Did you ever just lose a fly rod?

[checch]

Yup, left an Orvis 2 wt on the roof of my car and drove about 20 miles when I remembered it.Raced back,but got caught in some road work. Never saw it again. Oh well. Just another one that got away.Just stuff ,I probably did not need. It's all pre determined! LOL Cheers,Chet

[Ray Hencken]

I was fishing a stream in a rocky and rapidly flowing section. I lost my balance on some rocks and my rod, 8 1/2' Diamond Back and screwback CFO III, went flying into the water which was about 3 ft deep. Once I recovered my balance, I started to crisis cross the area looking for the rod and reel. I went up and back several times and couldn't find the rod. I thought that the rod and reel were history. Finally, I saw a light green in the water which happened to be the line on the reel I was using. I got a hold of it, pulled up the slack and my rod and reel, which had traveled about 30 ft down stream, was attached. My lucky day! The reel was the first good fly reel which I had bought 46 years earlier. I would have been very disappointed if I had lost it.
I have been fortunate to have never lost a rod and/or reel. When I am done fishing for the day I first take down my rod and reel and put them in my trunk, then my lumbar pack and put it away, then my waders and boots are put away. I then double check to be sure all gear is in the car.

[reelsmith]

Great story Ray !

I still fish the 1492 I've had since a kid. If I ever lost it I'd be heartbroken.

Dean.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Not a fly rod - but a flashlight. Ugh.
A good one from a gun show.

Side story - I watched a guy lose a spool and it unravel itself downstream for a long while.
Not sure how far - far enough for the man to fall in while looping the backing around his arm.
I felt so bad for the guy. What an instant mess.

[bobsbugs]

Four years ago I lost my caddis box thick in the willows along a creek. I went back three weeks later and thought why not. The box was small and green in color. Fat chance right? Well my buddy Mac found the box!

I have a Beasley Perfectionist that I would be willing to part with, so if you are looking to replace it let me know.

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[teter]

Nope. Pieces of them, yes. Somehow I left the tip of an Orvis Battenkill 3/2 beside a river in West Virginia (anyone find it? This was in 2019). I dropped a reel in a river and someone found it a few weeks later. I lost a waterproof camera and found it much later, little the worse for wear.

[Rolf Jacobsen]

Yes! ...and that's all I'm sayin'.

[fishugo]

Lost is “missing”. In September during a “Fisherman’s Flea Market” in Riverton, CT, a rod was lost? from my car.

2/2 7’. #16152

[Cimarron]

Two fly boxes, several hats, a pretty good camera, my wits and pride, but no rods or reels, thank goodness. Everything but my wits and pride can be replaced, but I’m working hard on it.

[red 1]

Lost is “missing”. In September during a “Fisherman’s Flea Market” in Riverton, CT, a rod was lost? from my car.

2/2 7’. #16152

That's some bad karma there. Taking someone's rod from their car. I fish the Farmington a lot and leave alternative rods strung up on benches or picnic tables along the river next to the runs I fish. Never worried about thieves before.

[JamesEric]

I once hung my favorite Columbia fly vest up high on a large rusty nail protruding from huge pine tree while camping near Durango, CO. Drove off. Didn’t realize it until I got home in Ft. Collins. At least 600 flies, mostly tied by me and all the boxes, gear and Brodin net, left behind.
Happy ending tho. I placed an ad in Durango newspaper classifieds. Someone found it, turned it into the Forest Service and they shipped it back to me!
All there but my forceps. LOL!
I wore that lucky vest out!


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[Simon.]

Fishing in the Bundrowse in County Leitrim for salmon some years ago, I hooked a nice hen around eleven pounds in weight. On getting her into the net I reached for my forceps to unhook her. Oops, splash into the river. A little over a year later I found a set in exactly the same place in two feet of water. Now I can't prove they were the same ones but I believe they are and I still have them twenty odd years later.
Simon.

[retro-1]

About 5 years ago, a buddy left his rod on top of the car. We pulled over, and the tip
was gone, not to be found. This was in 11Mile Canyon in Colorado. Left his name and
address with the ranger at the pay station. Two weeks later, received the tip in the
mail. Sent the ranger $100.00 for her trouble. Same guy had a senior moment (75 )
last year, after a day of fishing, got back to the cabin ( 45 minute drive ) and said
where's my vest. Left behind the car at the public walk in area of a popular area,
Dream Stream at Spiney Reservoir. Probably 2,000 or more of his best self tied flies,
and various other valuables in the vest. Two hours later the vest was still where he
left it. Maybe due do being a regular church goer. Who Knows.

[Horton Creek]

Yes. Lost a sweet grass 3 piece 8'3" 6 weight. Was on Wind River near Dubois WY. Left it leaning up against fence. Drove back to motel and never noticed until got back home to Ohio. Just assumed the tube had rod packed away. Has " Ryan Jeffery" written on butt flat. Quite a bummer
Jeff

[ibookje]

Yes. Lost a sweet grass 3 piece 8'3" 6 weight
Left it leaning up against fence
.....
Just assumed the tube had rod packed away

Jeez, horror scenario

[Kave]

Many years ago while bonefish guiding in Hawaii, a client brought a non-fly fishing partner along and asked if I could bring a spinning rod for the partner to use to catch a bone. At a certain point in the day, I poled to a spot where bones had been coming on to the flat regularly with the current tide conditions. I dropped anchor, threaded a chunk of squid on a circle hook and cast the bait to the "zone". I put the spinning rod down and leaned it against the gunnel while I put something away and before handing it to the client. Within 10 seconds a bonefish took the bait. The drag was tight so the rod and reel went immediately in the drink. I looked up and the last I saw of it the rod it was doing its best torpedo impression zipping through the water. We looked for it but it was gone. I'm sure the bonefish broke the line not long after being hooked.
Many months later while poling that same flat, I found the spinning rod jammed up in a grass bed. I was able to clean up the rod and used it for a few seasons after but the reel was toast.

Okay. Not a valuable fly rod, but a good story.

[retro-1]

Read this post a while back thinking of a fishing buddy I have to keep a close eye on
due to leaving things behind and just forgetting to pick them up. Once called him the
absent minded professor joking around. I topped it today. Went fishing on the Blue
River outlet of Dillon Res. Christmas day. One other car there when I left at noon.
loaded everything except rod & reel, which I left laying in the snow. Will make a
a 3 hour wasted trip in the morning to see if it's still laying there. Fortunately a
cheap graphite rod, however one my favorite reels. If it's gone, merry Christmas
to someone. Think I'll keep this one to myself for a while.

[retro-1]

Yes Virginia, there might just be a Santa Claus. Just made the trip back
up to the Blue River fishing spot at dark thirty this morning and found
the rod pulled out of the snow and propped up on a pole, so as not to
be run over. Last night I was disappointed in myself for my carelessness.
This morning I am disappointed that there is no one to thank for their
act of kindness. If by some slim chance they visit this site, Thank you.

[WakBush78910]

I've never lost a fly rod, but I have lost some other valuable things.

For example, my Grandmother's ring. It was a diamond set in platinum and she always wore it on her right hand. I loved that ring, and when she passed away at 91 years old, I had the idea that I would just keep it safe for her until I needed to pass it on to one of my daughters. So I put it in my jewelry box at home. One day, when I was cleaning up the house after some renovations had been done by contractors, I found that the jewelry box wasn't where it was supposed to be… so I looked around for it for about 2 hours before realizing that there must have been some kind of mix-up with the contractors and they'd taken the jewelry box with them!

The next day when they came over again to work on another part of the house, I asked them about it—and sure enough, they had found it in their storage room at their office! So now we have both boxes back… but without any idea how long they were gone from our house!

[mfrench]

Yep, or at least, sort of.

Hi, I'm Mike, a new forum member. I do stupid shizz with my fly rods.
Do you have all day, while a newbie sort of highjacks this thread with a few of my tales?

Hmmmm,... so many tales,.... Lets start with this one.

So, I've fly fished my whole life, and am now in retirement. Its that many years. In all likeliness, 60 years of flicking flies.
I'm a die-hard trout fisher, but, one who was living in coastal Los Angeles as a kid, and, with family living in real trout country of Idaho, and Utah. And, to my dad, fishing was done in Ut and Id., Mike, not in L.A.
So, in the later 60's, I found out about a fish called Bonito, in King Harbor, in Redondo Beach, Ca.
Bonito are a member of the mackerel/tuna family, and are exceptionally hard fighters. They gather in King Harbor during the winter months due to an outlet of hot water from the Edison Power Plant, which is just on-shore a bit from the harbor. They take in cool water for cooling, and expel hot water into the harbor in a large scale upward plume. The Bonito are attracted to that hot water, and can be caught via shore casting (mostly with spin gear, clear bubble, and anchovy, or white bucktail fly). But, you can also put a canoe in, or raft/boat of other form, and head to the bait barge, where the Bonito hang out, and wait for escaping Anchovies and Sardines.
I did this type of fishing from a canoe and raft, for decades. A total blast. I feel that I was fairly early in the west coast saltwater fky fishing game.
Then, one day, perhaps 20 years ago I decided to buy a new Sage rod, a 9' 8weight, an Orvis reel, and fast sinking line, and off I went. I headed out into King Harbor with an 8'(?) oar powered inflatable, and I start oaring towards the bait barge.
This day turned out to be a classic; lots of fish, and i had really slimy hands. i made another cast, and hooked another Bonito, and the reel started screaming,.... then, suddenly, it went into hyper-nuclear mode, and made a sound that I've never heard a reel make before, and the rod was bent in half - did I have a monster on?
Yep, I had a onster on,... A California Sea Lion of perhaps 500lbs had taken my Bonito for his own, and had burned through all of my line, and, for the only time in my life,... all of my backing was gone in a hot second. The, the rod just left my hands, gone.
I had really slimy hands, with slime and fish scales on everything, and, my grip just went away. The rod took off like a water skier behind the seal, and just skated across the surface. I tried desperately to oar in chase, but, was too slow, and the rod was going away from me at a hot clip.
I was able to get a wee bit closer, before it happened. The rod stopped, and, the reel took the rod straight down, actually slower than I thought it would.
So, I panicked, and, stood up, and, dove in and started swimming towards where I a last saw it.
Now, mind you, I'm also a longtime surfer, and good swimmer, so this wasn't a big deal, or so I thought.
But, the L.A. County Life Guard boat, that saw me jump in and start swimming, they put out a man overboard distress call, and came in blazing hot, with lights and siren blazing. to assist them, an LA Harbor police boat came in hot, from outside the harbor.
So, now I had them in a hot panic, and, they extracted me from the water with a giant WTF are you doing?!? scolding.
I explained to them that a Sea Lion had bagged my fly rod, a brand new fishing rod, and reel, and that I was just trying to save it.
At this point, they lightened up. But, I was still in a panic about the rod, and, again, I explained my circumstance, and told them that it was a brand new Sage fly rod. And, someone on their boat was actually listening, and knew what that meant. Before I knew it, the county Life Guard boat got on the radio, and, they got to talking to,... and this is where it gets good,... They get talking to the Coast Guard, and the life guard told the Coast Guard that a Sage rod had gone to the bottom.
Coast Guard radio guy, heard loud and clear: Oh, its a Sage. We're coming with a diver.
A Coast Guard diver?
So, about 45 minutes later, a huge Coast Guard cruisery thing comes rolling around the end of the harbor jetty, and, drops anchor, and a small boat is offloaded with a scuba diver. And he asks where we thought that the rod went down. Fortunately, we had dropped a small marker bouy near where we thought the rod had gone down at.
King Harbor is a deep harbor, and gets to over 35' deep where we were at. The diver was down for at least a half hour, and kept coming up with nothing. So, I begged him for one last try, but a bit wide of where our marker was.
Suddenly, a fly rod tip emerged from the depths, just as it had gone down hours before, but, in the opposite direction.

So, I had two county boats and a national Coast Guard cruiser and diver to help me recover my lost rod. Not bad for working amongst a variety of government agencies.