Body of missing fisherman found in Lake Okeechobee

CLEWISTON, Fla. — Just before noon Wednesday, the relatives and friends of Nik Kayler spoke quietly among themselves and shared hugs.

Hours earlier, a nearly weeklong search had ended for the 38-year-old Army veteran, husband and father, missing since he was flung overboard into the rough waves of Lake Okeechobee last Thursday during a fishing tournament.

Those who had gathered somberly loaded up gear and tied down boats to trailers, then moved out over the gravel for the long, sad trip home.

“It’s been rough, but we got him home,” Phil Kayler said of his brother.

“It’s not what we would have liked. But we’re at ease right now.”

A commercial fishing boat found Nik Kayler’s body Wednesday morning on the lake near the Clewiston water tower, authorities confirmed at midday. They did not give an exact time or place or otherwise elaborate.

A candlelight vigil was set for 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at C. Scott Driver Park in Okeechobee. It was the spot from which Nik Kayler, along with tournament fishing partner Bill Kisiah, had left Thursday morning. They never returned.

Searchers had scoured the 750-square-mile lake — about a third as big as all of Palm Beach County — since Thursday evening, when Kayler, an Apopka resident, and Kisiah, 51, from Slidell, La., failed to check in on the the first day of the Fishing League Worldwide's three-day Costa Series tournament.

At about 11 p.m. Thursday, an exhausted Kisiah and his 21-foot Ranger Z521 came ashore near the Pahokee Marina.

“Preliminary information indicates that the vessel encountered rough waters and struck a wave and Mr. Kayler was ejected from the vessel,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Monday afternoon. A separate FWC report said that “efforts made by Mr. Kisiah were unsuccessful, as he was unable to recover his passenger due to suspected engine damage and conditions.”

Organizers canceled the rest of the bass-fishing event Friday. Besides the FWC, the U.S. Coast Guard and the sheriff’s offices from Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties took part in the search. The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights over Lake Okeechobee while boats and aircraft looked for Kayler.

On Wednesday morning, at the Roland Martin Marina & Resort in Clewiston, where many of the searchers had staged, Kayler’s family thanked the scores of authorities, fellow boaters and volunteers — “everybody that contributed and took time from their family so I could find my family,” half-brother Anthony Llanos said.

Llanos, a former water survival instructor for the U.S. Marines, had held out hope that his half-brother was alive, citing his survival training and conditioning.

Llanos, who said he’d spent most of the past several days on the lake and “literally had my phone glued to my face,” said Wednesday that he was “overwhelmed” by the number of people searching for Kayler.

“Anyone that knew Nik was out here,” he said. “There were so many people. Because he was such a good person and kept good people around him. Even people that didn’t know him knew about him. They were involved.”

Kayler's family had offered a $10,000 reward for his recovery. Another competitor in the tournament set up a money-raising webpage for Kayler's family Sunday, with a goal of $15,000. In one day, it collected more than $20,000, and it was at more than $45,000 by midday Wednesday.

Phil Kayler called his brother “an awesome guy. Loved fishing. Loved this lake. He’s been out here a million times.”

Nik Kayler left behind a wife and a young daughter.

“It struggles for me to think what they have to go through,” Anthony Llanos said.

Cox Media Group