MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The body of a 40-year-old Atlanta area fisherman was recovered Wednesday morning from the waters of Lake Sinclair in Baldwin County, local and state authorities say.

Authorities still were investigating the exact cause of the man’s death Wednesday afternoon at presstime.

Baldwin County Chief Deputy Coroner Ken Garland identified the victim as Roba Darnell Jackson, of Austell.

Jackson was officially pronounced dead at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday just a short time after his body was recovered from the water at Goat Island by divers with the Georgia State Patrol’s Dive Team.

Garland said an autopsy would be performed Thursday to determine the exact cause of Jackson’s death, although it appeared to him that the victim’s death was the result of an accidental drowning.

The autopsy was to be performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Macon.

Jackson went out fishing on the lake Tuesday, according to Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division Sgt. Bo Kelly.

Jackson’s bass boat was spotted on the lake about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, but no one was seen in or around it, Kelly said.

A 911 call was made to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office about 1 p.m. Tuesday for authorities to go to the scene.

Within minutes, road patrol deputies from the local sheriff’s office arrived and then waited as rangers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division began arriving to investigate.

Kelly told The Union-Recorder when he and Ranger First Class Freddy Hays arrived that Jackson’s fishing lines could be seen in the water, as well as some fishing tackle.

“But no one was in or around the boat,” Kelly said.

Inside the boat, Kelly said he found a cellphone that belonged to Jackson, but it was dead. The ranger ended up charging it up from his own battery charger so he could call someone to find out more about the fisherman, who at that time was a presumed drowning victim.

Kelly said he talked with Jackson’s brother who told him that his brother was fishing on Lake Sinclair.

Later Tuesday afternoon, specialized sonar and sector scan equipment was brought in by state rangers in an attempt to locate a body in the lake.

Kelly said rangers later saw an image they believed to be the body of the presumed drowning victim.

The veteran ranger said that’s when he telephoned MacKay Bloodworth of the Georgia State Patrol to advise him the state patrol’s dive team was needed.

As nightfall approached Tuesday, other rangers watched over the area until dive team members arrived Wednesday morning, Kelly said.

Divers retrieved the body in depth of water between 7 and 10 feet.

“It didn’t take them (divers) but about five minutes before they found his body,” Kelly said.

After authorities retrieved the body, DRN Ranger First Class Rodney Horne was called to the scene to examine Jackson’s boat.

“That’s just part of our protocol when something like this happens,” Kelly said. “We have to determine if the boat was involved in a collision, etc.”

The preliminary investigation into what happened doesn’t indicate any sort of boat collision.

“I didn’t see any damage to the boat, whatsoever,” Kelly said. “We believe at this time that it was just an accident, and that the victim fell into the water and drowned.”