For those who came in late, my name is Carl and I have a fishing addiction. Not that it's a bad thing, but I do like to be on the water with a fishing rod in my hand every chance I get. Some guys chase women. I chase fish. Don't get me wrong as I like women too.
Home for me is the lowcountry of South Carolina. I do most of my fishing in the creeks, rivers and backwater sloughs in this area. It is not uncommon for me to spend several hours on the water and not see a soul.
People that know me even a little know of my passion for fishing. Recently, my coworker Catie stuck her head in my office. "Hey Carl, how are the fish biting?"
"Well, I've had better days than last Sunday. I only caught 4 bass, but one was almost 5 pounds."
"Wow, Carl. That's a nice bass. You know I like to fish too. I've never caught a bass that big."
I should point out here that while I am a pretty serious bass fisherman, Catie is more of a "drown crickets under a bobber" fisherman. Nothing wrong with that... it just ain't my preferred type of fishing.
"Carl, my mama raised me not to invite myself, but if you ever need company while fishing..."
If you look up cute in the dictionary, Catie's picture is there to illustrate the word. She has short dark hair and a few freckles. She is petite, maybe a shade over 5 feet tall and maybe weighs 110 pounds if she had a big breakfast. I've seen her in a pair of jeans and she has a cute (there's that word again) ass. Her breasts are what you might expect of a petite woman appearing to be small and firm.
While I would love to see Catie in a bathing suit, there is one minor issue. Since I generally fish in secluded backwaters it is not uncommon for me to work on my tan while fishing. If you're thinking I have no tan lines, you would be thinking correctly. It would be awkward to say the least to tell Catie she could come if she didn't mind a nekkid fishing partner. Yeah, I could pass on nude fishing if I wanted.
"Well Catie, I'll see what I can do about that. Maybe we can get together sometime."
"That sounds good Carl. Just give me some advance notice so I can get Mama to keep Kayleigh."
Kayleigh would be Catie's adorable three-year old daughter. Catie was divorced, but had managed to maintain a cordial relationship with Kayleigh's dad.
Cutie bounced out of my office and I went back to work.
Three weeks passed and I had forgotten about the conversation. That is, until Catie bopped into my office one morning. "Carl, did you watch 'Naked and Afraid' last night? They were in the swamps in Louisiana. There were snakes and alligators and big ole skeeters." For those from north of the Mason-Dixon Line, that translates as big mosquitoes. You may also hear a Southerner refer to big ass skeeters, but I digress.
Catie continued, "I dont know if I could do that. I mean, I'd be ok with the naked part, but I don't like skeeters." Honestly, I had been only halfway paying attention...until then. With that comment, I pictured in my mind a naked Catie. It was a nice picture. I also thought it was funny while she didn't want to deal with mosquitoes, she didn't mention the snakes and gators.
"Carl, that's my favorite TV show. I bet some of the places you fish look a lot like the swamp they were in. Speaking of which, are you ever going to take me fishing? And do you ever see alligators?"
Did I mention that Catie is a little hyper and tends to bounce from subject to subject sometimes?
"OK Catie. Stop long enough to take a breath. And you might want consider switching to decaf."
She gave me a blank look for a second and then punched me in the arm. Hard. "Carl, you're making fun of me."
"Well yeah," I said as I ducked to avoid another punch to the arm. "Tell you what Catie. If you promise to quit hitting me, I'll take you fishing Saturday morning. We will leave my house at 5:30. We'll grab breakfast on the way."
Any thought of her bailing out due to the early start time evaporated quickly. "This will be so awesome Carl. I'll get Mom to let Kayleigh sleep over. I'll bring sandwiches and chips. What kind of drinks do you want? Oh wait, you like Diet Sundrop. I'll bring my fishng rod. And sunscreen. Oh Carl, this will be so much fun. Don't you think so?"
With that, Catie bounced out of my office. I swear I could hear her chatter all the way down the hall.
Later that day, Erica, the unofficial office Mom, stopped by my office. "Hey Carl, I hear you have a new fishing partner."
I looked up. "Catie tell you?"
"Of course. But no worries Carl. She only told 7 or 8 other people."
Great...now the office grapevine was hard at work.
Saturday came quickly. I had loaded and hooked up the boat the night before. The forecast was near perfect with a high of 83, light winds and low humidity. If you don't live in the low country, you may not appreciate what a blessing low humidity is. Just as the eastern sky showed the first hint of daylight, Catie rolled into my driveway. She grabbed a cooler and canvas bag from the back seat of her car and put them in the back seat of the truck.
Catie was wearing a light pullover and a pair of short shorts that showed off her slender, toned legs. She could barely contain her excitement, "Carl, I am soooo excited. Thank you for taking me." She followed that with a quick hug. I realized that Catie's motor did not have an off switch. Regardless, the hug felt nice.
Cutie talked for most of the next 30 minutes about various stuff...cute stories about Kayleigh, office gossip and the challenges of finding a good man. "Carl, I love Kayleigh and wouldn't trade her for anything but a three-year old is Kryptonite for guys. Shame there aren't more guys like you."
Say whaaaat???? Is she flirting with me? I admit to knowing fish better than I know women. Maybe it is obvious to y'all, but I can be a little dense when it comes to the fairer sex.
We followed my usual fishing routine by stopping at the diner about 20 minutes from our destination. Mabel, the waitress who was rumored to have been delivered with the original restaurant equipment many years ago, arrived and took our order. She started to walk away and then paused, "Carl, aren't you going to introduce me to your pretty girlfriend?"
Catie hopped up, stuck out her hand and without denying the girlfriend comment said, "Hi, I'm Catie. So nice to meet you. Carl is taking me fishing. Just the two of us." Mabel winked at me and went to place our order.