I took a friend and his visiting brother-in-law out bottom fishing yesterday. on the way in just for the excitement I decided to take canoe pass under the deception pass bridge (the small passage) the water really gets moving thru there and the boat slipping/sliden but I always swing to the left just to make sure there is no other boats or kayaks coming out with the tide. anyway theres a blind corner and a puff of wind takes my hat of 5 years clean off my head.. Ive lost my hat before so I idle down and turn around to retrieve it and it lands right in the leading edge of an upwelling I watch in horror as my favorite hat goes down with the undertow. Now this wasnt your average fishing hat it was a G-loomis fear no fish hat that was black when I started wearing it but had faded to a nice sorta brown
color with the sun/salt/sweet of 5 years. Im going to have to throw flowers off the bridge every 1st of aprril....this is not a april fools joke....Im more bumed with the loss of my hat then I was when I shreded the first prop on my new boat....DJ

DJ,
You gotta let it go, man.
If you don't it'll eat you up inside until you're a bitter shell of a man like me.
You deserve much better than a lousy loomis skull cap anyway.
Why not just get yourself a pink "Pink Worm Dude" hat like everyone else and be happy .

Not to worry, DJFISHS2XS, I've got some old Loomis hats that probably look, feel, and smell just like the one you lost! I'd be more than happy to send you one!

PS. I have a great new Filson hat that makes me look like a cowboy..or hick..or dork. At least I've been called all of those while wearing the hat! Just can't get myself to pose in a Grip N Grin with it. Maybe I'll break down, stop wearing all those silly fishing baseball hats, and start wearing my Filson.

Hats are like dogs. You love 'em for a long time, but they do not live as long as men do. They will come, they will give you good, faithful service, and then they will pass. And then, as when a good dog passes, we mourn.

If you know what I mean.

Parker, I have owned that hat. I don't know which one it is, but I know I have owned it, because I have owned, at one time or another, every one of Filson's hats. My current fave is a wool Floyd R Turbo billed cap, with a flap that folds down for the ears. Genuinely the least cosmetically flattering hat that a white man could design (leaving some room for the brothas or the french to do worse ), but functionally perfect. I also favor one of their waxed cotton jobbies, with about a 2 1/2 inch brim, but those seem to shink at a rate of about 1/8 inch a year, so after 3 years, you can't wear them anymore without getting a six whiskey headache, and you have to chuck 'em or give 'em to your kids. I'm on my fourth.

My life could be described as a search for the perfect hat. When I was a kid, we used to cadge around to the equipment dealers in town, and see who was giving out hats. Back then, you got gimme hats from the dealers for free, to advertise Deere, Cat, or Pendleton Grain Growers. It rankles my soul to this day, and I won't do it, to pay for a hat that advertises goods these days.

For the past 20 years I have regretted that the hat has not been viewed as a part of proper men's attire. Sure, we all wear them on the river, and in certain areas of the country, the Cowboy hat is still favored, but in most parts of society, you walk in wearing a nice, comfortable well made felt hat, and you are branded a poseur, someone making a fashion statement. The Fedora is a marvelously functional and comfortable chapaeu, but you can't wear one without being accused of trying to look like Indiana Jones. The only fricking statement I want to make is that my glasses are dry!

So anyway, now that my rant is over, I think about hats a little bit and I think I understand your attitude towards a favored hat. Bummer.

On the other hand, if you were to design a more significant contribution towards fish Kharma for the year, I don't think you could have done better. Short of a first born male child, I think for fish luck, you're in.

Last year I found a hat that said critters on it in the sallows in the Wind river took it home and washed and now wear it Luckie hat, Catch lots of fish with it on. So maybe some one will find yours and the luck will keep going.

I feel your pain.....losing a good hat is almost like losing a good woman....in a different sort of way.
JMS

This thread brings back sad memories of my lost hat. I was tearing down the columbia river about 5 years ago coming home in the dark after a long day of steelheading. Out of nowhere the wind kicked up suddenly and tore the hat right from my head. I circled back and spotlighted for about a half hour, but no luck. I was crushed. It took me a few years to find a suitable replacement, but its not the same..... I feel your pain.

Perhaps Therapy is in order?

Personally, I wear a hat because I,m bald. Keeps the sun off in the summer, and the head warm in the winter, but Still I mourn for a few hats I,ve unwillingly left in various waters in the State.
Ramprat

recieved a new hat....Freebys are great. the new one is very lucky....I broke my big fish record 3 times........and my buddy broke his too damm thats one lucky hat....thats all I have to say

There is an extremely ugly hat that my friend was wearing when he flipped his pontoon boat yesterday on the lower Calawah. If you find it please help it on it's way to the nearest garbage can. It is DEFINITELY not a lucky hat. The only stretch that he wasn't in his pfd and under he goes. Lucky it was sunny out and not dumping rain because it was 8 more miles to the takeout.