Michigan authorities have rescued four fishermen who clung to their overturned boat in Lake Erie for 24 hours, a relative of one of the men says.

David Zachman, stepson of fisherman Larry Vert, 64, said the Coast Guard called his mother Friday to let her know the men were found alive, The Detroit Free Press reported.

The four were last seen at 8 a.m. Thursday leaving for a trip to fish for walleye. The men were found by the Monroe County, Mich., sheriff's deputies about 5:45 p.m. Friday, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

Officials said the group made two critical life-saving decisions in that they let family members know where they were going and when they'd return, and stayed with their overturned boat, the Free Press said.

The men were identified by authorities as Vert; Douglas Whittaker, 76, of Eaton Rapids; Roy Leston, 52, of Charlotte; and Ronnie Miller, 63, also of Eaton Rapids, who were in a a 19-foot Sylvan fishing boat.