The HCSO said the man's death appears to have been accidental.

HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. — Authorities have recovered the body of a man who drowned in Cherokee Lake Tuesday evening.

Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin said authorities responded to a drowning Tuesday evening around 4:50 p.m.

Authorities believe the drowning was accidental.

According to HCSO Lt. David Cribley, the 51-year-old man went to the lake to go fishing with his father. When he went to push his boat off at the shore near Floyd Hall Drive, the man fell into the water and was unable to pull himself into the boat.

Cribley said the man's elderly father was not very mobile and could not help his son as the boat drifted further out into the lake. Authorities said the man went under and did not resurface once the boat had drifted 40 feet out.