OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, FL--Crime scene tape surrounded a truck and fishing boat just a few hours after a father and son set off for a Saturday fishing trip on the north end of Lake Okeechobee.
"Somebody heard a splash and a short while later they saw an individual in the water," said FWC Officer Jorge Pino.
Around 8:00 a.m., a group of fishermen pulled 67-year-old William Allen Reed out of the lake and into their boat.
"They did bring one of the victims to shore but by that time it was already too late," said Pino.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers then spent the next 45 minutes searching the waters for the second man, 38-year-old John Allen Reed.
"It's a mystery at this point as to why the individuals ended up in the water."
The Reed's boat was one of almost 50 participating in the Christian Team Trails Fishing Tournament. Many fishermen didn't learn about the drowning until the tournament wrapped up.
"It’s horrible, horrible very sorry to hear it,” said fisherman Robert Alvaro, “By the most part bass fishermen are a safe bunch, you rarely see something like this happen."
"It’s kind of hard to understand,” said fisherman Jim Hurlock, Jr., “You know the lake's pretty shallow right now. I mean unless they couldn't swim it's kind of hard to understand how something like this could happen."
FWC says it doesn't appear the father or son were wearing life jackets.
"When you're fishing for bass, you're fishing in an open bow-style boat, which these boats typically are, it's very likely you can fall in the water and if you do if you have a life vest, that could be your life saver."
A family is now in mourning as investigators try to piece together what happened on the water.
