Man Drowned After Boat Capsizes
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Reelfoot Lake officials said it had been a long time since they had a death on the lake. Brent Work said the waves on the lake were treacherous on Thursday afternoon, when the Arkansas fisherman was fighting them. “He was standing up waving his hands in the boat and looking at the boat it was getting real low in the water so that kind of alarmed me right there,” said Work, a Reelfoot Lake Fishing Guide. Work said he immediately called rescue squad, but with the high winds, it must have moved his boat pretty quick. “George Mchan was found approximately an hour, or hour and half later in the water and at the point they rescued him and took him to the hospital in Union City where he was pronounced dead,” said Lake County Sheriff, Bryan Avery, adding that Mchan was maybe 100 yards from his boat, face down in the water. The Lake and Obion County Rescue Squads worked quickly to find the 51-year-old and a possible fishing buddy. “We were under the impression there was more than one person, so we searched to about 8:00 last night,” said Work. Mchan’s family told Sheriff Avery the fisherman went by himself this time. He had been fishing on Reelfoot Lake for about five years. “Mchan put in on the Lake County side, which is Keystone Park and he went clear across to the other side to the Samburg side of the lake,” said Sheriff Avery. Which according to lake guides, is very dangerous, especially with winds gusting as high as 30 miles per hour on Thursday; and traveling across the lake as Mchan did. Work said even professional fishermen would not have taken on waves like that. “There’s a limit. We’ll go out in a 15 or 20 mile wind, but when it gets to 30 or 40 we stay off the lake,” said Work. Sheriff Avery stressed that if for some reason you have to fish on a windy day, do not get in the water. Instead, try and get somewhere away from the wind. And always check the weather forecast before going out on the lake.
