Well, there I was, fishing Chopaka on the opener. As I was paddling along in my bellyboat, the guy's rod next to me goes flying off the back of his pontoon boat. A Chopaka monster grabbed it and it disappeared. He's fairly upset as the rod is very nice. He thought the rod was gone for good. As things turned out, I had brought my SCUBA gear. The next morning, after searching for 25 minutes, I found the rod not 20 feet from where it had disappeared. Does anyone know this guy? I'd be willing to discuss a settlement.

Rockcod

Matt, If you haven't already, I would suggest you post a found notice on the Virtual Fly Shop NW BB. It's pretty cool that your making an effort to get in touch to help the angler get his rod back. Good Luck!

...post as well on waflyfishers@waflyfishers.com --the owner may well be grateful...

Was the fish still connected?

Why did it take three responses before JG came up with the most important question?!?!

I hope you can get ahold of they guy, and I would hope he would offer you at least enough to make up for the time (and money for air) you spent in retrieving the rod and looking for its owner.

Fish on...

Todd.

To answer your question about the fish still on the line...the answer is no...the hook was barbless, and I imagine the fish got off not long after the rod went flying out of the boat.
Matt

I was 'divin in the Blackfoot in a big deep hole one summer day when I found a rack of a 6pt bull on the bottom. Istuggled it up to the bank and was sittin there in my gear when a guy scrambled down the bank with a story. It seems as tho he and his buddy had shot the bull the previos hunting season. They stopped and had a few too many at a local establisment and on the way home his buddy missed a corner, went into the river with his truck and died. I checked the tag that was on it to verify the name, but of course the water had washed off the ink. The fella was shaking and told me to name my price.....I was going to hit him up for the price of an air fill but I couldn't do it. I let him have it. What was the odds of that guy driving by at that time to see me pull that in???????