Near death experiences can be nerve racking. My father, grandpa, and I were enjoying a beautiful day of fishing on Merritt Lake near Valentine Nebraska. We were just barely able to squeeze in this last three day fishing trip before fall set in. We did not think any situation could ruin this perfect sunny and 75 degree day. The expression “When thunder roars go indoors” never sank in until it actually happened.
My dad guessed that we would have a difficult time finding a parking spot when we crept closer and closer to the launching area. To our surprise, our crimson and silver 19 foot Ranger fishing boat was one of only three boats on the 11 mile long lake. At the time we did not think much of it and went along prepping the boat like we had done thousands of times before. Our excitement was at a high level when we finally got the boat into the water.…show more content… Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours until our first bite. Our first fish was a 18 inch Walleye caught by my grandpa. After every fish he pulls into the boat he makes the same comment,”where there is one fish, there are many fish.” This statement proved to be true as we caught three more walleye measuring to 16, 17, and 22 inches in a matter of 5 minutes.
Just as the action seemed to be picking up, we noticed a chilling bank of black clouds forming to the west of us. As all outdoorsmans know, most weather moves from west to east. This cloud bank did not seem to worry my dad or grandpa, so it did not worry me either. It got to the point where our bait would not be in the water for ten seconds before a fish grabbed a hold of it. In the back of my mind I remembered some of the words my great grandma had told me about storms and animals. “When a storm is coming, the cows are standing and the fish are