DEATH REPORT: WAVE TOSSED FISHERMAN INTO LAKE O
State fish and wildlife agency issues its final report in Jan. 4 death.
Nik Kayler, the fishing tournament competitor tossed into Lake Okeechobee on Jan. 4, drowned when a rogue wave swamped his boat and threw him overboard, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a final report obtained Wednesday by The Palm Beach Post
His partner, Bill Kisiah, was thrown into the frigid waters and tried to save Kayler but was forced to struggle back on board and hours later, staggered ashore, freezing and exhausted, the report said.
When the two failed to check in around suppertime, a search began. On Jan. 10, searchers on a commercial boat found the remains of Kayler, a 38-year-old military veteran, husband and father, in the lake near a water tower in Clewiston.
The FWC finding confirms much of what Kisiah and other people involved in the tournament and the search already have said about what was believed to have happened next.
At 7 a.m. Jan. 4, Kayler, of Apopka, and Kisiah, 51, from Slidell, La., who’d been randomly paired, had left a ramp at Okeechobee. It was the first day of the Fishing League Worldwide’s threeday Costa Series tournament.
Kisiah told investigators that sometime in mid-morning, the boat was going 15 to 20 mph when it ran into high winds near the center of the lake and was swamped, throwing Kayler. Kisiah made a 180-degree turn to find him, but the outboard motor died. He tried to restart the motor, without luck, and resorted to the much tinier trolling motor, but a new wave threw him into the water.
By the time Kisiah was able to get back to the boat, Kayler “was no longer in sight,” the report said. With the boat taking on water, Kisiah used the rope that serves as a “kill switch” to lash himself to the trolling motor’s mount. The trolling motor then also died in the wind and waves, “leaving Mr. Kayler without rescue and Mr. Kisiah adrift.”
At about 10:45 p.m., an exhausted Kisiah and his 21-foot Ranger Z521 came ashore near the Pahokee Marina. Kisiah briefly was hospitalized for hypothermia and dehydration.
“Information also supports Mr. Kisiah made a good faith effort to find and return Mr. Kayler immediately following the accident,” the report concluded. “The recovered GPS and engine data did not indicate the vessel was operated in a careless or reckless manner.”
The report said there was no reason to charge Kisiah with any violation of state law or Coast Guard navigation rules.
In February, the Lee County Medical Examiner in Fort Myers ruled Kayler died of drowning, as opposed to hypothermia, which had been a consideration because of the frigid waters into which Kayler was thrown. At the time of the tournament, a cold snap had brought low temperatures around the lake into the upper 30s to low 40s, and the water was believed to have been in the low-tomid-50s.
Anthony Llanos, Kayler’s half-brother, said Wednesday he did not want to comment on the new report, beyond what the family already has said.
In February, after the autopsy report came out, Llanos told The Post the presumption is that his brother “was unconscious when he went into the water.” He said Nik still had all the coldweather clothing he’d layered on, even his gloves, when his body was found.
“It was as if he never tried to get anything off,” Llanos said. The former U.S. Marine water survival instructor said Tuesday the first thing a person does when hitting the water is to shed as much clothing as possible “so you can swim.”
A money-raising web page for Kayler’s family, set up with a goal of $15,000, collected more than $20,000 in its first day, and it stood Thursday at nearly $90,000.
A spokesman for the Fishing League Worldwide didn’t respond to a request for comment.