A man was found dead in Lake Sinclair near Putnam Beach on Wednesday afternoon, a little more than 24 hours after he fell out of his boat, according to authorities.
Game wardens for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources spent two days scouring the lake to find Patrick Jason Gilbert, a 42-year-old Forsyth man.
According to department spokesman Mark McKinnon, the search team pulled him from 10 feet of water just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Gilbert’s body was turned over to the Putnam County Coroner’s Office.
DNR officials were called to the lake, about 90 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta, around 11:45 Tuesday morning after reports of a possible drowning. Gilbert and his 18-year-old daughter were on Lake Sinclair fishing, Channel 2 Action News reported. McKinnon said they were traveling north when their boat hit an unknown object in the water and the impact threw Gilbert from the vessel.
His daughter jumped in to rescue him, but Gilbert went underwater and never resurfaced, according to McKinnon.
Game wardens used a side scan sonar device to search the lake for Gilbert until dark Tuesday. The search continued Wednesday morning. His body was recovered using the sonar device.
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