A FISH TALE by Kyle Cox

One summer when I was 8 years old, my dad asked me if wanted to go fishing at the pond that was close to our house. It was an enormous pond that was at least 2 miles long and a mile wide. We had only been there a few times and it was a very cool place. I really liked to fish there even though sometimes you would have to sit there for hours before catching your first fish. I decided to go with my dad that day because I was very bored and had nothing better to do. I didn’t know just how exciting that day would end up.

The first thing my dad and I had to do before going fishing was to get supplies. My dad pulled out his huge chest of fishing gear. In it were all sorts of fishing rods, lures, string and bait. The bait was a large jar of tiny hissing snakes. Once we gathered all the supplies, we packed some snacks and drinks and headed off to the pond.

When we first got to the pond, the first thing we saw was an enormous white alligator lying on the bank. It was at least 25 feet long! When it saw us, it instantly jumped up and starting running towards us. My dad quickly snapped off a large tree branch and went head to head with the alligator until he killed it. We still couldn’t believe that an alligator was actually found at a pond in North Carolina! Anyway, now that the alligator was dead, we could get back to our business of trying to catch some fish.

When we got to the pond, we found a good spot to set up our fishing gear. My dad offered to bait my hook since I didn’t want to touch those hissing snakes. Once my hook was baited, I threw my line into the water. Almost immediately, something attacked my bait and I tried to reel it in. It felt very strong and when I pulled it to the surface I saw that it was a giant snapping turtle. It was at least 7 feet in diameter! It had eaten half of my fishing pole so I just let go of it and the turtle disappeared back into the pond with part of the pole half way down it’s throat.

I grabbed another fishing rod and made another attempt to catch a real fish this time. Finally after 8 hours passed by without a bite, I finally felt something tugging at my line. It was pulling so hard, my dad had to help me pull it to shore. When we finally got it to the bank, we could see that it was a catfish, but not an ordinary catfish. It was 7 feet long and was the biggest catfish I had ever seen! It’s skin was slippery and slimy so I was having trouble holding it. I struggled to hold it up long enough so my dad could take a picture. After he took the picture, I told the catfish I was going to let him go. I tossed him back in the pond and instead of swimming away, he turned around and gave me a smile as if to say, “Thanks for setting me free!” He then flapped his huge tail and disappeared deep into the pond, never to be seen or caught again!