Chapter 4

Ted walked over to Tony’s home carrying a large platter of smoked fish. He would guess this platter of smoked fish weighed close to seven pounds. He had tasted this smoked fish and thought it was delicious. This was food he could pig-out on.

Tony and Joan warmly greeted Ted and they thanked him for the smoked fish. Joan couldn’t get over the amount of fish. Tony introduced Ted to Larry and Gloria Pullin, an older couple, who are Tony’s neighbors on the other side of his house. Tony also introduced Ted to Carrie, his very attractive daughter who was about Ted’s age. Ted learned Carrie was an assistant professor at Ohio State University, was single, and had come down to spend this holiday with her parents. Things were looking up thought Ted in meeting Carrie.

While the women were doing their thing in the kitchen, the men sat in the family room having a beer and watching the football game that was on the television. The conversation got around to what Ted did and he told it like it was with him being a major league baseball pitcher and being injured when he was hit by a baseball.

Larry who remembered seeing that clip on television said Ted was lucky as his injury could have been much worse. He also said if there was anything he could do for Ted to let him know. Larry said he wasn’t bragging but he was quite handy in fixing things and had several power tools in his garage.

They all sat down for the meal that started with Tony saying grace. To be expected there was enough food on the table to feed three times the number of people that were there. Larry mentioned to his wife who Ted was which turned the conversation to Ted telling stories of things that had happened when he was in the big leagues. He said in a way he misses not being there but at the same time he is starting to enjoy being retired. Fishing has taken up some of his time which he enjoys doing but he will also be attending some of the Tampa Bay Ray games.

Carrie did ask a few questions and he could tell she listened to everything that was said. In a way, that was offset by him watching her as she was an attractive woman who had a nice way about her. Ted did ask her questions about what she taught at the university and if she had attended any of the football games since Ohio State’s football team was normally ranked in the top ten. After saying she taught computer science, Carrie said she had attended some games but she prefers playing golf and mentioned her low golf handicap. She said she had golfed at the Muirfield Village golf club where the PGA holds a tournament. Despite being asked several questions about himself, Ted thought this day was like being with family.

When he left to go to his home, he thanked everyone saying it was nice meeting them and that he had a good time.

The next day later in the morning, Ted was fixing his fishing gear by cutting off some frayed line and retying the hooks along with putting a strap on a gaff when he heard, “Going fishing?”

Looking up he saw it was Carrie asking the question.

“No, not today, but maybe tomorrow depending on the weather. Are you interested in going fishing?”

“Maybe, but I have never done any saltwater fishing. Being in a boat on that large body of water can be scary.”

“Yes it can be, but I don’t take any chances with the weather. If it is too wavy I will just as soon sit on my butt, have a beer, and watch what is on television.”

Carrie laughed and said, “Maybe I will go with you. What do I need to do?”

“At the sports store, you can purchase a three-day non-resident fishing license. That is all you need to do besides being here at seven-thirty in the morning.”

“I will think about doing that but right now I am going to go for a long walk.”

Ted looked at her fine backside as she walked away. He finished up what he was doing and at the same time was hopping that Carrie would go fishing with him.

The following morning Ted’s hands were full carrying two ice gallon jugs for the cooler and a thermos of hot coffee. He closed the sliding patio door and noticed Carrie standing at the end of the dock waiting for him. He could see she had on a hat and was wearing a white blouse and tan shorts. The day was starting well he thought and would get even better if they could catch some fish.

After lowering the boat and stowing this gear he was ready to go. He pointed out to Carrie where the wearable life preservers were before he started the engines and slowly trolled down the inlet. She was taking some pictures with her smartphone. Once in the bay, he pushed the throttles forward.

It was a short ride to a channel marker where he threw a cast net for live bait. The two casts he made resulted in an adequate amount of bait fish in the bait well. He headed out five miles to a spot he had marked on his graph where he had success in catching kings. In going out to this spot, he glanced at Carrie and with the wind in her face it made for a pleasant sight.

With his instruments telling him he was where he wanted to be, he throttled down the engines. The graph was showing there were fish below the boat. He baited two fishing rods and in letting the fishing line out, he explained to Carrie why they were there and what he was doing.

In a short time, there was a hit on one rod which he took out of the rod holder to set the hook. He handed the fishing rod to Carrie to real in the fish. He told her to keep a tight line and let the fish tire itself out. Carrie took his instruction well and he could see she enjoyed doing this but at the same time, he noticed the determined look on her face in doing it. It probably was close to ten minutes when the fish was on its side and close to the boat enabling Ted to gaff it and bring it into the boat.

There was a proud look on Carrie’s face as she sat and rested. She agreed to hold the fish hooked to a scale for Ted to take a picture of her doing this. The fishing rod was re-baited and cast out. She just wanted to talk about how much fun she had doing this.

About ten minutes later there was another hit on this same rod and the same routine was followed with another king mackerel of about sixteen pounds being in the boat.

There was sometime later another king that was hooked and was brought to the boat which was released. Ted suggested they reel up and go to another spot and fish for snappers. Carrie gave him a salute and said, “Aye, aye, Captain.”

This involved starting the engines to do about a one-mile ride closer to shore to another spot he had marked. Once there, he rebaited and dropped the bait to where it was just off the bottom. The fish were there and they caught mangrove snappers. They called it a day when they reached their limit of ten.

In heading in, Carrie asked Ted to go slow as she enjoyed looking at the scenery and being on the water. He did a slow troll in going into and down the inlet.