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A'ite dagnabit. Ya'll get off my back already.
Chapter 21.
And so it went for the next 2 weeks. William and Billy would meet most mornings at Billy’s front steps or sometimes Billy would get the jump on him and be standing there when William would raise the garage door. Billy did that just to remind him he still had more get up and go than the older man, William assumed. On William’s part, he was feeling better and better now that his iron had built back up and for the last week, he didn’t even bother driving around and just walked with Billy through the woods to save the trip across the little lake for Billy. Matter of fact, William had gotten so strong, the two of them would mock up an argument over who would take the first turn on the paddle. William’s casting prowess had come back strong and he’d gotten back in his swing and had a chance to show the young buck most days as it should be. On Billy’s part, his boat handling skills had improved so much you couldn’t tell his work from that of a full grown man. He was still learning on the fish, but it seemed to be an easy learning curve for him. He had a knack of figuring out the “why” of the fish. What he lacked in experience, he made up for in patience and attentiveness. The only fishing days they missed those two weeks were when Ann had something she needed William for or if rain blew through. They had good days with the fish, but they had their off days too, but to William and Billy, they didn’t measure their success in the numbers on the day, but in time spent on that little lake.
“Billy, when does school start back for you?” “2 weeks and 3 days Mr. Baker and I’m not looking forward to it?” “Why not?” “It’s going to cut down on our fishing something terrible Mr. Baker”. William chuckled a bit. “Well that’s true, but we’ll still get our swings in on the weekends and maybe some afternoons too before the time changes and the weather gets bad. You know, I’ve been thinking….” William trailed off and pondered and plotted a bit, but Billy held his tongue. Something Willliam was always appreciative of. “I’m getting a bit tired of fishing the same lake day after day. We need some variety and maybe some new techniques for you to learn and maybe some bigger fish while we’re at it.” “That sounds good to me Mr. Baker, there’s another lake about 10 miles past the river we could try or maybe some place else if you have something in mind.” “Billy, I’m sick of looking at that boat of mine sitting there in the garage. It’s time we got some use out of it before it rots. I’m thinking we ought to hit the Cape.” Billy beamed as wide as ever as he made another cast, “That’d be just fine with me Mr. Baker”. As they fished on they made their plans. William had some errands and some shopping to do with Ann the next day and Billy had some back to school shopping to do with Carol on her day off, but they would get the boat dressed and buttoned up that next evening. Cape Reservoir was about an hour away and on the big side of things at 14,000 acres. Deep, cold natured and a real witch with a south wind, William had heard through his network over the years about how rough and unforgiving it could be as well as the quality of fish that came from it that made it worth the ride, , but never had a chance to fish it since it was a good distance from their old place.
That night evening, William manned the phone and worked his network to come up with an idea of what the fish were doing. From two of his old friends, he narrowed it down to two arms depending on the wind that both had nice stump filled flats that should produce enough fish to keep them busy on the day. He thanked his friends for the information and made a mental note to repay the favor some way for the both of them.
The next day, the Bakers and the Brannons just happened to be leaving at the same time and as Ann waved hello to Carol, William flashed the thumbs up to Billy. The two families made their separate trecks and stops, but William managed a quick stop in the bait shop to pick up a couple of good colors and a paper map of the lake they could study later that night. Billy’s trip turned out to be longer than Williams as they made it back before lunch and had everything put away and lunch over and done with long before Carol and Billy pulled back into their drive. Ann had left word with William to be on the lookout and invite the both of them over to dinner that evening when they made it back. That was just fine with William as that left him in the garage for a couple of hours going over his boat and tackle while he “looked out for them”. When Billy made it over, the two of them walked back to Billy’s house to invite Carol and she accepted thanking her lucky stars to herself that she didn’t have to cook for the two of them after all that walking and shopping they’d been through on the day.
That evening, the men gobbled and women gabbed. William and Billy made the pretense of offering to clean up for the ladies after supper, but were all too relieved when they were shoed off to the garage and out of the way so they could get ready for their trip while the ladies talked. The two of them B-lined for the boat and the two of them climbed in. William spread the map out on the front deck and they studied and plotted. “Billy, the forecast is calling for 5 to 10 out of the South and the Cape runs almost perfectly North and South. We may be in for a bumpy ride out and a wild ride back. You up for that?” “I’m all in if you are Mr. Baker”. Of course, Billy didn’t really know what that meant, but William did. From what he’d been told, 10 was rough for the Cape, 15 was ugly, but it took 20 to be dangerous. William figured they’d be on the safe side of things, but had a strategy if things got bad. “Well, where do you think we ought to try”. “Well, I’m thinking this arm up here looks interesting. The creek swings in pretty good here and there all this timber here, plus it runs in to the East so we should be tucked out of the wind if this bank has any height to it. And there’s bound to be some run out feeders coming out of these coves if we need to go shallower.” William was impressed. Awful solid thinking for such a young kid and it just happened to be one of the two arms he’d been told about. “That’s where we’ll start then Billy. If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll run over to this arm up here. It’s pretty similar to your spot too.”
“What are those up there Mr. Baker?” “Those are rod holders Billy. A fella named Echols down in Alabama made ‘em for me. We’re gonna try something new tomorrow. Spider Rigging.” “Never heard of that Mr. Baker, but I’ll give it my best shot”. William explained how it worked as they loaded the rods and substituted some tackle then they set down in the boat to pre-rig some set ups and William showed Billy how to tie them. He struggled with the first few but caught his stride by the time they had two dozen done. The ladies came to the door saying good night and William and Billy made the final arrangements to meet over at Williams at 6 sharp. He didn’t want too early of a start with him being rusty at handling the boat, but not too late to get them on the lake before the sun got very high over the horizon either.
Originally Posted by Wannabe...
