"Thank you so much for letting me come with you, Uncle Joe!" Gabby squealed, giving a small bounce on her toes.
"Well you're not leaving me much of a choice!" Joe grumbled back at his best friend's daughter. Joe and Mark, Gabby's father, go back to before Mark and Sally got married. That and all the time Joe spent with the kids as they grew up earned him the endearment "Uncle."
"Why can't you just go back with your brother?" Joe asked as he loaded the equipment into his boat.
"Jake dropped me off as close as he could but he's already gone off to start his life-guarding shift. He's going to be so jealous that I got to go fishing with you! I promise I won't get in the way!"
Joe's fishing trips were famed around the June Hills because he was always able to return with hauls of huge fish. But he always kept his technique close to the chest; not even Mark knew how he did it. Needless to say the Freewind family reunions always invited Joe to the feast because his goods were the feast.
"Mark would kill me..."
"Oh no, I won't tell daddy, your secret technique, Uncle Joe!"
Joe rolled his eyes. His technique wasn't the issue, as he had personally let go of any need for secrecy in the many years that had passed since he'd developed it. At this point he only maintained the mystery because of the delight that it brought the town folk whenever they pondered the fish whisperer.
He pulled his shirt off, sighed and then tugged his shorts off as well before tossing them onto a nearby tree branch.
"You comin, or not?" he asked, as he pushed the boat back into the water, naked as the day he was born.
"Wait... what are you doing?" Gabby asked, puzzled. Joe was butt naked, with his manhood hanging out in the open. Something she had never expected to see.
The first reason Joe never invited any of the locals to the fishing trips was because he did them skinny-like. Few things in life rejuvenate a person like being out in the middle of a body of water naked under the beautiful sun. This was a time honored tradition for Joe and not even Mark's daughter and her surprise visit was going to get in the way of his monthly retreat. Especially since she was an adult now.
"You go skinny fishin?"
"The ship is about to sail girl," he warned, revving the motor.
"Do I have to get skinny too?"
"Nope. You just have to get into the boat so I can get on with this!" The old motor popped and came to life and just as Joe turned his back to head out Gabby came splashing into the water and stepped into the boat. Her T-shirt was a little wet, but her shorts were short enough that they remained dry.
"So cool!" Gabby beamed, leaning back against a tackle box and taking in the sun as the boat emerged from the shade of the shore side trees.
It was no more than a 10 minute ride from shore before Joe and Gabby arrived at the fishing spot.
"I've never been to this side before..." Gabby said, watching Joe toss the anchor overboard.
"Yeah the lack of beaches past Half Song Point keeps most of the teenagers away from this side of the lake. And Half Song is actually a peninsula that tucks this part out of site unless you have a boat or know the right roads."
"And you've always fished skinny?"
"Yep," he responded setting up his rod. He tied a sinker to the line and tossed it into the water.
"No wonder you've kept this a secret. You have your own private lake!"
"Well it's not private. But usually only the city college's research teams make it out to this side of the Lake. The fish here are a bit shy." Joe pulled the rain cover off of a large machine that had a screen with some switches and dials.
"Woah, what's that?" Gabby asked, as Joe lowered what looked like a wired microphone into the water.
"This here's part of the secret," he said, also lowering a small cage-trap into the water. "It's a sonic wave emitter. Back when I started this tradition I used to use it to triangulate the position of schools of pike. You know, sonar location."
"Wow," she said, looking overboard. The technique was so shocking that she had forgotten he was naked in front of her. "But why'd you anchor? If it only triangulates schools, you have to use it before you settle in."
"You're keepin up with those books I see!" He thumbed the machine on. "Well one day it broke, and when I got it runnin' again, turned out that it started to attract the schools of fish to me. The cage is big enough to let little pike through, but the big ones can't get out once they get in. All I gotta do is setup and go to sleep."
"Wait, you're going to sleep?"
"Yeah!" he confirmed, turning his back to him. "And since you're taking my space up, I'm gonna need your lap to lay my head on."
"I sort of thought we were going to chat, like usual."
"Well you should have thought about that before you barged in on my fishing trip without asking. I nap out here. And sun. I nap and sun."
Gabby's eyes averted, as he nestled his head into the space above her thighs.
"Hey if you're going to sleep, then what's the pole for?"
"It's a decoration, really. Makes it feel more like old times."
She was clearly disappointed at this answer, but wasn't going to argue the point further.
"Tell you what," he sighed. "Just give me thirty minutes of shut eye, and I'll teach you how to work the pole and cast a line." She could hear the relaxation settling into his softening voice. "In the meantime, just enjoy the peace and quiet out here."