Dog aimlessly swimming during Jobbie Nooner rescued by fisherman

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (WJBK) - Jobbie Nooner is the party of the year on Lake St. Clair, but this year a frantic rescue was underway not too far from the excitement. A dog fell off a boat and was losing steam in the open water when he was spotted by a fisherman.

"I just saw eyes and ears coming at me," Ron Coste says.

It was a yellow lab in distress, swimming toward Coste's fishing boat. It's believed the dog was lost during the chaos of Jobbie Nooner -- and may have been swimming aimlessly for more than thirty minutes.

"When he got to the boat he was huffing and wheezing; he was an older dog. He was tired when he got to the boat," Coste says.

Ron had his girlfriend's daughter's with him. All three sprang into action. One went to grab the dog's collar and the other called 911. They eventually got connected to the St. Clair Shores Coastguard.

"She asked me for my coordinates; I gave them to her. The helicopter showed up; they were kind of circling around. I could hear the dispatcher's partner in the background talking to someone else," Coste remembers.

That person on with the other dispatcher happened to be the dog's owner, who called the Coastguard after realizing he had fallen off their large pleasure boat.

The owner, who was parked at the 9 Mile Boat Launch, had to drive about a mile way to be reunited with Herb.

"He was surprisingly calm, surprisingly unaffected by the whole thing, but he was gracious about the dog, obviously," Coste says. "Everyone says, "Great job, such a great job,' - [I] just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Anyone would have done it."

We're told the dog's owner is from the area of Jackson, Mich. We're also told Herb is doing just fine.

Jobbie Nooner is an annual boat party on Lake St. Clair, and is one of the largest boat parties in the country.