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TAMPA - Three men were stranded in Hillsborough Bay for 12 hours after their boat capsized during a fishing trip.
Bill Rogers, 30, and two friends took a 24-foot bass boat from the Alafia River at about 3 p.m. Sunday. At 7:30 p.m., the men were seen at a refueling dock along the Hillsborough River.
The boat overturned Sunday night, authorities said, about 200 yards from North Spoil Island. The men told police that a passing tugboat caused a large wake, which capsized the boat.
Rogers, along with his friends George Luedke and Robert Zombro, both 30, spent the night on a small island and in the water, battling mosquitoes. At 8:30 a.m., the Coast Guard received a call from a boater who said two of the men were near Davis Islands. Rogers, the third man, swam toward shore.
All three men were rescued. They were treated at Tampa General Hospital for dehydration.