Water recoveries-

[DFoster 0]

 What are some of the interested things you've recovered fishing?  The other day I was walking our dog along the edge of a river and I happened to look down and noticed a Husky multi tool setting in 6" of water.  It had wood grips and was in like new condition.  Obviously it wasn't there very long. I happened to be wearing a pair of Muck boots and I was able to get out to it.   As I put it in my pocket It got me to thinking about all the stuff I've recovered since getting my first pair of waders. 

On 2 separate occasions I have l found spinning rod set ups setting in 3' of water on the river bottom.  Rod, reel and both were in usable condition.  I took them home and gave them away.  One was a nice Ugly Stick with a Shimano reel.  It was very late in day, maybe a half hour before dark and with the rod and with the reel both being black I was fortunate to have noticed it. A florescent blue jerk bait was still hooked l in place on the back guide and gave it away.  Not a soul was around and I am wondering did someone loose their temper and throw it into the river as I've see golfers do at water traps?  This was fast water with plenty of rocks so a boat or canoe angler was unlikely.  Another time I needed to use a tree and I found an empty Sage Rod Tube on the way.  This was off the path and 30' from the parking area.  It looked like it just came from the fly shop, not a mark on it.  Did someone break the rod and toss the tube?  Why it would be empty? How did it get so far off the path?  I wish these things could talk.  Every year I fill a cigar box with lures and bobbers recovered from trees and shrubs.  Apparent casualties left behind by anglers who don't wade.  I usually give them to my son in law who fishes with spinning gear a lot more often than I do.  I have recovered an awful lot of flies through the years but they're usually in rough shape an not worth saving.

 

[mikechell 0]

Found and reported:

1. Two stolen bicycles ... one in the Houston area I fished when I was out there, one back home in some Florida waterway
2. One stolen motorcycle ... also found in the Houston area.  Harris county Sherriff was starting to get suspicious.
3. Four wallets ... two with cards and money in them, two with I.D. but nothing else.  I won't mention all the wallets, purses, etc. that were empty and could as easily been throw-aways as stolen.
4. Several rods, rod/reel combos and reels in various stages of recoverability.
5. Two trolling motors ... one a portable one that could've come unclamped and fallen off.  The other was a large, white deal that should have been bolted securely to the boat.  Obviously, it wasn't.
6. Hundreds of lures, bobbers, etc.  Many of which I've used.  Now I put them out in yard sales.
7. Weirdest?  One human hand.  I swear, when I first saw it, I thought, "A crime scene!  Maybe there's a reward!"  Turned out to be a mannequin hand.  I had that thing in the back window of my car for years.

 

[zip 0]

48 minutes ago, mikechell said:

 

1. Weirdest?  One human hand.  I swear, when I first saw it, I thought, "A crime scene!  Maybe there's a reward!"  Turned out to be a mannequin hand.  I had that thing in the back window of my car for years.

 

🤣🤣🤣

[mikemac1 0]

Lost and Found

[Mark Knapp 0]

I once had to secure a dead body for the troopers, of a man who had been missing for half a year. He had been frozen for most of that time.

I've found two canoes. A Ruger .44 Blackhawk. Lots of lures.

Once while dragging anchor in a pretty good wind I caught someone else anchor and two old fishing rods.

I drilled an ice fishing hole this winter and my buddy saw another ice fishing rig right below us on the bottom. He's still using it.

My partners and I once fished a family out of a river after they flipped their raft on a boulder. We got some of their gear back but only two of the three sleeping bags, and one of the rifles. They had to spend the rest of the time with all three of them in the two sleeping bags zipped together.

[tferg 0]

Countless flies and lures when wading (especially after high water here in Montana).  Oars, nets, a fishing vest. Dug a 35mm camera and mucho fishing gear out for some folks who dumped their rent-a-boat.  Got the boat out that was pinned to an underwater stump and was able to return it to the fly shop. One guy busted an arm.

One time while floating,  an old 35mm film canister bobbed by full of weed.

[DFoster 0]

Wow guys now those are some finds! 

I love reading this stuff!

[DFoster 0]

2 hours ago, mikemac1 said:

Lost and Found

Great post there!

[Poopdeck 0]

Not to long ago I found a wallet at the waters edge. I went through it and it had money, credit cards, and everything else one would expect to find in a wallet including a drivers license and it was all bone dry. I shoved in my pocket and fished until it started to get dark. I walked back to a large stoned state park parking lot where I saw two guys doing a grid search.  I dropped my tailgate and got out of my waders as the two guys continued a very meticulous search of the lot. As they got close to me I asked them what they were looking for. I could see one guy was the owner of the wallet in my pocket. They said they were looking for something but wouldn't say a wallet. I guess they thought I might go look for it myself. Funny thing was they weren't even close to the area where I found it but they were walkers/hikers and not fisherman. When I told them I found a wallet you could see the relief wash over them. The owner said they had been looking for hours and the lot was their last ditch effort to find it. 

[Lesg 0]

8 hours ago, mikechell said:

Found and reported:

1. Two stolen bicycles ... one in the Houston area I fished when I was out there, one back home in some Florida waterway
2. One stolen motorcycle ... also found in the Houston area.  Harris county Sherriff was starting to get suspicious.
3. Four wallets ... two with cards and money in them, two with I.D. but nothing else.  I won't mention all the wallets, purses, etc. that were empty and could as easily been throw-aways as stolen.
4. Several rods, rod/reel combos and reels in various stages of recoverability.
5. Two trolling motors ... one a portable one that could've come unclamped and fallen off.  The other was a large, white deal that should have been bolted securely to the boat.  Obviously, it wasn't.
6. Hundreds of lures, bobbers, etc.  Many of which I've used.  Now I put them out in yard sales.
7. Weirdest?  One human hand.  I swear, when I first saw it, I thought, "A crime scene!  Maybe there's a reward!"  Turned out to be a mannequin hand.  I had that thing in the back window of my car for years.

 

You didn't report the canoe?

[Philly 0]

My finds are pretty bland.   Golf balls, which I would fish out and give to my neighbor, who was retired and on a fixed income, who loved to golf.  A vintage glass coke bottle that had been in a the creek awhile.  The most interesting find were buttons.  I was walking along the creek bank, a couple of weeks after a 100 year flood, and noticed buttons on the bank and the shallows.  No where near any of the parking lots, so that ruled out a couple in a rush. I started picking them up, took them home, cleaned them up a bit.  This is where I found them.

   

 and what I found.

The falls in the first picture  is pretty much all that remains of one of the many mills that lined the creek in the early to mid-1800's.  I figured it was a textile mill.  I tracked down a button collector who dated the buttons to that same time frame.  Eventually found out that it was not textile mill but a paper mill.  In that era, paper was made from rags, and buttons were removed from pieces of old clothing before they were processed to make paper.

[utyer 0]

I have found a lot of things,  lures, flies, boxes, a full tackle box, the usual assortment of stuff.  I have also given a lot back to the stream, I would still say I am ahead in the lost and found department.  I have found two digital cameras.  The first I was able to track down the owner (it took several months,) the second went unclaimed, and 10 years later I still use it.  

 I stepped into the first trough the first day I was casting in the surf, and lost my glasses.  They were in my shirt pocket.  A couple walking the beach came over to check that I was ok, and I told them about the glasses.  About 30 minutes later they walked back up to me, with a pair of glasses.  Sure enough, they were my glasses.  

I was visiting friends in Wyoming, and one of the neighbors gave me directions to a good spot.  Go exactly 13.7 miles up the road after the pavement ends and there will be a turn out to part,  At first glance, there is a very steep slope to the stream. But if you walk just a few yards to your left.  You will find an old blocked off road right down.  When I got to the bottom, I found a Leatherman multi tool on a rock.  The leather holder was dry, and the tool was in perfect shape.  I of course check with the guy when I got done fishing, and it was NOT his tool, so I still have that.  These directions are accurate, now all you have to do is find the exact road I am referring to.  Fishing was very good, and I have been back a few more times.  

[skeet3t 0]

8 lb. dumbbell with a piece of rope that has been used as an anchor. Apparently it got caught on a rock shelf and they cut the rope. Pink Power Bait. .44 Ruger Blackhawk would be a great find. What was the condition?

If you have lots of time, go to YT and search for "magnet fishing."

[RickZieger 0]

Went to a pond and found a guy in a Jon Boat that had died. 

Rick 

 

[niveker 0]

30 minutes ago, RickZieger said:

found a guy in a Jon Boat that had died

 Had he been fishing?  What a way to go.