My family fished often for channel cats where the Detroit River empties into Lake Erie, (not near as polluted back then). I was around 12 when my dad and I went night fishing. He was drunk and as soon as we got our poles out he went to sleep, with instructions that if he got a bite, I was to check and wake him up if it was a ("big one"}. So anyways, those cats started hitting left and right and I thought I would let dad sleep and surprise him when he woke. So I got almost 2 stringers of nice cats, when I hear a loud horn. To make a long story shorter, the anchor didn't hold and we drifted out to the middle of the channel and a big ore freighter was bearing down on us and i woke my dad. He says did I get a bite and I say no ... look. His eyes got really big and tried to start the boat, but battery was dead and he had to take cover off of boat and hand crank to start. The freighter was flashing it's spotlight at us and that big ass boat was fastly taken up all the night sky on side of the boat. We made it, but it was a very close call. I had to grab the anchor and we lost a bunch of fish, before I realized they were still hanging off the boat. Anywho, sorry for the long fish story!
Also, just getting there was a trip. dad gave me a lesson on how to shift on the column, but he was too drunk/forgot to tell me how the clutch worked. So he puts me behind the wheel for my first driving lesson pulling a boat, (on a freeway btw) . 
Also, after we got on the water, for the first time, I sat on the top of the seat and put my feet where you usually sit .. like dad did. He opened it up and the 1st good wave we hit, my happy ass went rolling all the way to the back of the boat ... where I stayed, (scared shitless),till we got to the fishing spot. 
