There is a private lake up north of where I live, set back in the hill country that I had heard stories about and always dreamed of fishing. Today was my chance and I was taking it. An old friend had built a place on the lake and I had ran into him at the local cafe. He was in town on business and was eating lunch.
To make a longer story short, I asked about the fishing on the lake and he invited me up for the next Saturday to find out for myself. So now I'm on the road with my boat on behind the truck and a mug of coffee in my hand. I figured on being there at daylight.
The sun was just starting to color the horizon as I punched in the code to open the front gate to his place. A short drive later, I took the second right and followed it down to a boat launch ramp and boathouse. I made a circle and backed my boat down to the edge of the water.
As I got out of the truck, my friend stood up on the patio above the ramp. "Good morning," he called out as he did.
"And a good morning to you. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day," I said as I came around the truck.
He was coming down the steps. I stopped and looked at him hard. He was dressed in a business suit. I had on shorts and a t-shirt. "I didn't know this was going to be a formal fishing trip."
"Sorry about this but I have a meeting to attend, some heads to roll, and a few nuts to crack."
"Sounds like fun." John owned a couple of construction companies and an interest in an oil company or two. He was quite well to do, as they say.
He grinned. "You go on and fish. You'll have the lake to yourself, pretty much."
"Did someone say fishing?" A female voice asked from the patio.
I looked up to see a sleepy looking young woman in a ducky covered bathrobe, and fuzzy slippers. I didn't have a clue who she was.
John laughed and shook his head. "Clyde, meet my middle daughter, Tina. She might not look it at the moment but she is fishing crazy."
"Any fishing nut is a friend of mine," I said as I gave her a wave.
"Since you're not going, can I go?" She asked her father.
He looked around at me. "Hey, I was going to fish with you and she's a heck of a lot cuter," I said with a grin.
He chuckled and shook his head. Looking around at his daughter. "You better put a rush on or he'll leave without you."
She was gone like a shot and John laughed as he turned back to me. "She's a good kid, even if she is a little scatter brained. On this one minute and onto something else the next."
"All kids are like that," I reassured him. "Even us when we were young."
"Yeah, but she's almost twenty."
"In that case, I'm glad I'm not you," I said with a grin.
He chuckled and turned around to go back up the steps. "I need more coffee. Have fun and don't drown her. I don't have any insurance on her anymore."
"Maybe you should tell her the same thing," I said as he reached the top of the steps. He just waved over his shoulder.
*****
I had the boat launched and tied to the dock with the motor warming when Tina appeared again. Tight white shorts, white tennis shoes, a light blue t-shirt, and an Aggie ball cap changed her appearance totally. Now she looked the part of the athletic young woman she was. As she bounced down the steps, my eyes instantly focused on the bouncing going on in the front of her t-shirt. She was one healthy young woman, I must say.
"Let me grab a couple of rods and my tackle box and I'll be right with you," she said as she trotted over to the front of the boathouse.
All I could do was nodded as I watched her breasts sway under that t-shirt. Her nipples were making moving tents as they moved to and fro. As she went into the boathouse I shook myself. "She's half your age," I whispered to myself. Myself didn't seem to care in the least.
When she came out of the boathouse, she had two nice rods in one hand and a large tackle box in the other. She walked over to and then out onto the dock. I took the tackle box from her and sat it next to the driver's console. She stepped down into the boat and laid the rods on the front deck.
"How well do you know this lake? This is my first time here," I said as she turned and sat down on the edge of the front casting deck.
"I've fished it several times with dad and I've explored on my own. There is a creek channel down that way with a timber flat on one side that produces some good fish early."
"If you'll get the bow rope, we'll head that way," I said. "You are now officially the guide for this trip. You can show me around."
She smiled as she got up to get the rope. "Some of the things I could show you," she said with her back to me that hid a grin.
My eyes were on the tight shorts stretched over her shapely ass as she bent to get the rope. There was a hint of a camel toe where her thighs met. I was already seeing some amazing sights, I can tell you, but probably not her.
When she moved back and sat down beside me, I backed the boat out and away from the dock. There were some scattered cypress trees between open water and us. I idled the boat along until we were clear of them. Once in the open she pointed out a row of widely spaced pilings leading off in both directions.
She pointed to the left. "Stay on the outside of those pilings. They mark the closest to shore the water skiers and speedboats can go fast. Inside them is a no wake zone."
"Do you have a lot of speedboats and water skiers here?"
"Only on certain weekends during the summer. The rest of the time it is fairly quiet."
I turned the wheel left and sped up. When I got parallel with the pilings, I sped up until we were on plane. The lake was mirror smooth, the four-stroke motor was quiet enough you could hear the hiss of the water along the hull.
"Hey, I like this boat," she said with a grin. "It's not real fast but it sure is quiet."
I grinned as I pushed the throttle forward. I had only been cruising at half speed. The boat jumped forward and Tina laughed as she reached up and grabbed her ball cap. "I think I spoke too soon. I got to get me one of these."
We had covered a half a mile or so when Tina said, "Those trees sticking out up ahead. Pull in on this side of them."
I stopped the boat well short of the thicker stand of cypress trees coming out off a point of land. You could tell the water got deeper as the trees got smaller and younger. "Now this is my kind of place. I was raised fishing cypress trees," I said as I shut the motor off.
Tina stood up, got her rods, and moved to the rear casting deck. "I catch fish off the cypress trees but they are always in weird spots."
"That's because you don't understand cypress trees. You're fishing the tree and not the rings of roots that surround it. The roots grow out and then up into the water. Then another ring forms, as the tree gets older. There can be dozens of them on big old trees. The fish will lay between these rings to feed."
She looked thoughtful and then said, "That sounds reasonable. I had noticed the roots but never knew they were in rings."