AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aha, so there you are, sleeping beauty.” Barb laughed as she handed her a mug of steaming coffee. “As I recall from Caitlin, you take it black, right?”
Jenni nodded happily as she took a sip. “And I know, Miss Barb, I mean Barb, that you and Caitlin could never understand that. But my parents both drink it black, and so I do too. Makes it pretty easy wherever I go.” She paused and glanced around the kitchen. “Where are Caitlin and May Ellen?”
“Well, Caitlin already had her breakfast, and she’s in the shower. May Ellen got up at first light and went out for a walk on the beach. I’m sure she’ll be back shortly. She loves to go shelling. She also likes solitude, she says. We sisters need our space.” And Barb laughed again.
“What time is it?” asked Jenni, suddenly feeling as though she’d seriously overslept.
“Just a few minutes after eight,” Barb responded. “By this time tomorrow, we’ll be busy fishing!”
“We will?” Jenni’s heart sank. “Um, what time will we get up and all?”
“The tournament starts at seven, so we’ll be sure to have our gear all set tonight as best we can, and that way, we can head out about 6:30, depending on where we’ll be fishing.” Barb set down a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of Jenni. “I know you probably feast on yogurt every morning, but for these few days, I want you to just enjoy my cooking.”
Jenni looked at the plate and realized how long it had been since she’d had a full breakfast. “I will.” She nodded in earnest.“So, can you kind of run me through what tomorrow will be like?”
Barb grabbed her coffee and pulled up a chair at the table next to Jenni. “The first thing is today, around two, I’ll go to the captains’ meeting. We’ll go over all the rules and such, and then we’ll draw for positions.”
“You mean, we don’t get to fish just wherever?”
Barb shook her head. “Now, that would be a mess because everyone would want to be at the Point. So, no, you draw positions. Volunteers will be out on the beaches today marking the spots. We’ll fish one spot tomorrow morning, that’s basically seven until eleven-thirty. Then from twelve-thirty until five, we have another spot, and Saturday morning a third spot.
Jenni was shaking her head. “I had no idea. It seems like a lot of moving around, but I suppose it makes it a bit fairer that way.”
“It does,” agreed Barb. “And we won’t really stop somewhere for lunch tomorrow. We’ll just pack up and move. I’ll have sandwiches and stuff in the truck so we can eat and fish at the same time.”
Jenni thought about bait and lunch, and suddenly, she lost her appetite. “I’m kind of really nervous about all of this. Are stations close together? Will other people see me?”
“Afraid so, dear. Everyone spreads out in their allotted area, and so you pretty much are right there with your next-door neighbors on either side. Since you are new to casting, we’ll try to put you at an end with no one next to you. Wouldn’t want you to get into a tangle.”
Jenni groaned inwardly. She could see it now, her line entwined with Caleb’s and everyone having a big laugh as she made a fool of herself in front of him yet again.
But where did that thought come from? Why would she think about him when she had so many other things to think about getting ready for the tournament?
She was beginning to realize how solitary her life had become in the past year. Was she that desperate for attention?
Caleb was just someone she met in passing. She shouldn’t allow herself to keep thinking about him.
She brought her attention back to Barb who was discussing the specifics.
“Our team is called the ‘Reel Southern Ladies.’” She smiled. “Get it – R-E-E-L.”
Jenni laughed. She had to admit Barb looked really into this and seemed to be enjoying teaching Jenni the fundamentals.
“Now, there are all kinds of tournaments here during the year.” Barb took a sip of her coffee. “What I’m telling you only pertains to this one. You will have to do everything yourself – that means redoing your rig if you lose one, putting on your bait, and taking your fish off the hook. We use cut bait, usually bloodworms, mullet, and shrimp.”
Jenni pushed her plate away. Suddenly, breakfast had lost a bit of its appeal.
Barb stopped and looked at her. “I know that this has probably upset your apple cart, honey, but when you’re out there in the wind and whatnot, you don’t think about it as much.”
“Alright.” Jenni nodded once. “I’ll just deal with it.”
“Great,” said Barb, picking up where she left off. “When you catch something, we’ll put it in a bucket until the judges arrive. They’ll measure it. You get a point for any fish over what the minimum is for that species. Then you throw the fish back because this tournament is all catch and release.”
Jenni mulled that over for a moment. “But what if you catch a really big one? And it’s too big for the bucket?”
“Well, I’d love that.” Barb chuckled. “The judges are responsible for five or six stations, so they’re usually nearby, but you could call them if you felt it was urgent. Then they wouldcome over and measure right away so that you can get the fish back in the ocean.”
Jenni started to ask another question, but Barb was on a roll and just continued, “In April, we are mainly fishing for puppy drum, but it’s also possible we’ll see some sea mullet, trout, flounder, and maybe some blues. And if you catch a trash fish, they don’t count.”
