A swirl of white water betrayed her presence as my baitfish leaped skyward in a futile attempt at escape. As the herring reached the summit of his leap and started down, I had covered the distance from the center console to the back rod holder. A tremendous explosion sent a column of water six feet high as the bait reentered the water; the rod bent double and the clicker on the Ambassador 6500C screamed! Over the years I had seen a lot of stripers " blow up " on my baits but never anything of this magnitude. My arms seemed to be paralyzed as I tried to pick up the rod. Finally I was able to get locked in and free the rod from the holder just in time to have the rod go straight and the clicker stop.