saved me a dip in the ocean...had i not been listening to the radio, i probaly would have heard the boat coming and taken some sort of evasive action , sounded the horn or (franticaly) flashed the lights etc...

The US coast gaurd madates we have specific lights on our vessels... no doubt in my mind we ought to use them...you can bet I will...no fish is worth dieing for!