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I did a little night fishing and somebody left with out there fins. I guess I'm lucky that way free hunting and fishing stuff always comes my way. I've found almost everything from fins (the latest) to 1,000 pair of binos and rangefinders to good spinning rods and fly fishing vests filled with goodes. I've always tried to find there homes but if nothing bites oh well.
Anybody else have this kind of luck and let hear about it.
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[cool]That reminds me of when I lived in Sacramento and fished the American River for steelhead and salmon. A stretch that I fished often, all of a sudden developed a nasty snag, right in the middle of the run. After losing several rigs in a row, I gave up and went elsewhere. A couple of days later, I heard that the fish and game department had apprehended a couple of divers who brought in a set of bedsprings, cleaned off all the tackle and then threw the springs back out into that run.
I have done a lot of diving over the years...ocean, lakes and rivers. Even did some gold dredging a few years ago. I have never ceased to be amazed at all of the human castoffs and lost items you can find in our nation's waterways.
Back in the days when Nevada offered simple divorces, and other states were more difficult, a friend lived in Reno and made a good living diving for the wedding rings tossed into the Truckee River that runs near the courthouse. Many new divorcees would walk out on the bridge and toss their rings. Oh yeah, he saw a lot of big brown trout right in the middle of town too.
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Have never found anything of value while fishing but perhaps I should start dredging the bottom while fishing on my float tube??? Must be a bunch of rod and reels down there.
Do have a story to tell about the first time I went float tubing in Balboa Island in Newport Beach. After I was done fishing I leaned some of my equipment against a residence's fence while loading up the car. I guess I was excited and did a lot of talking to my buddy about the day and got kinda scatterned....
Anyways, I packed up and went home, took a shower, ate some dinner then thought about cleaning the gears that are still in the car. It was 10 PM by then and I sat comfortably in my couch debating if I want to get up to clean. All of sudden, a mental picture tells me that I do not have my rod and reel in the car. I rushed out to the car and sure enough, they weren't there [shocked] I then realized I had left them leaning against the residence's fence. I got depressed and thought they were gone for sure. They were left there over 6 hours ago. They were not top of the line but still will cost about $200 to replace.
I hopped in the car and drove back anyways, I couldn't justify not at least giving it a try to see if they are still there. Imagine my surprise when I found the rod and reel still laying against the fence, along with a few other things I didn't remember that I left! This is an area that is frequented with lots of foot traffic too.
I was so pleased and impressed with that neighborhood that I would always tell the story to any locals there when I chat with them. Of course, having to suffer through the mental anguish of loss, I went out and bought another outfit to make myself feel better [laugh]
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I usually double check all my gear before I leave. I get out and do a lot of back country trips both fishing and hunting. If I find something hiking of the trail the odds of finding the original owner is next to nothing.
I do feel bad for those guys that do loss that stuff. I'm sure it's much worse then having something stolen because you know you left it.
A buddy of mine found a back pack and belt pouch full of hunting gear. I couldn't believe somebody would take it off to do a stock or something like that and never come back or not look hard enough for their gear. I'd say he found about 3,000 dollars worth of gear. I didn't believe him until he showed me the stuff.
All this high dollar equipment probable isn't some local who's got a family to feed. I put money on it that it's some out of stater who makes a fortune and has the money to blow. If I lost something like that I'd spend the rest of my trip back tracking and find that stuff.
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part of it is that you hate to see anyone lose gear that probably meant a lot to the family budget to buy it. But, in a lot of cases...where you are a long ways from any big town...the people probably don'e even discover the items are missing until the next time they need them. Then, they get the mental picture of where they saw them last...right where you found them. I know, it has happened to me, both ways. I have lost stuff and found stuff. 
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