A man drowned Friday afternoon in a small pond outside Michigan City.

Duane Hill, 51, was visiting from Markham, Ill. and went fishing on his friend, George Wedow's, pond. Hill is reportedly a good swimmer and an experienced fisherman.

Wedow said he saw Hill catching many fish as he watched from his back porch. Eventually Wedow went inside to use the telephone and as he returned outside he heard a noise coming from the lake.

"At the same time I hear a splash, I look out at the boat and you could see the front of the boat," said Wedow.

He then jumped into the water and tried to rescue his friend.

"By the time I dove in and got to about where he had went under at, you couldn't even see him because it's too murky of water," said Wedow, who capsized the boat while trying to rescue Hill.

"I'm trying to feel with my feet or anything trying to feel for him and trying to reach with the paddle to grab and I couldn't find him and I knew right then it was so murky the only thing going through my head was to hurry up and get to shore and call 911."

Dozens of sheriff's deputies and rescue workers responded to the 5500-block of North 600 West. Four divers from LaPorte County and one diver from the Department of Natural Resources searched the water.

The pond was small and only about 12 feet deep, so officers were unable to use their traditional boating equipment. Fortunately they found boats nearby that they were able to use for the operation.

"The boat the he was actually fishing out of, even though it was turned upside down and in the lake, we were able to upright it and bring it in and get the water out of it and then turn around and use it for our rescuers to go back out in," said Gene Davis with the DNR.

After searching for nearly two hours of searching the murky water by hand, a LaPorte County diver found Hill's body.

"It's not uncommon for people that fall out of boats or boats that capsize to gulp in a big mouthful of water and then go straight down and never come up and actually fight. We see it time and time again," explained Davis.

Hill was not wearing a life vest, even though there were some in the boat.

"They said he was a good swimmer, but he was unable to get back to the surface, so if he'd been wearing a life jacket, possibly the outcome would have been completely different," said Davis.

An autopsy on Monday determined there were no medical issues that caused Hill to fall overboard. Corner John Sullivan told NewsCenter 16 witnesses reported seeing Hill trying to reel in a fish and that he most likely lost his balance and fell in.

The official cause of drowning is an accidental drowning.

"He's just a really nice guy," said Wedow. "It's a horrible thing to have to see something like that happen to somebody like that man."

Hill leaves behind a wife, son, daughter and several grandchildren.