Lake Merced - One more reason you'll never find me fishing there again

Remember my last trip to Merced on November? 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,15231.0.html

Well looks like someone had outing of the worst kind.  So gross...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/15/BAAE16G0D2.DTL&tsp=1

Body discovered in Lake Merced

Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, March 15, 2009
The body of an unidentified male, which was discovered ea... A San Francisco firefighter pulls the body of an unidenti...

(03-15) 19:58 PDT San Francisco -- A man's body was discovered in the reeds on the far east side of San Francisco's Lake Merced this afternoon.

The body, spotted by a kayaker, was towed across the lake to a dock then pulled out of the water by firefighters.

The age and race of the body and the cause of death were unknown this evening. The city Medical Examiner is expected to do an autopsy Monday. Police were not ruling out foul play.

"The body was quite bloated, but with the weather conditions it is hard to know how long it has been here," said San Francisco Police Capt. Richard Corriea. "There's some story here, we just don't know what it is."

Corriea said the kayaker saw the body at about 4 p.m. and called police. The fire department handles water rescues and also was alerted.

Two men who were teaching dragon boating to high school students offered their help in pulling the body from the water.

Although the fire department has rescue watercraft, none of the boats are stored at Lake Merced, according to fire department Battalion Chief Lorrie Kalos. But dragon boating teachers, Colin Morneau and Nikhil Naiduwere nearby with a boatful of high school students and pitched in.

After Morneau and Naidu dropped off their students, several firefighters piled into the dragon boat and rowed across the lake to the body.

"We were happy to help out; someone had to do it," Morneau said.

Once the body was located, firefighters tied a flotation device around the waist and clipped the device to the back of the dragon boat. The body was towed all the way to the boat house on the far west side of the lake and removed from the water.

Battalion Chief Kalos commended Morneau and Naidu for their help and said she would recommend them for fire department award certificates of merit for helping out. They were also invited to fire station 19 for dinner.

"Their help made this recovery a lot easier," said Kalos. "We might have done it from the land side, but that would not have been as easy to do."

E-mail Robert Selna at [email protected]

Bet that smelled Nice....

I happened to be there while all that was happening.  I arrived at Lake merced at the same time as the firemen.  I had no idea what was going on, I launched west of the dock/boat ramp while all that was happening. 

Didn't mark any fish on the sonar btw. 

Or body parts I hope?

geez Marv.  When I read this article I was wondering if it was you who called it in!

Remind me never to eat fish from Lake Merced...

...if you wanna catch trout in lake Merced, use cigarret butts


Marv, let me know when you to L Merced again.....I got some secret honey holes for LMB

Few years back there always great fishing underneath Parrots Ferry and Hwy 49 bridges. Apparently it was used as a dumping ground for bodies. Bodies rot and insect larva were probably feeding the fish.

-Brian G

so bizarre...i remember as a kid fishing in the lake, and just NAILING LMBs...then they poisoned it, don't remember when that was, after that mostly only trout were left.

Pine Lake also had bass for a while, no clue whether that is still true or not...

I just had an image of Tony Soprano in a yak, whacking someone!  Lol

I just had an image of Tony Soprano in a yak, whacking someone!  Lol

oh man, that's hilarious, in a Hobie pedal version...

I like how the boaters were invited to dinner after.

I like how the boaters were invited to dinner after.

  Lake Merced trout on the menu, do doubt! 

That might be one instance where I'd regret not having a lip-gripper.

I like how the boaters were invited to dinner after.

 I dont think Id be eating for a few days after seeing/smelling something like that