March 22, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
A fisherman had a close call on Center Hill Lake Friday morning.
Local officials said a Williamson County man was on his bass boat when he got too close to Center Hill Dam while the spill gates were partially open. The current pulled his boat up against one of the spill gates causing it to turn up on its side in the water. The man, who was not wearing a life jacket, fell into the lake but he was able to grab onto the boat and managed to pull himself up and stand on the side of the vessel with it partly submerged until help arrived.
A passing boater spotted him and went nearby to the marina at Edgar Evins State Park to get help. Workers from the boat dock boarded a pontoon boat and rescued the man. He was brought back to the marina uninjured.
TWRA officers were able to salvage the boat and towed it to the marina.
The Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad was initially summoned to the scene but Captain Dustin Johnson said the man had already been rescued and the boat towed by the time they arrived.