Christopher Branch of Ozark was fishing and swimming with friends Saturday at a private pond on County Road 707 in Enterprise.
Witnesses say he began to experience some distress while in the water, but could not help him.
After they saw him go down, they went to a nearby resident's house to dial 911. It took emergency responders more than 3 hours to locate the body.
Enterprise, Houston County and Covington County worked together to recover the body.
Flatiron, Fort Rucker's emergency helicopter, also assisted in Saturday's search.
The exact cause of the drowning is still under investigation.