When I was 16 or 17 years old, several people from people our local church got together one Saturday and went to Palarm Creek to put out a net and catch some fish..  Was one of those people.

We all got together at the local store and drove to the creek together.  We all arrived at the creed around nine or ten o'clock in the morning.  The men got the net stretched across the creek just below the dam  that forms Lake Conway.  Then we boys went a short distance down the creek toward the river and began driving the fish toward the net.  We were splashing and hollering as we made all the noisewe could to keep the fish moving in front of us toward the net.

When we finished making that run, we began taking the fish out of the net.  I had only taken out a couple of fish when I bumped into a big limb or a small sapling or something.  I wasn't exactly sure what it was that I had bumped into.  I ran my hands along the tree slowly until I felt some fins.  That is when I realized that I was about to catch a really big fish.  That fish never moved a muscle until I took the last of the net from around its gills.  As I took the last two or three strands of net away, I felt it tighten as if it was about to swim away, so I wrapped my left arm around it knowing that I had a good grip.  Just as the last strand came off that fish shot away like a bullet, and I held on for dear life.  It drug me down underwater, but I still held on until I had to come for air--then I let go.  I had too--I had no other choice.

I came up for air, and I could hardly breathe.  I was breathless from holding on to that fish, but I was also breathless because of the excitement of riding a fish.  When all of the fish were taken out of the net, we went back and made another run.  We got a lot of fish again, but we didn't see the big one that got away from me the first time.  We all stopped running the fish and ate lunch.  We also rested for an hour or so.  During lunch all the men were talking about taking the net down and going home; however they they decided to make one more run because that's what all the boys wanted to do and the net was already in the creek anyway so why not?

We went down the creek to begin the drive like we did the first two times.  We spread out across the creek and began having a great time as we headed toward the net.  When all of us reached the net, we began taking the fish out of it.  I tried my best to talk them into making another run.  I really wanted to get my hands on that big fish again, but they all said, "No".  They also said that the fish was probably all the way in the Arkansas river by now.  We weren't many miles from it, so it probably was as fast as it left there.

Maybe it is more fun telling about riding than it would have been to actually have caught it anyway.  Who knows?