Just recently, the wife and kiddo went with me to check the boat at the boat slip. I had been in the hospital for a while. Just wanted to make sure everything was there.
We were packing up and she had put her iPhone on top of the dock box....and she was trying to close/lock it. Sure enough, she lifted the lid and in the drink went her phone and everything else that was in that case - Driver's license, credit cards, etc.
Me being smart and all that and knowing there wasn't a chance in he!! it'll work, I suggested we get my shop magnet and go fishing. So, we did. Got the shop magnet and tied some rope really secure to it and I let her fish for it for a while.
Sure enough, after about 15 minutes, she dragged that ding dong thing up. It was still on and working. She turned it off and it never came back on. But good thing is, we were able to retrieve all of her licenses and credit cards and stuff.
Never in my life would have thought she would have fished that thing out.


Other than that, pair of sunglasses off of my hat on Fork when I lost a fish, took the hat off to say the bad words to the fish and my sunglasses went in.
Lost a Leatherman fisherman series, the kind that you flip out the pliers portion. Flipped them out with wet hands once and they hit the water.
My dad once went to cast once, lost his grip and threw the whole combo in the lake. He just turned around, looked at me, smiled and grabbed another combo like it was nothin'. Funniest thing ever.

I think your post made me laugh for about 10 minutes ---well done sir

This past summer, I was at Lake Murray fishing in a marina and a guy asked me how good my electronics were. He asked if I could use them to see a chair that fell off their house boat. I got off the back of their boat with my 360 and told him where to throw his grappling hook. First try, he muscles that big chair back up on his deck. Offered me breakfast and a beer at 8 AM for the help. Bacon smelled good, but I passed. I wonder how much stuff is at the bottom of the marinas.

Grew up bass fishing with my dad and his buddies. I'm throwing a Zebco 33, they're all using 5000's, 5500's and Diawa Millionaires. I wanted an "open face" real deal bass set up like theirs. So I used one of my dad's and picked it up pretty quickly.

My dad tells me that if I win a particular junior tournament he'd get me a 5000 as a perk. He continued to do this and I ended up with a couple of 5000's, a 5500, and a Millionaire.

Fast forward to a 3 or 4 years later, I'm fishing with a buddy (we're 14, 15 years old), out of a canoe, on a 10 to 15 acre lake at the golf course. My buddy stands up in the canoe and flips it....in 30' deep h20.....ALL my rod and reels (with the exception of the one in my hand) went to the bottom. Luckily the tackle boxes were closed and floated.

I knew a guy, family friend, who was an avid scuba diver. He agreed to try and find them for me.....felt sorry for me. Unfortunately he couldn't find them. He told me there were tree tops, logs, stumps etc all over the bottom. Evidently they piled up a bunch of the trees they removed when building the golf course all over the bottom of this irrigation lake.....right where we lost the rods.

Bummer......hehehe

One other.....

I'm fishing Millwood Lake in AR with my dad during our annual fish camp. It's blistering hot, typical August weather, and we're floating around on a timbered flat throwing lil George's at schooling fish. My dad is all propped up on the front seat (stick steering rig) drinking a beer, and suddenly a school breaks water about 30 yards away. My dad had one of the original Lew's pistol grip handle (very slick plastic) rods topped with a 5500.

So, the school surfaces, he panics, and proceeds to "Nolan Ryan" his rod and reel 10, 15 yards out into the lake, in 8' to 10' deep water.. Hehehe. It looked like he intentionally threw it into the lake. Lol

So, he hooks up a rod with multiple large treble hooks on the line and tries to hook his rod.

This is what's incredible about this story, he does hook a rod and reel, but, it's NOT his.....old Zebco set up. What are the odds on a 30,000 acre lake.....hehehe

He ends up diving for it and finds the line which eventually led to his rod and reel.

I have lost my phone with no insurance .....
I have lost a brand new rod/reel. I may have fished with it a couple hours before I somehow kicked it off the casting deck.
I have lost my keys to my truck and everything else on that key ring. I was getting out of the boat to back the trailer in and somehow it fell into the lake ...

Good stuff!

i have a new fishing dock and i left my folding chair on it yesterday ... the strong south wind blew it sliding 8 ft along the dock into the lake...i fished it out...taught me a lesson about catfish dock fishing...don't leave nethang on the dock

My Costas, the biggest pain in the [censored] was the time I told my son to launch me and bring me the keys Cuz he didn't want to go back out. He walked out on the dock and said catch as he tossed the keys. They went kerplunk about 2ft. In front of the boat. Had to call a locksmith to come out and make me a new set of keys. Was an all day affair.

Just had a bad day. 2 weekends ago. Fishing out of a jon boat on a private lake and had bought this swivel bracket you can mount your back chair on to a jon boat bench. Sounds great and much more back friendly. This jon boat was 30+ years old and pretty narrow. The bracket shifted on my just a bit and my now center of gravity is up higher. The gunnel of the jon boat dips slightly underwater and now it's all over. Water temps are in my 60's I'm guessing. First thing is I save my 5 poles and swim the 40 yds to shore. Then I see my 2 tackle boxes floating so swim out and grab them. Disconnect the anchor and get the jon boat to the shore at the damn but the angle is pretty steep. Slowly work the boat up on the shore going front to back so I can get battery, TM, and chair out. Then dump water out. I tried pulling the anchor out but the rope was wet and snapped..

Get the jon boat 200 yds to where it lives and get everything loaded into the truck. Then notice I'm missing my phone which has drivers license, insurance card, and personal and work credit cards.

Besides the phone, anchor, and cards I lost 1/2 day of fishing and all of my pride. I love that seat bracket as my back kills me fishing from a bench seat even with a throw cushion as a pad but it scares the hell out of me to. Used it yesterday but super careful which boats I put it on.

in the past I had a couple of Loomis $300 rods with the original Shimano calcutta's go overboard when I was guiding Fayette and had two different clients light their cigarettes, setting their rods down to do so...both had bass on unknowingly and I watched the rods go overboard. I will say there is a mathematic equation where you get to watch $1000 of rods/reels go overboard so quickly you can't catch them but yet sink so slowly that you can watch them drift away into the dark of the bottom. I did retrieve one with a rattle trap and from then on, my clients rods were all Falcon and Quantum.

when I used to fish up in Alaska , the Lodge would make you sign a waiver to agree to either pay $600 per rod and reel lost overboard OR , connect you , with a wire leash to the rod . Well , my sixteen year old son hooks a 130lb Halibut that nearly dragged him overboard and I can say I am dam glad I DID NOT have him hooked up to the rod and reel .

$1000 pair of prescription Maui Jims in under 4' of water on Lake Lewisville lipping a fish. Put the poles down immediately and spent 1 hr in the water looking for them- no luck.
$600 Daiwa rod with Shimano reel in Lewisville. Didn't even know what happened. Combo was just gone off the deck.
Older iPod in Ray Roberts
Lile Survival Knife (I don't want to even think how much it would be worth right now)

I threw a Don Harper custom spinnerbait in the water once...I was nervous. Cost me a grip of bills.

Way back in the 80’s an Abu Garcia 5000c; the black reel, on a Berkeley Lightning Rod. Hands got sweaty and it went down in about 25 feet of water. It stayed there and I’d go by and try to catch it two or three times a week since Iived close to the lake it was in. It took me about a month to get it back and I still have the reel and still use it. Oh, back in those days that was about as an expensive combo as you could buy.