VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other agencies are continuing their search for a professional bass angler who was ejected from his boat in the St. Lucie River.

Authorities said 39-year-old Christopher Hill has been missing since a boating mishap Monday afternoon.

Boaters spotted a small, unmanned Boston Whaler near the Evans Crary Bridge and pulled Hill's friend, 38-year-old Amy Reede, from the water. She was treated and released from a hospital.

Officials said they are not sure what happened. The boat has been taken to the wildlife agency's office in Jupiter, where it is being held as evidence.

Hill's sister, Jennifer Schirard, said Tuesday the family is holding out hope that Hill will be found alive.

A tragic story indeed.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/apr/13/body-found-bank-st-lucie-river-near-sewalls-po/

They just found a body. It's not known yet if it is him.

This is terrible, I am definitely going to be wearing mine all the time now when I go out fishing.

I make sure we have the kill switch attached and we both bought the auto inflatable vests to wear.

In my area, a very small fraction of boaters wear PFD's. Even when traveling in high performance boats, going 50+ MPH. This is just ludicrous to me.

I always wear my auto inflatable PFD. It's so light and comfortable, I put it on, and forget about it. Often times at the end of the day, I'll be walking up to get my truck, then look down and realize I still have it on !

The only thing I can think of, is that some people might think that wearing a PFD is not cool.

IMPO, not wearing a PFD makes a person look like a dum-bass, while wearing my PFD makes me feel like one of the very few intelligent guys out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In any case, the loss of this angler is just tragic.

Condolences to his family and friends,

Fish

PS, One thing should be mentioned; No where in the article did it mention that Chris Hill's death was the result of not wearing a PFD.

Still, I stand behind always wearing a PFD at any time while on the water.

It said traumatic injury was found, assumably the boat hit him. The kill switch not used or malfunction was possibly the contributing factor in it.

A real tragedy any way you look at it.