Fisherman hooks and lands a drowning man

HALLOWELL, Maine — An angler used his fishing pole to reel in a man who survived a jump from a bridge and was drowning in the Kennebec River.   Bob Greene, 42, of Hallowell, said he heard what he thought was a cormorant making noise in the distance at 4:30 a.m. Thursday as he was having coffee and reading his newspaper while waiting for sunrise. About 20 minutes passed before he realized there was a man bobbing down the river.   Greene says his first instinct was to jump into the 60-degree water, but a 911 dispatcher told him to throw something to the man. So he snagged the man's shirt with a fishing lure and reeled him in, using 25-pound line and a 4-inch-long lure with three small hooks on the end.   An experienced fisherman, Greene said he knew he had to be careful not to snap the line as he worked to bring in the man from 35 yards offshore. "It was a struggle to get him out of the current so I could reel him in," Greene said.   The man had parked his car on a Cushnoc Crossing bridge in Augusta, jumped 114 feet into the water, and floated about a mile downstream before passing by Greene.   Greene did the right thing by calling the police first and not jumping in the water, Hallowell Police Chief Eric Nason said. "Everything just had to add up just right," he said. For his part, Greene said he almost chose to fish in Gardiner on Thursday.   "For some reason, I was meant to be here," he said.