November 6, 2018
From Amy Bittelsohn, TrinityJournal.com
A duck hunting accident on Lewiston Lake Sunday morning resulted in the death of one young man. A second man was rescued from the frigid water.
The surviving hunter is Travis Stroup, age 20. The deceased victim was identified as Tyler Allen Brooks, also 20.
The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office got a 911 call at approximately 8:15 a.m. that two persons believed to have been duck hunting had capsized their shared canoe.
Lewiston Fire Chief Mel Deardorff said persons driving by the lake on Trinity Dam Boulevard noticed something was amiss and stopped, then heard yelling. They called 911 and found more hunters who were able to boat to the scene and rescue one of the men who was clinging to the canoe.
“The one that was in the water still clinging to the boat was absolutely hypothermic,” Deardorff said.
Persons at the scene and Lewiston firefighters worked to warm Stroup, who was flown out for medical treatment.
The location of the incident was between Lakeview Terrace and Cooper Gulch, about 150 yards from shore, Deardorff said.
Search and Rescue divers, personnel in the Trinity County Sheriff’s boat and a California Highway Patrol helicopter searched for the missing individual, Brooks, who was found at 2:35 p.m. approximately 16 feet under the water.
The lake was very cold, Deardorff said. “It was really tragic.”