I was fishing a valley section of the Gallatin River for the first time ever a couple of summers ago, so discovering the riffles, runs and pools of a new river was fun. As I made my way up a small, but turbulent channel with the kayak there was fly rod dangling in the current, reel downstream, the tip and line hung on a small limb. All rigged up with a foam reel case enveloping the reel, the rod had obviously been in the river for some time as it was coated with slime and moss. I was able to free it and when I began to examine it, the fly rod was another Winston, this time a completely intact Boron IIIX 9’ 5 weight with a Ross Evolution Reel. Once I got it home and cleaned up, everything proved to be in great shape. This was $1100 in fly gear. Since the section of the Gallatin I was fishing is wade fishing only and the rod was completely rigged, reel in case and fly in keeper, this rod must have fallen out of a boat as the anglers floated down the river. After a call to Winston, I found out the rod was registered to an angler in Salt Lake City, Utah and arranged to return it to him. When I asked him how he lost it, thinking he lost it on the Gallatin, some of the mystery remained as he didn’t realize it had been lost. Apparently some time earlier this year, his brother-in-law borrowed the rod for a trip to the Grey’s River in Wyoming. During the trip the rod disappeared out of an unlocked vehicle in a supermarket parking lot. The brother-in-law, chagrined by the loss failed to tell the owner, hoping instead to save enough money to replace the rod without ever telling the owner it was lost. According to the rod owner, the Evolution reel belonged to the brother-in-law. The mystery as to how it was lost and by whom on the Gallatin will likely never come to light but the brother-in-law was on the hook for some explaining. I was happy through the good graces of Winston to find the rightful owner and return it to him.
Lost and Found, painful when you lose it, fun when you find it.
