On a scorching summer day, I eagerly waited to hear my dad’s truck roll down the driveway.  We would get to my grandparent’s house where my dad has his old boat waiting for us in the ancient boathouse along the river.  We made our way up the Oconomowoc River to a spot where a fallen tree lays in a bend of the river. We would always anchor here and cast for little bluegills that bite right away and keep me occupied.  Suddenly, my dad shouted, “It’s a monster!” as he watched a brute of a bass devour a bluegill that was already hooked on the worm. He opened the bail and waited a few minutes for the bass to swallow the bluegill.  When he set the hook the drag screamed and my dad fought the fish for 20 minutes struggling to keep his line from wrapping around the fallen trees.. The bass dove out of the water like a whale slapping back down on the water.  Once my dad had the fish close to the boat he flipped it in right on top of me. I screamed seeing a bass that could possibly gobble me in one bite. My dad laughed seeing me so frightened by the massive bass. I could not sit still trying to not get slapped as the bass flopped in the boat

As the sun set under the horizon mist began rolling over the river as the temperatures rapidly dropped. We raced back to the boathouse in order to snap a picture, that would be glued into my memory forever.  My dad got down to his knees and let the bass back into the waters in which it came from. As we watched the bass slowly swim back upstream I began to think of how incredible nature is in the sense that anything can happen.  We never expected that to happen and that is the very reason why I fish everyday. Nature is unpredictable and to see the role of animals in nature first hand is why I appreciate the world I live in every single day.