Raycast not colliding with selected layer

Hi everyone, I have this script here:

 var linePrefab : GameObject; 
 
 var hitPrefab : GameObject; 
 
 var layerMask = 1 << 8;
 
 var range = 0.00; 
 
 var damage = 0.00; 
 
 //var randomstart =0.00;
 
 //var randomstop = 0.00;
 
 
 
 private var hit : RaycastHit; 
 
 
 
 function Update(){
 
 
 
 if(Input.GetButtonDown("Fire1")){
 
 Shoot();
 
     }
 
     //var randomstart = Random.Range( 5.0, 14.0);
 
     //var randomstop = Random.Range(28.0, 800.0);
 
 }
 
 function Shoot () 
 
 { 
 
    newLineObject = Instantiate(linePrefab); 
 
    newLine = newLineObject.GetComponent(LineRenderer);
 
    
 
 
 
    if(Physics.Raycast(transform.position, Vector3.forward, Mathf.Infinity, layerMask)) 
 
    { 
 
       newLine.SetPosition(0, transform.position); 
 
       newLine.SetPosition(1, hit.point); 
 
 
 
       if(hitPrefab) Instantiate(hitPrefab, hit.point, Quaternion.LookRotation(hit.normal)); 
 
 
 
       hit.layerMask.collider.gameObject.SendMessage("ApplyDamage", damage, SendMessageOptions.DontRequireReceiver); 
 
    } 
 
    else 
 
    { 
 
       newLine.SetPosition(0, transform.position); 
 
       newLine.SetPosition(1, transform.TransformPoint(Vector3.forward * range)); 
 
    } 
 
 }

As you can see it creates a LineRenderer which ignores all layers except the one I specified. That all works fine except it isn't colliding with the specified layer. Can someone give me an idea how to fix this?