A father and son went fishing in Shasta Lake, California Sunday afternoon, and were shocked when they saw two mountain lions swimming right by them in close proximity.

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Kevin Alexander and his son Blake spotted two incredible creatures in the water swimming across the lake, and couldn't believe their eyes.

The wild cats swam right past them and made it all the way to the opposite side, up the embankment.

By the time they came to the realization they were in front of two powerful big cats, they were astonished by what they just experienced as they had never seen anything like that before.

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"To actually see a mountain lion in the water, it caught me by surprise. I just assumed that cats didn't like water. They seem very very comfortable, they were very very strong swimmers, they were moving a lot of ground really quickly," Kevin told krcrtv.com.

Watch this incredible footage:

The father made sure that they wouldn't encroach the mountain lions' space and asked his son to back up.

"We certainly respect those animals. Even when we got a little bit close, I was asking him to back up because we understand the power of a mountain lion and what they're capable of."

The two mountain lions made it to shore and vanished into the forest. "To see these mountain lions, it's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity."

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