Lost & Found While Fishing

[Rob Snowhite]

I lost a box of flies the other day and got to thinking, what have I lost and found while fishing over the years.

What have you lost while fishing?
What have you found while fishing?

Be it fishing related or not:

Lost:

• All of my keys 2 weeks ago, found them after 7 hours of looking
  A full fly box last Friday night
  My vest (when I used one) that had everything, had to re-float the entire river to find it where I left it on a beach.
  Favorite fishing visor on Salmon River Ny
  Leatherman Wave in NY

Found

• Lots of hemostats
  A big net in Colorado. Put it on a fence and it was still there later in the day, took it home figuring someone else would take it before owner found it.
  Leatherman Wave in Colorado
  Fillet knife (kept it to kill snakeheads)
  Serengeti sunglasses
  Flashlight w/ battery type thing in Big Hunting Creek

[Zach Matthews]

I lost a tripod on a small creek four hours from home here in Georgia.

[anonymous]

Lots of stuff…

Three Nets
One of them found on the banks of the Ausable in MI.

[Adam McDowell]

I found a box stuffed full of hand-tied Royal Wulffs (and only Royal Wulffs!) on Slough Creek in 2006.  I still have it in a drawer in case someone claims it.

Zach

Those were mine!

I put my rod and reel on the top of the camper shell of my truck while I was taking my waders off after a days fishing. As I drove off it fell onto the highway and the guy behind me ran over it. He was unable to flag me down, but did call Sage, gave them the serial # and had them call me to let me know that my rod and reel had been recovered. I mailed all 20 pieces back (with a check) for a new rod, and the orvis reel survived with only scratches.

[david whitfield]

While grayling fishing a few weeks ago in northern Saskatchewan, we were eating lunch when we noticed a rod, sitting vertical, about five feet down, stuck in some rocks.

[Mike Cline]

Lost

• Top half of a 6′ 3wgt on Deep Creek in the Smokies
• Waders left at the boat ramp on the Tallapoosa
• Orvis Mid-Arbor II left in the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone (later found in the wrong bag after I purchased a new one with new line)

Found
More sweatshirts, fleece and flipflops (good tying foam) in the damnest places along many rivers.

[jeff s]

If anyone found a suitcase filled with 100 dollar bills, it’s mind and I’ll give you one of the bills as a reward for its safe return. ;D

Lost –
Sunglasses
more flies in trees than I care to count
really nice pocket knife (cusom made by Billy Watson – damascas blade, bone handles, damascas bolsters)

Found –
fly box floating down the river
hemostats
various articles of clothing

One tip guys, on all my fly boxes, rod cases, and gear bags, I write my name and phone number.

[Andrew Wright]

A few years ago I was on a float with a friend when he dropped his fly rod in the river. After about an hour of searching we finally gave up. His name was on the rod though and two weeks later, he got a phone call from one of the local guides who had seen it on the bottom of the river and recovered it. The wood on the reel seat was swollen and took a month or two to dry out, but he still fishes with it.

[Mike McKeown]

Lost

1 X Olympus Waterproof Camera, with all my pics on it…

Found

Lots of snakes…
Sage 2w SPL
T&T 2w LPS
Sage 9w Xi2, with Abel and line, no fly though.

All were returned to their owners. Funny how I knew their stories before I found their sticks…

[Michael Phillippe]

Lost

Winston “Hardy” Perfect Commemorative Reel at take out on the Big Hole

Found

Zillions of PA fishing licenses. Here they make you wear them so folks are always losing them along the stream.

[duncan elkins]

Lost:
The leather case for my original Canon Elph IXUS, set it down on a rock to take a shot, walked downstream to get a better angle…
The butt cap and uplock hardware of a brand-new Sage VT2, fished once, at ~10 am on my first day fishing the Collon Cura in Argentina.

[Aaron Brown]

Lost: a few camera phones and a mini maglite. i always forget to snap my pockets shut before i lean over…

Also lost a few nets. The latest was on Spring Creek in PA. Lucky for me i never spend over 20 bucks for a net!

Found: red handled hemostats, which i in turn lost somewhere. go figure. Also I find lots and lots of old crankbaits and miles upon miles of monofilament, split shot, bobbers, and eagle claw hooks.

i also fell into an icy cold creek in early april, over my head, trying to get my nymphs free from a submerged log. I lost my balance and tried to jump 10 feet to the next submerged log only to fall about 6 feet short. I lost my rod/reel in the process. it was like watching the titanic sink in slow motion. After stripping down to my underbritches I again walked across the first log and was able to see my strik indicator. i lifted it with my toes. it felt heavy (good sign!). After some coaxing i retreived the rod and reel. and, it’s all on video…

[Anonymous]

I once found an artificial leg (from below the knee, down).

[knut ruud]

i lost my temper once, never found it again.
Last sunday i lost a winston LT of my back pack and did not realise it until monday night. Went looking for it tuesday and did not find it. Then on wednesday a fellow fly fisherman called and told me he found it. Thats luck.
Also lost a ford van at the take out at 3mile on The Big Horn. Found it on the next take out. A guide had shuffled the wrong van.

Found:
A fully loaded fishing vest on the Missouri, a fly rod on the Beaverhead and a all found their way back to the owners. Also found a few fly boxes on my local waters in Norway but have never found the owners.

[allyn fincher]

I lost a gold pan with some gold dust in it on the Mibres River in New Mexico.  I know that is not fishing, but how many of you have panned for gold and found some.  I fly fished on the same hike so technically it counts.

I have found more plastic bags that I care to think about.  I have found them miles from the nearest roads.  Plastic bags are the real environmental threat that we can do something about!  That is a diatribe for another day….

I have also found men’s underwear (tighty whities) in some odd places including streams I have been fishing.  I don’t want to know why this is….

[dave hosler]

Lost:

• Flies that were donated to the fish gods and tree gods.
• A big box full of flies  and I forgot to put my name on it.
• My good pocket knife last spring.  Pretty sure it fell out in a parking lot at Jones Bridge on the Chattahoochee.
• My good scally cap on a little creek this summer.  Still ticked about that.

Found:

• A canoe after a flood, returned it to a happy owner.
• Old fishing rods, a few tackle boxes, and way too much used line.
• A duck that got tangled in old line and had the treble hooks of an old crank bait through the webbing of one foot.  It held still as I cut it free.  That was a good find and a happy duck after it got free.
• Hooked up with what I thought was a clump of leaves at a place in Northwest Indiana.  It was a dirty clear plastic ziploc bag with a couple hypodermic needles in it.  Used very long hemos to take that off.  

I’m amazed I don’t lose more stuff while I’m out.

[Author]

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