Man and his fish rescued from lake

A boater who was reeling in a big fish on Canandaigua Lake, New York, on Tuesday morning was rescued after falling into the lake. A woman on the southeast shore of the lake heard the man yelling and a crew removing docks came to the man’s rescue, pulling John R. Maloney, 63, of Rochester, safely out of the lake as Maloney hung onto his fishing pole and his 2-foot long rainbow trout. “He was cold when we got him,” said Andrew Buchanan, owner of ACS Docks.



Buchanan and his crew pulled Maloney from the 50-degree water onto their barge. “He had a cooler around his neck and he told one of my guys he didn’t want to lose his fish so we reeled his fish in,” Buchanan said. Ontario County Sheriff’s deputies said they responded at about 9:30am to the south end of the lake for a boater who had fallen in and was yelling for help. Deputies said Ann Berry who was at a rental property in Middlesex, observed Maloney fall into the water and heard him yelling to her to call for help.

Maloney was fishing about 200 yards from shore and while trying to reel in a fish his 10-foot aluminum boat started taking on water, causing the boat to shift and sending Maloney into the water, deputies said. Maloney was in the water for 15 minutes before he was rescued by Buchanan and his crew. The crew was working in the area, going from one cottage to another removing docks. After being pulled up on the barge Buchanan was operating, Maloney was taken to Smiths Marina in Woodville.



Naples Fire department and ambulance responded to the scene, along with the Ontario County Sheriff’s boat patrol. Maloney was treated and released at the scene for exposure to the cold. Maloney was wearing a life jacket/vest that saved his life, deputies said. The lake is 100 feet deep in the area where the incident occurred and the temperature of the water was 50 degrees, deputies said. Maloney’s boat was not recovered and is believed to be submerged about 100 feet down. The boat had an electric motor so no fuel was released into the lake, deputies said. Deputies noted in their report that Maloney “was able to hang onto his fishing pole and the 2' rainbow trout he caught.”