Flats Hunter

I saw her coming toward the plane after I had secured the cooler in the rear seat. She couldn't be my angler, I was expecting a man. She was definitely headed for the plane and was carrying a rod case and a tackle box. She walked up and stood in front of me. "Are you Captain Tag Gordon?"

"I am, and you must be Mack Anniston."

"Correct."

"Here, let me stow your gear in the plane, do you have more things?"

"Yes the driver is bringing the other bags." She had a sweet and melodious voice, but I couldn't tell much more about her. She was tiny. She wore boat shoes, old jeans, a white man's shirt, a white canvas hat with a wide brim, dark glasses and had a patch of white zinc oxide on her little nose. The top of her hat only came up to shoulder height on me. A man arrived and handed me a duffle bag and a makeup case. I stowed all her gear and smiled at her, "Are you ready to go?"

She grinned and said, "Lets go."

"Use this spray rail as a step, Here is a hand hold. Put your right or left foot up first, then bring the other foot up. Then put your left foot in the cockpit, step on the seat if you need to. Here let me give you a hand, you'll be fine once you get the hang of it." I gave her a little boost and she was in. I went to the other side of the plane and climbed in myself. I leaned over to see if she was strapped in right. She was. She had her headset on and adjusted. I pulled the hatch down and latched it. I settled in my seat and strapped in. I started the engine and closed my hatch. When my head set was on I looked at her and asked if she could hear me. She gave me a smile and said. "Loud and clear, Captain, do you want me to read you the check list while we taxi?"

"Hey, you sound like you know what is going on, that would be a help, I'll call for taxi instructions first." I called the tower and got the instructions and gave the engine a little burst of power and we were rolling. She read the check list in a professional manner and I asked, "what ratings do you have."

She looked at me and grinned, "Single, and multi, commercial and instrument."

"Ok, you have the aircraft, it does have brakes on both sides." She taxied to the runway and held short, while I called for takeoff. The tower gave us clearance and she looked both ways and pulled out and lined up with the runway, I nodded to her and she pushed the throttle forward and we were rolling. She was good, smooth as silk. I called the tower and told them we were off, VFR to the Marquesas Keys. I retracted the landing gear.

"Have a nice day Tag, catch one for me. Key West Tower out."

I told her to turn to a heading of about 265 and level at 1500 feet.

I said in my most professional voice, "Welcome to Gordon Airway Flight 2404, we will be cruising at an altitude of 1500 feet today, the arrival time is unknown as we may scout for fish on the way. Thank you."

"Oh the water is so beautiful from up here, look at that school of big fish, are they tarpon?"

"You are right, there must be a hundred fish in that school. See the skiff working them, looks like a fly fisherman."

"Can we try that?"

"Sure can, if you want, you are the boss. Pull back on the throttle some, as slow as you are comfortable with. We can see better. See the bone fish on that f lat at one o'clock. They look like they are walking don't they."

"They do. The water is so clear it is impossible to tell where it stops. Is that the Marquesas up ahead?"

"Yes and that speck in the center of Mooney Harbor is our home for the next three days. Do you want to over fly it and see the Dry Tortugas."

"Not now, I want to go fishing."

"Good girl." I switched channels on the radio and called, "Flats Raider, Tag here, We are about five out. Do you have a skiff ready, we have an angler hot to trot."

"Roger Tag, you know we do. We have you in sight."

"Do you want to land , Mack?"

"No, you have the plane, I want to go fishing, I wait six months to go fishing, and I AM hot to trot." I took the controls and handed her the check list. "Read the one that says 'Water landing'." She read the list after giving me a dirty look. I greased the plane onto the water and taxied to the big house boat. Three flats skiffs hung from a boom on the starboard side. A boom on the port side trailed a buoyed line for us to pick up. I opened my hatch and got out the collapsible boat hook and got the line on the first try. I pulled us in and we were along side the door in the stern rail of the houseboat. A large redheaded woman secured the plane to the boat and I shut down the engine. Mary, the redhead, reached down and lifted Mack from her seat. "Howdy, Mam, How was yer flight with that clown."

"It was as smooth as glass except for the landing."

"Mack, this Mary, she runs the show out here, if you need anything at all, ask her."

"I need someone to take me fishing."

"Well, get in the boat, if you want to go without your rods and tackle." I said, smiling at her. I reached in the plane and handed out her gear to Mary. Mary handed the tackle to an older man who put it in the boat nearest the house boat. I looked at him and asked, "Is my gear and the cooler ready to go?"

"Ya know danged well everythin' is ready, why da ya even ask?",

I helped Mack into the skiff and went forward and untied the boat. The four stroke outboard fired right up, as I knew it would. I knew Billy had it warmed up for me. I backed away from the mother boat and popped the skiff up on the plane and ran out of the south east pass from Mooney Harbor then opened her up for the five mile run to Boca Grande Key. I had seen some fish working the ocean side as we came in. I slowed the boat a hundred yards out and idled toward the south flat. "Got your gear ready?"

"Not yet, give me a couple minutes."

"I'll move in close and then pole in, I can scout some while you get ready."

"I'm almost ready now, what kind of fly do you like?"

"Try one of Billy's Green Crab Specials, there are some in a plastic box under the port seat. Yeah, that's them." I had shut the motor down and picked up the poling pole and mounted the poling platform. Looking ahead I scanned the flat and thought I saw a fish working toward us. "I think there is a fish at eleven o'clock about a hundred yards out, got him?"

"NO, I don't see him."

"Do you see the dark spot from the shadow of a cloud at eleven?"

"Yes."

"OK, he is just this side of it moving left to right, are you ready to cast?"

"I'm ready, I see it now. I see his tail and fin now."

"I'm turning to the right, wait, wait, now put the fly about four feet in front of him. Beautiful cast, perfect, let it sink, now, a one inch twitch. He sees it, he is going down on it. Ready, He's got it, hit him hard. He is on, Great work." I jumped down and stowed the push pole and fired up the motor and slowly followed the fish. Mack fought the fish like a pro. He was out two hundred yards and still running, I increased my speed and watched as Mack started to gain line. Now we could see him well, I put the boat in neutral, and watched her fight the fish. It was moving slowly toward the boat bearing to the right.

"Mack, switch your rod to the left side of your body and make him go left. Good, good. He is headed left now, switch back and make him go right again, perfect, they hate that, it wears them down quicker than anything." I watched as she worked the fish in to the boat, "Careful he will spook when he sees the boat, there he goes. Damn well done, girl, work him back in. Make him switch directions, Good girl, you are really good. Wear him down, girl, he only weighs about a third of what you do, put it to him. You have him whipped now. Lead him past me and I will tail him. Ooops! Missed him, Not your fault, bring him back to me. Got him."

I held the fish and saw the grin grow on her face. She pulled out her pliers and got the hook out. She put her rod down and I saw her hands shaking. "Sit down on the bow and hold the fish while I snap a picture or two." She held the fish and I got a shot. "Hey, take your hat and glasses off so people will know who you are." I looked into the view finder and into the bluest eyes I had ever seen, set in the most beautiful face I had ever seen. I almost forgot to snap the pictures.

"OK, Let me put him back, alright, Mack, look at him go. Good job, girl, shake hands, a high five too. Sit down and rest a bit. You look pale, are you OK?"

She sort of slumped toward me, I caught her and hugged her to me, then eased her down on the seat. I reached in the cooler and got a water bottle out and spilled some on my clean hand towel and wiped her face with it. Her eyes fluttered and she smiled at me and shivers ran up and down my spine. She was even more beautiful up close. It was all I could do to keep from kissing her. "How do you feel, girl. Here drink some water. Your hands are still shaking. Can I do anything?"

"I don't know what is wrong with me. Overly tired I guess."

"We are going back to the mother ship, you need rest, here lay on the seat and put your head on my lap." I fired the engine and popped up and ran full speed for home. I pulled out the VHF handheld and called Billy, I told him the problem and told him to have Mary standing by to help Mack to her bunk. In five minutes I eased the skiff along the mother ship and killed the engine. I picked Mack up and handed her to Mary. I handed the lines to Billy and ran after Mack and Mary, I pulled the covers down on the bed without noticing that it was my bed she was putting the girl in. Mary looked at me and said, "Scoot, get outta here, I'll take care of her." About ten minutes later Mary came out of my cabin. She smiled at me, "She is gonna be fine, She is just exhausted, she told me she has been up for thirty hours, and that she just fought a good permit on the fly."

"She sure did, she is very, very good with the long rod. She whipped that permit as fast as a two hundred pound man. I guess it wore her out. Isn't she beautiful."

"You don't know the half of it, sonny."

"Would it be alright if I went in and checked on her?"

"Sure, just don't disturb her."

I sat beside the bed and watched her sleep. She was gorgeous. I picked up the little hand on the bed and kissed it, her lips curved in a smile. I gently put the hand back down and watched her sleep. After a while Mary looked in and I got up and went out. "Ya been sittin in there for three hours watchin' that girl sleep like some moon struck kid. She ain't for you. Don't get you heart broke again."

"How do you know, Mary. Maybe she…"

"No maybe, Tag, she is not for you. Listen, I have been with you through two wives, this one ain't for you either."

"Maybe you are right. I promise I wont be a fool again."

I sat on the stern deck in a lounge chair watching pelicans dive into school of bait fish. A voice beside me said, "Thank you for taking care of me this afternoon."

I turned and saw Mack standing beside me. "Hey, I was glad to help. If you have the time we won't count today as one of your three days, it's not fair you have to pay me for sitting on my butt."

"Tag, I want you to know I had the most wonderful day of my life today. That permit was spectacular. I can't believe I caught him."

"Hey, you deserved to catch him. You made a perfect cast. You dropped that fly exactly where I said to put it. You twitched it just right, you fought the fish perfectly. You did every thing as well or better than any angler I have ever had. You are damn good. I would love to guide you in a tournament, we would tear them up."

"Tag, book me for one and I will be here. I would love that, I really would."

"Well wait until you are ready to go home, you may change your mind. I can be real grouchy."

"I just don't believe that."

"Hey you guys! Dinner." I helped Mack up and we went to dinner. Since there were just the four of us I asked if she minded Mary and Bill eating with us. "Not at all, I would love to hear more stories about you."

"Stories about me? Ha! Don't believe these two. They think I don't know my ass from a teakettle. Tell us about you, Mack, Are you married, have kids, where you learned to fish so well?"

"No, I am not married right now."

"You make it sound so casual.' I said. She looked up at me. "You are right, I guess it always has been, I have two kids, a boy and a girl. I love them dearly, I wish I had more time for them. Would you like to see my pictures, I usually don't know anyone this long with out showing them my darlings. My dad taught me to fish. He was a trout and salmon fisherman, loved to hunt too, he always wanted to fish salt water but never made it. He would have loved today." I saw a tear in her eye.

"You miss him a lot, don't you."

"Yes I do, he was a wonderful man. How about you Tag, are you married, kids?"

"Not currently, have been twice, one kid, but I rarely get to see him, I am a bad influence on him because I don't have a regular job. I just fish."

She looked at me and giggled, "You just fish. I called every big name angler I ever heard of. Asked them all the same question, 'Who is the best salt water fly guide in Florida?' I asked nine people and all but one named you. You are the best at this game."

I looked at Bill and then at Mary, "See! Someone out there likes me." Bill laughed, "He gonna have a swolled up head fer a month, won't be fit to be around."

"Don't brag on him," Mary said, " he gets to believing that shit and we won't hear the end of it."

"I say what I feel, I think he is the best."

Mary placed large plates piled with broiled fish, French fries and a salad of lettuce and thick slices of tomato. There were dishes of tartar sauce and a homemade dressing. Mack took a bite of the fish and looked at Mary, "What kind of fish is this, it is delicious, flaky, juicy and wonderful."

Mary laughed, "Honey, you caught one today."

"Permit? I didn't know people eat them"

Bill said, "Don't know 'bout other people, but I do, ever chance I get."

When everyone was finished Mack complimented Mary again on a wonderful meal.

I told them I agreed with Mack. I was going to go out on the stern deck and sip a Crème de Menthe frappe and relax before bed. I mixed two frappes and gave one to Mack and went out on the deck. I sat on the stern bench and she came out and sat beside me. I put my arm around her and she snuggled beside me. I put my nose in her hair and breathed her heady fragrance. I looked at her and said "I love the way you smell."

"I love the way you smell too! I know now that I slept in your bed. I dreamed of you the whole time I was asleep."

"You did, nightmares, right?"

"Not really, more like erotic mares. I don't know why."

"Hummm, I can't even think about that."

" Me either, It was delightful though."

"You were probably thinking about the permit, right."

" Not really."

" Tomorrow morning. First light. Tarpon flats. Ok? May I have a good night kiss?"

"I would love it."

I pulled her to me and pressed my lips gently to hers, her lips parted and I inserted my tongue and found her's. It was heaven. She broke away and said, "I need my rest." I watched her go into my room and I found another bed after a heart wrenching debate with myself.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast and headed for Little Mullet Key across glass smooth waters. The four stroke wound out and the GPS said we were doing seventy miles an hour. We were there in no time, Mack looked up at me and smiled, "You are really a hot rodder this morning, I thought we were going to get airborne."

"If there were some waves we might. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a log, I apologize for stealing your bed again, I just knew I would sleep better there. I was right. That smell of yours makes me feel so relaxed and secure, I just fall right to sleep."

I had to smile, "Gosh if I were in the bed you would be asleep before your head hit the pillow."

She grinned up at me, melting my heart, and said, "I doubt that."

I shut the motor off, grabbed the pole and climbed on the platform. I eased us along slowly, the sun was not quite high enough for good visibility into the water. I spotted some fish wakes a ways off but couldn't tell what they were. Mack pointed to the right, "Is that tarpon rolling?"

"Sure is. I saw their wakes a second ago. We'll try to intercept them. Do you have that Pink Smith Tarpon Streamer tied on your 12 weight outfit?"

"Yes, sir. I am all set."

"There is a good sized pod of fish. When I tell you, cast as far as you can across in front of them and use foot long or better strips of the line. Hit it when I tell you. As hard as you can, they have a hard mouth. Steady, girl, we are almost there. Go for it. Beautiful cast. Strip a little faster. One sees it. Hit him, again. Oh! Shit. He spit it out. Roll cast it out in the pod. Good shot, Hit it! Again. You have a hook up. I'm coming down." Six feet of silver fish leaped into the air twenty feet in front of the boat. "That's right , bow to the King." I yelled as she dropped the tip of her rod while the fish flopped about in midair. The tarpon hit the water and seemed to bounce off of it, he was back in the air so soon. The fish made a short run and jumped again and again. Then the line went slack. Mack turned slowly and looked at me, She dropped her head, her arms hanging down in defeat. It broke my heart. I took the rod from her and quickly wound in the line. Then I took her in my arms and held her tight, "Sweetheart, you did everything exactly right, perfect. No one could have done better. We only average landing one out of five hook ups. We will get another one on. Please don't cry." She looked up at me and I saw the moisture in her eyes, she stamped her little foot, "Damn, I thought I had him. Wasn't he beautiful? Did you see him jump? WOW! I thought salmon were tough."

"Dear girl. That fish out weighed you by about thirty pounds and was a foot and a half longer. I imagine a one hundred and twenty pound salmon might scrap a bit too."

"Kiss me, and then we will do it again." I pressed my lips to hers and felt her tongue search for mine. It was a soft and gentle kiss. I loved every second of it. I knew she had to feel how it was affecting me. In a few more moments I wouldn't need the pole. We both pulled back and looked at each other. "Wow!" I said. Mack smiled and said, "Double wow! What are we going to do about this? I know it won't stop here."

"I don't want it to stop, do you?"

She smiled again, "I don't think we can stop even if we want to."

"Girl I want you in a proper bed, preferably mine, as soon as possible, OK? Let's catch you a tarpon."

We did just that and it was a giant, I took plenty of pictures and we headed back for lunch.

After lunch, I looked Mack in the eyes and licked my lips a little, I told Bill and Mary we were going to take a nap. I took Mack by the hand and led her to my cabin. I watched as she removed her shirt, then reached behind her to untie her bikini top. The bra fell from perfect globes topped by pink nipples that pointed like fingers. I slipped off my T and dropped my shorts and briefs. She looked at my erection while she pulled down her jeans and little panties. She was clean shaven. Her body was absolutely the most perfect I had ever seen. She was so well proportioned that her tiny size was not apparent. Mack smiled and walked to me, pressing her incredible body to mine. We kissed for several moments then I picked her up and put her on the bed. I just stood and looked down at her, "I just don't know where to start, it all looks delicious, yummy." She laughed, "Kiss me then we will each explore the other, OK?" I slipped on the bed beside her and kissed her deeply while my hands roamed her fantastic body. I loved the soft, firm, feel of her breasts, I felt the long nipples and rubbed them between my thumb and forefinger until they stood like little soldiers at attention. I couldn't wait, I moved to take one in my lips. Mack moaned a little as I gently sucked it into my mouth. I ran my tongue back and forth over the warm rubbery nipple, then moved to the other one. I felt her little hands moving over my body. She grasped my shaft and ran her hand over it, feeling the head then moving down to cup my balls. Her touch was as light and gentle as a feather but seared into my soul like a hot iron. I returned to her lips and savored the taste of her. She was gently purring now and the sound thrilled me to know I was pleasing her. I pulled away and slipped down and looked at her shaven pussy. I parted her legs and lay between them. I kissed and licked the pouty outer lips exposing more of the pink folds of the inner lips. I pulled them into my mouth, she shivered and pulled my head harder against her pussy. I kissed up to the little hood over her clitoris and sucked as much as I could between my eager lips. Now I lapped at her sweet juices that flowed from her vagina. She was humming louder now and I rose up and moved up over her hips and kissed her mouth again. I felt her little hand grasp my cock and place it at the entrance to her love channel, I pressed forward. She felt very tight at first, then it slipped on in. Mack gasped, "Oh! I love it. Oh! My God. Love me, love me hard and deep. Oh Tag, I love you. I really do, You are better than I dreamed last night. God you are good." I tried to say something really smooth but I was thrusting as fast as I could and I knew I was going to cum very soon. She was shaking and jerking and she felt me reaching my climax too.