On sunday, january 30th, operator left his wife a note that he was going fly fishing at falls lake.  There was no time left on the note to know what time he left for the lake.  Operator arrived at the six forks access area sometime in the afternoon, i think around 2 to 3:00pm.  This was a beautiful winter day with the temperature in the mid to upper 60's.  Operator unloaded his gear from the vehicle to the small kayak.  There was 1 fly rod, a type 4 pfd, anchor, fishing tackle, fishing waders, and kayak style paddle.  Operator left the access area and proceded under six forks bridge headed north on upper barton creek.  Operator was not seen again until february 2nd around 5:30pm when divers located his body in upper barton creek.  Details of this accident are as follows.  At approximately 5:00pm a subject at the six forks ramp thought he heard a person yelling for help.  Unable to locate the person, he drove to the bridge.  There he was able to hear the yelling more clearly but still could not see the person.  He called 911 and several agencies responded.

I received the call from the sheriff's office around 8:00pm on the 30th that they were looking for a missing fisherman.  Myself and officer responded to the call.  Once arriving at the lake, i met with sherrif and discussed the accident.  Upon completion of this, we went to the area of the accident.  We were able to locate an anchor rope and anchor and pulled it from the water.  It was later identified by wife as part of his gear.  This was the location of the accident.  All other gear was left in it's locations for later removal.  There was a fly rod, a type 4 pfd, anchor, kayak and paddle, fishing reel and waders recovered.  No sign of operator.

On wednesday, february 2nd around 5:30pm, operator's body was located.  It was approximately 100 yards from the location of the anchor toward the fishing access area.  Operator was only wearing shorts, socks and sunglasses around his neck.

It is my opinion that operator went to the lake to enjoy the warm day and do some fishing.  Operator wore few cloths due to the warm weather.  As victim  moved along in the kayak, he entered an area with a lot of submerged timber.  I feel he struck a submerged log, lost his balance and tipped the kayak in the area where the anchor was located.  With few people at the lake and no one there to assist, operator tried to swim to the shore and was unsuccessful.

RALEIGH                       