Published Thursday, 16 February 2012
The men were shaken but not hurt. (© UTV)
One of the boats capsized in rough weather about a mile from the entrance of the lough on Thursday.
A friend then tried to help, resulting in all four men needing rescued.
Leonard Lawson from Portaferry Lifeboat Station says it could have been very serious.
"They would have been in grave danger if they hadn't been rescued," he told UTV, explaining the risk posed by the strong currents.
"We launched just after the mayday was received and it turned out there was actually four canoeists altogether.
"They were picked them up about 20 minutes later, all of them were quite cold and a bit shaken but we were able to take them to Portaferry and give them assistance."
The rescue comes after two men had to be taken by lifeboat from Trasnagh Island on the lough on Tuesday evening.
Their boat began taking in water due to adverse weather conditions.