Lost and Found While Fishing

[chrisdetweiler]

What's the worst thing that you have lost while fishing? What's the best thing that you've found (and are they the same)?

I've lost a $90 pair of sunglasses while hiking along a mountain stream.

I've dropped a rod tip and fly box in the woods, but later found them.

Can't say I've found anything of value while fishing...but my buddy once found a brand new 7 weight rod w/ reel and floating line on the bottom of the Susquehanna. We suspect that it had recently fallen out of a canoe. It was so new that it still had plastic wrap on the cork handle!!!

Chris Detweiler

[nas19320]

I've been pretty lucky. My buddy lost his wallet at one of the local streams. Came home found it missing and went back and couldn't find it. He canceled all his CC/Debit cards. A few days later it showed up in the mail with a note that said "Thought you might want this------From a friendly fellow fisherman"

[golfinjoe24]

Well, I'm not speaking for Dalton with his recent experience...haha

I have put a new pair of Oakley's overboard this summer! Well, that was on the bay.
Last spring, I dropped my leathermen over on the canoe. That really sucked.

[sunfish king]

Lost a 4 piece Orvis spin/fly combo travel rod + spinning reel in a kayak capsize on the James River.

Found a Shimano Sustain 4000 in the surf at NC and another Shimano spinning reel (mid-price....can't remember the make) I snagged while fishing just out of Urbanna....both reels cleaned up and are operational.

edit.....the other reel was a Slade

[LarryLunker]

That's where I left my sustain 4000! :)

[jnashed]

Left the keys to my truck on the ground one Novenber while kayaking/fishing in the Shenandoah river. Got back to the truck to find a note on my windshield saying the keys were found and taken to the local sheriff's office. Went to my cell phone to call the wife and it had found some water and did not work. Flagged someone down after about an hour and called home. Wife was at a party and had to go home first(for some reason) then come get me. Wife and 3month child (who was screaming b/c she needed fed) got me at 8pm. Dark for the past 1 1/2 hours, 40 degrees out. At least I got the keys the next day.

Jim

[ictalurus]

Lost the tip to 5pc rod on the way to the stream. Not only could I not fish then, but I couldn't find the tip on the way back to the truck. Fortunately, Cabela's sent me an entire new rod when I sent them the pieces to the old one after I explained what happened. I somehow got an extra rod tube out of the deal, so the day was ruined, but I came out ahead in the end.

[FishStu]

Snagged a pair of shorts while bass fishing in fresh water. When I finally got them in the boat I discovered a wallet , key ring, loose bills ( $50 or so) in the pocket. Was able to determine the owner from the
driver license. Contacted him and found that he lost the shorts about 3 months earlier while changing into a bathing suit. He was a VERY happy and surprised camper to get his stuff back.
There were family photos and all the other usual stuff found in a wallet . Three months under water did a lot of damage but at least his stuff was recovered.

[tmperkins]

Lost a box of flies once. All of them brand new. I thought I had zipped up a zipper but I guess I had not. But as I scoured the bank looking for the box in hopes that it had fallen out on land, I found three or four flies that had been snagged in the brush.

Fishing off a dock this summer I lost several nice lures do to snags and such, later in the day I came back with my snorkel and mask and swam around till I found them. two of them were nice bass spinner baits so I saved myself $10 or so.

[golfinjoe24]

O, here is a good one, wish it was me though
Had a friend who was on the Au Sable a few years ago, and snagged a nice Loomis and Abel Super5!!!
He had to get new cork for the rod, but the reel cleaned up pretty good. I think recently, he sent the
reel back to get it refinished. I have not seen it yet

[Salmo trutta]

I was fishing in Western MD on the Youghiogheny one day, way upstream from I 68. It was Fall during the low water months and the fish were rising to #20 something midges. You couldn't tell if the dimple in the water you just saw was an 8 inch fish or an 18 fish or a piece of sand that just washed off of the nearby dirt road. The rises were so small, and the trout were sometimes that big. Anyway... I saw this round jar at the bottom of the river reflecting light. I picked it up and it was an old glass jar with pantyhose type material over it plugged with a cork. Inside it you ask.... black powder, as fresh as the day it came from the store. What would any late teen do with such a thing?

I made a little trail of gunpowder on my bumper about 2 inches long. I had one of those all plastic rubber bumpers on a Saturn. I lit the trail with a cigarette. BOOM! I didn't even have time to take my hand away and it was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. We used the rest very sparingly.

[dalton]

I made a little trail of gunpowder on my bumper about 2 inches long. I had one of those all plastic rubber bumpers on a Saturn. I lit the trail with a cigarette. BOOM! I didn't even have time to take my hand away and it was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. We used the rest very sparingly.
Starting with the (t)rail of gunpowder I thought you were going to say you pulled a Nick Cage in Lord of War and snorted it...

As many of you have seen in the Gunpowder thread, I lost my keys on Sunday and luckily found them. One day fishing on my kayak in NC I came across a section of shaking tree branches and saw there were thin ropes hanging down in the water from them. I paddled over to take and look and see that someone had tied some rope and circle hooks baited to catch catfish. I went through the branches and freed 3 or 4 catfish and cut the hooks off the other 3 or 4 rigs; if this didn't make me sick enough... In this process, I managed to lose a pair of pliers and a set of Dr. Slick forceps--both dropped to the water in slow motion. Another time, I was kayaking at a local lake and came in completely shot ready to go back to the apartment and pass out; I got the kayak loaded and pulled down the road and after about 15 minutes I realized I didn't have my cell phone. I turned around and went back to the parking lot to see that my phone had dropped out of my shorts pocket getting in the jeep and I had backed over it, smashing the phone into several pieces. I have also managed to lose at least a fly box or two in my days. One spot I fished a lot in college had a lot of snags for crankbaits and the like. I wised up one week and ordered a de-snagger from Cabela's and of course needed it as soon as I got to the spot. I lowered this carabiner on a rope with non-pointed treble hooks down my line to free the snag--the de-snagger got snagged easier than the crankbait and I ended up losing the whole rig.

As far as finding stuff, this is very limited. I have found flies in bushes and trees, along with a lot of garbage. On the Davidson in NC a couple years ago a buddy fishing with me grabbed a nice wooden trout net that was floating by, he didn't find the owner and ended up keeping it and giving it to his roommate, whose rod he had broken on the same trip.

Great thread.

[boondoggle]

In my youth, I caught many a catfish on bushhooks in SC using a chunk of Ivory soap as bait. Only time I got sick was when the beer intake grossly exceeded the intake of fried catfish.

Back to the topic at hand, I have lost:
a. Due to a suprise night time encounter with a water snake on the Rapp in Fred'burg. I lost a camera in dry bag and a large flybox crammed fulled of big streamers after floating my hat.
b. I drove off with my 7 wt leaning against the Jeep. Fellow member of Falmouth Flats FFF dropped it off at a now defunct fly shop in Fred'burg. He figured I would check there after trying the parking lot.
c. Lost a GLX 9wt and Bauer reel to an albie at Harkers. I was trying to get away from the pack with me holding my rod over the gunnel and the fly dragging along at the surface. An albie slammed it pulling a birds nest to the stripper guide and out of my hand. I was so startled that I just stared at the offending hand for several seconds.
d. My wedding band on the Beaverdam river in TN. I had just released a brown and was about to move up river when I heard a "kerplunk". I did a quick check and my forceps, nippers and floatant were all still attached to my lanyard so I pressed on. I didn't notice the ring was gone until I washed my hands for dinner that evening.

I have found my buddies fly box that floated down to me on a SNP stream. I saw his car at the parking area and then him heading back down the trail for more flies.

[Salmo trutta]

I fear that one day I too will lose my wedding ring. I think it's inevitable. But if I take it off before fishing in an effort not to lose it overboard, I may forget to put it back on.

I've lost rods, driven off with rods left on the roof, lost fly boxes, tipped canoe and lost tackle boxes, but saved the cooler of beer.

[grebe]

I was reading this thread very intently to see if anybody had any of my "stuff"....no dice. I left a brand new GLoomis 7 weight on a plane while rushing off for a connector. Never got to fish that rod. Almost forgot, I dunked a Penn International 965 + rod over the gunnel at the high rise a few years ago. That was a $300 mistake.

[Ken Tidy]

I lost a fly box while fishing the beach in DE, had my name and phone # on it. No one ever call telling me they found it. About three months later I was putting on my waders and there was something in one of the feet…My flybox! This last September we found three fly boxes with flies along three different streams.

[Capt. Ahab]

Lost- Kayak turned over one day and I lost a st. croix spinning rod in the Piankatank
Wandering through Grand Teton National Park, I left a vest pocket unzipped and lost a whole box of stoneflies.
Brand new homemade T-14 shooting head. I did a poor splice to the running line and I watched it sink away while 40" rockfish sipped silversides on the surface.
Orvis buzzoff hat on the Gros Ventre River in Wyoming in 2008. It was the same color as the rocks, and I put it down and couldn't find where I had put it.

Ruined- I have ruined my cell phone twice while fishing. Once in the kayak (same as above). Another time I was casting on the deck in calm water. I somehow lost balance, and fell in. I almost had it out of my pocket and back in the air towards the boat before I hit the water but I wasn't that quick...

Found- The very same Orvis buzzoff hat, found in 2009 when I went back to wyoming on the rocks beside the river. It's very faded, and makes for a great story.

[saltfly]

I've only lost a fly box but went back down the trail and found it. But now let me tell you of the worst lost I know off. A young friend lost a $600 winston rod a $450 pate reel and a $125 rio mualty tip line over board when a albie pulled it out of his hand. He dove over board and grabed it, as another friend grab him by his feet. Which caused him to let go of his outfit. Then my other friend had to let him go because he was up side down in the water. Of course I would never tell you his name. bwahahahaha

[spilunkr]

What goes around comes around. When i first started fly fishing I was in a Maryland stream and for some reason I happened to look down just as I was about to step on cane fly rod that was laying on the bottom of the stream. It had a SA fly reel attached with the entire fly line out. A streamer fly was hooked into a snag at the end of the fly line. The outfit had obviously not been in the water very long as it was in pretty good shape. The rod turned out to be a top of the line production model from the particular manufacturer. At the time, I left info on the rod at area fly shops but no one ever inquired about it. A few years later while fishing BHC. I found a virtually new fly fishing vest with a couple of fly filled boxes sitting on a rock in a parking area. Again I left info on the find at the park office but no one ever inquired. Then my turn came. While fishing the S. For of the Shenandoah, I had put my rod down in my canoe. It was a Sage RPLX 6wt with a Hardy LRH reel. I was paddling back to the put in when I turned around and saw my rod was missing. The only thing I could think of at the time was somehow a branch had managed to snag the rod tip and pull the rod out of the canoe. I spen a couple hours looking but never found it. That rod was replaced with an Orvis 6wt and Battenkill reel. It was also lost. It was my shad rod and after a morning of fishing at Chain Bridge, I drove off with the rod on top of my car. I realized that i had done that a short distance away but at that time of the morning there is no easy way to turn around. It took twenty minutes for me to circle back to the parking area but by then the rod was gone. I also left a vest filled with flies on a picnic table in Yellowstone N. P. one time. When I went back after realizing what I had done, I found a note tacked to the bench from the person who retrieved it; his note said where I could find him to get my vest back which I did. So all in all I think I've come out about even over the years. One thing I have learned though is not to put my rod on top of the car as I take my waders off at the end of the day, as I 've also driven off other times and had the rods fall off but managed to retrieve them.

Guy

[harm]

Lost: The top half of a 2-piece spinning rod. It flew off when I cast and then I managed to get snagged during the retrieve. After that incident, I learned a tip to rub candle wax on the male piece for more friction. (sounds a little kinky written that way)

While changing flies at Chain Bridge I dropped my open fly box and lost probably half my flies between the rocks.

A couple years ago, while croaker fishing at 2am, my newlywed fishing buddy was wiping his hands off when I heard "tink-tink-tink" as his wedding ring fell through the cracks on the jetty we were fishing. There was no way we were getting that back. I kinda wish I'd been there while he was explaining that to his wife.

Found: When I was a kid, I was trout fishing a pool on the Blue River in Oklahoma and had a break off. Several casts later, I happened to snag the line and was able to hand line the rainbow, and got my roostertail back.

[grover123]

Lost my keys in the bay while kayak fishing after I had to jump off kayak and tie a rope to a broke jet ski and tow him in. Had no spare, everybody I knew was out town and the only cab that would come get me was going to charge $80 and couldn't get there for an hour. I was so angry I left the kayak with park rangers and walked the 13 miles home in salt water soaked tevas (blisters everywhere). My neighbor was in his yard catching rays saying he heard the phone ring but didn't want to be bothered.

Fishing on a tailwater I saw this big fancy fly box floating by and grabbed it. It was cram filled with flies that easily would tripled the number of flies I had at the time. Gift from the fishing gods. Walking back to my car I saw a guy borrowing flies from a friend and sure enough it was his box. He was happy and hopefully I earned some Karma credits.

[tieoneon]

I was fishing with a buddy of mine in MA, we were running and gunning for football BFT . We see this nice ball of tuna pop up and he puts his rod in the back of the boat and off we go. We get to the tuna and he turns around and the rod is gone. We think the flyline flew out the back and had enough resistance to pull the 12wt Crosscurrent GLX and Tibor Pacific overboard. Needless to say, the rest of the day was not a very good one for my friend.

[dalton]

Lost my keys in the bay while kayak fishing after I had to jump off kayak and tie a rope to a broke jet ski and tow him in.

No love from the guy on the Jet Ski?

[chrisdetweiler]

I was fishing with a buddy of mine in MA, we were running and gunning for football BFT . We see this nice ball of tuna pop up and he puts his rod in the back of the boat and off we go. We get to the tuna and he turns around and the rod is gone. We think the flyline flew out the back and had enough resistance to pull the 12wt Crosscurrent GLX and Tibor Pacific overboard. Needless to say, the rest of the day was not a very good one for my friend.

A few years ago, we were chasing breaking fish around poplar island. The fish had gone down, so I pulled out the binoculars to take a look around. I saw working birds on the horizon, so I sat my rod in the back of the boat and took off. I didn't take notice, but the popper flew overboard and started taking line off the reel. When it got to the end on the backing, the rod flew toward the stern, but the reel caught the bench seat in my boat. I heard the sound of metal against wood and spun around to see what had happened. I started to reel the line in, but the force of the reel hitting the seat bent the aluminum. It was almost impossible to reel the line in. There were some boat following us, so I needed to get my line in quickly. I had to do it by hand. You should have seen the birds nest on the deck of my boat. 200 yards of backing + the fly line. I managed to fix the reel with my leatherman that night. I'm lucky I didn't lose the rod overboard!