A Pennsylvania man fishing on a boat near the Conowingo Dam died yesterday after he fell overboard - the victim of an apparent drowning, the Department of Natural Resources reported.

David B. Rutledge, 37, of Peach Bottom, Pa., was pronounced dead at Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace at 3:30 p.m. - an hour and a half after Maryland Natural Resources Police and local authorities pulled him from the water. He was not wearing a life jacket, said DNR spokeswoman Heather Lynch.

DNR officials said Rutledge was alone on a 14-foot aluminum boat south of Rowland Island, below the dam, when he apparently leaned over the side and fell into the Susquehanna River about 12:50 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing a man floundering in the water before going under in the current.

Searchers in boats found Rutledge more than two miles south, between Robert and Spencer islands. He was in cardiac arrest as rescue workers rushed him to the hospital. DNR officials were continuing to investigate what caused Rutledge to fall overboard. Alcohol did not appear to be a factor, Lynch said.