GLENWOOD, Maine — A Connecticut man died when a fishing boat capsized in heavy waves and winds on Wytopitlock Lake on Friday, a Maine Warden Service supervisor said.
The man, whose name is being withheld until family has been notified, was fishing with a friend, also from Connecticut, in a 12-foot aluminum boat in the vicinity of the lake’s south shore when a gust of wind toppled them. Game wardens received the 911 call at about 3:30 p.m., said Lt. Thomas Ward of the Maine Warden Service.
Ward said the warden service dispatched pilot Charles Water in a float plane immediately, while Sgt. Ron Dunham of the Maine Warden Service and Game Wardens Seth Powers, Scott Martin, Paul Farrington and Josh Beal headed to the lake, which is in Aroostook County about 20 miles northeast of Millinocket and about 15 miles southeast of Island Falls.
With the assistance of searchers from the Hainesville Fire Department, which is about 10 miles east of the lake, they found the deceased man in about seven feet of water at about 5:25 p.m., Ward said.
“We were lucky. I have seen some of these things [searches] go two or three days. We had some daylight left so we could do something,” Ward said late Friday.
The cause of the man’s death remains unknown. His body was taken to Clay’s Funeral Home in Lincoln. His companion did not require medical treatment, Ward said.
Neither man wore a personal flotation device. The survivor swam about 100 feet in the 57-degree water before getting into an area shallow enough to stand in. Both men were part of a larger party of recreational fishermen, Ward said.
Ward urged boaters to wear life preservers and all other forms of appropriate safety gear, check weather reports before hitting the water and to use boats large enough to handle sudden and adverse changes in weather when traveling on Maine’s water bodies.
“It was a pretty small boat for such a windy day, and the water is cold,” Ward said. “Fifty-seven degrees doesn’t sound that cold but if you are in the water for any amount of time it is cold.”