MARSHALL COUNTY, Ky.---For two men, a fishing tournament comes to a frightening end.

Two men know they're lucky to be alive tonight after their boat capsized in Kentucky Lake. Both men, from Jasper County, Indiana were in a bass tournament.  They launched from the Kentucky Dam Marina, and did most of their fishing in Paris, Tennessee. 

On their way back to the marina just after 5 this afternoon, waves overwhelmed the boat, sending the men into the water near Pisgah Bay.

His son is the hero.  The son was also in the tournament and had already docked his boat. But he got a call from his father, who was about fifteen minutes way.  His dad and dad's friend were in the water fighting for their lives.  Alert, alive, and thankful. 

Art Kerns knows if his son had not come with him on this trip, he could be dead right now.
It all started when fierce waves ripped off the boat's motor. The fiberglass fishing boat, started filling up the inside with water, and capsized. During the whole ordeal Kerns managed to call his son who was also in the tournament.

"We just made sure we tightened up our life jackets and stuff. We knew we were 'gonna go in before long, didn't take very long and the boat flipped," Kerns said.

Kerns and his friend were in the water for thirty minutes.

"We just kind of held on side of the boat until they got there," Kerns said.

Their body temperature kept dropping.

"It wouldn't been long he would've been in bad shape," Marshall County Rescue Squad Chief Carl Curtner said.

Kern's friend was taken to the hospital, and suffering from mild hypothermia, Kerns and his son are going back to a hotel tonight, but are cutting their trip short and going back hom.  Kerns said this won't stop him from fishing or going back out on the water. 

Both men were wearing a life jacket.  Curtner with the rescue squad hopes that's the message folks at home get. It doesn't matter how great the swimmer, you're no match to wind and waves like these.

The East Marshall Fire Department assisted the Marshall County Squad in this rescue.