As the Skunkmeister says, “You can’t lose em if you don’t hook em.” You can’t simply stay home if you want to be the worst, so we grabbed an ice cream cone up the street and went on down to the favorite fishing spot known locally as an undisclosed location.

We were using a new lightweight rod with some light line, just to make it sporting, and had our favorite rattling surface plug tied on, along with no steel leader, because we forgot to bring one. We tossed a couple of casts out into what was obviously an area devoid of fish, just to limber up, and then slid over a tad into an area boiling with ravenous bluefish. The action was hot, and one beauty went for the plug. It was just like fighting a feisty mother-in-law at the other end of a hangman’s noose, if we remember correctly, but we hung on for a while and then generously let the big fella slip the hook a few yards out. Here is a fine close-up photo of this magnificent fish.

Another cast, another bluefish, this one bigger than the last. The too-small rod with the too-light line was bent like a cheap pretzel, but we fought for what seemed like a minute or two until this whopper was right alongside. Getting a little concerned about damaging the Skunkmeister’s well-earned reputation so early in the season, we decided to let this monster loose before landing him. To reward him, we even let him take our favorite plug along with a few feet of line so he could have a souvenir of his close call with the famed Skunkmeister. We can hear him right now, bragging to his buddies down in the bay about how tough he is.

Five casts, two big blues lost, the favorite plug gone. Not bad for 15 minutes work. Do you want to be bad, too? Then stay tuned to the Skunk Report! Slack lines!