What to do immediately upon retrieving lost rod n reel

[livemusic]

This is 'cart before the horse,' but I am determined to find it!

Yesterday, I have no idea how this happened but suddenly, I watched a spinning rig sink. It's not that expensive, but enough. A Berkeley Lightning rod and a Pfleuger President spinning reel. I use mostly baitcasting rigs but the spinning rig is a favorite.  We were in about 3 feet of murky water. I immediately reached for it but couldn't find it. Then grabbed another rig, took plastic worm off and started dragging for it with the hook. That was a mistake. I only found moss and sticks, but not only did I not find the rig after dragging the bottom for 30 minutes, I broke the tip off an even better rod. Double ouch.

It seemed too cold to wade and that bottom is mush. I got myself in a dangerous situation one time when my feet sank into deep muck. Plus, it gets deeper, and who knows, the rig may have glided into a little deeper water.

Anyway, it seems crazy that I cannot find this rig, so, I am going back. With a better drag. I am going to use any or all methods -- drag an open chain stringer if I can find one, rattletrap lure, or treble hooks.

Question is... when I find it, what to do until I can clean it thoroughly? Anyone have any thoughts? Open it and drain water out, what else? As for deep cleaning, anyone know of how to do that?

[Fishin' Fool]

53 minutes ago, livemusic said:

This is 'cart before the horse,' but I am determined to find it!

Yesterday, I have no idea how this happened but suddenly, I watched a spinning rig sink. It's not that expensive, but enough. A Berkeley Lightning rod and a Pfleuger President spinning reel. I use mostly baitcasting rigs but the spinning rig is a favorite.  We were in about 3 feet of murky water. I immediately reached for it but couldn't find it. Then grabbed another rig, took plastic worm off and started dragging for it with the hook. That was a mistake. I only found moss and sticks, but not only did I not find the rig after dragging the bottom for 30 minutes, I broke the tip off an even better rod. Double ouch.

It seemed too cold to wade and that bottom is mush. I got myself in a dangerous situation one time when my feet sank into deep muck. Plus, it gets deeper, and who knows, the rig may have glided into a little deeper water.

Anyway, it seems crazy that I cannot find this rig, so, I am going back. With a better drag. I am going to use any or all methods -- drag an open chain stringer if I can find one, rattletrap lure, or treble hooks.

Question is... when I find it, what to do until I can clean it thoroughly? Anyone have any thoughts? Open it and drain water out, what else? As for deep cleaning, anyone know of how to do that?

Say out loud "That sucks". Then get online to find yourself a better setup. Be thankful you lost a lesser one. It happens to the best of us. I kicked a St Croix Triumph and Quantum reel overboard last year. Lesson learned, be more careful.

[Dwight Hottle]

If you find it send to him. 

 

http://www.delawarevalleytackle.com/

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The sooner the reel gets open ended and serviced the better and easier it will be.  A rinse and dry is about all you can do in triage. Not an expensive reel but not a throw away either. 

[Josh Smith]

You will need to tear the reel down and flush it with fresh, clean water.

Don't worry about getting a better rig. That one has its uses. I prefer a Berkely Cherrywood for certain techniques. Sure, I might get a better rod if I could find one with a similar feel, but I'd really only want better guides and maybe real cork on the grip. The hybrid blank works just fine, though maybe a better blank would be lighter.

It's in rotation with other, more expensive rods, and the reels are all higher cost quality items.

I decided a while back that there's not much substantive to rod snobbery. If the rod does what you need it to for $20, great! If it takes $200 or more for another purpose, by all means drop the coin for that one as well!

Josh

[lecisnith]

36 minutes ago, Fishin' Fool said:

Say out loud "That sucks". Then get online to find yourself a better setup. Be thankful you lost a lesser one. It happens to the best of us. I kicked a St Croix Triumph and Quantum reel overboard last year. Lesson learned, be more careful.

Boy am I glad I can feel content only spending $100 on a rod and reel.  Better, schmetter.  Get what you want.  If you're satisfied with it that's awesome.  I still use a few $30 spinning combos and catch a lot of fish with them.  Don't let anyone make you feel like you're not doing something right just because you can't or just don't want to pay an arm and a leg for fishing gear. Man that's irritating...

[buzzed bait]

keep yourself a marker buoy readily at hand....  if or when this ever happens, immediately toss the marker out and limit the search radius A LOT.  

lost a combo once and was irate about that for a couple weeks, but i too did everything i could to get it back.  problem for me was it was cold and in about 20 feet of water.

a friend of mine dumped his rod, glasses, lures and gopro on the river once.  we immediately put out a stake out pole to mark the spot where he turtled.  with that mark, we were able to relocate everything except the gopro.....

same thing one time where i somehow flipped my olympus rugged waterproof camera over my kayak while on the river.  didn't have the pole or marker, but tossed out my anchor to mark the spot.  about 15 minutes later, i located the camera!

if you can think quickly enough to come up with a way to mark your spot, you'll greatly increase the chance of finding your gear.

[USMC22]

I feel for you... In 2013 I kicked a Dobyn's Chamion Series 683C with a Revo STX over the side of my boat... It was raining and 53 degree's with steady wind and murky water about 5 feet deep... I swam for about 45 minutes until I started feeling numb. By the time I made it back tot he boat landing I was regretting the swim, the kicker... my wife bought the rod for me as an anniversary gift!!!!! Telling her was not fun, I felt like I a 16 year old who wrecked their parents car. Good luck with the search.

 

PS... I never found my set up and dragged that area EVERY TIME I fished there for months...

[MickD]

If your spot isn't already marked, it will be difficult if not impossible to get back there.  I built a rig out of an old bicycle wheel, cut the spokes and bend them to get hooks, mount on a pole like a swimming pool net pole, and drag it over the bottom.  You will be wasting your time with an open stringer or dragging weighted trebles or similar tools.

[dave]

My opnion is that no rod and reel is worth losing your life over.

Stay in the boat.

[U-boat Aficionado]

Make yourself a rod float.

I fish crystal clear water but it's deep, cold and often rough making retrieval near impossible without diving for it. Since I'm often in a canoe, tipping over is a possibility so all my gear gets clipped or tied to the boat. 

For rods the best thing is to make a float out of pipe insulation and Velcro straps. You can buy them pre made for under $15 or build a bunch for under $5. I make mine as small as will safely float the rod and reel by weighing the gear on a scale and doing a float test in the sink. You'd be surprised how little you need to safely float the gear and when attached to the rod it's not in the way when you are fishing. If it does go overboard, retrieval is simple.

[WRB]

If you didn't mark exactly spot where the rod went into the water with a GPS or marker bouy etc., how are you going to find after you left the spot? You were on top of it and couldn't retreive it! Weighted grapling treble hook is your dest bet to drap the area, old metal multi clip stringer weighted, both tied to a strong cord/rope my work.

This mistake has already cost you another rod, another days fishing, just stay out of the water unless a friend is able to assist you and wear a life jacket and wet suit.

Tom

[papajoe222]

If you're fairly confident you can find the spot AND you really want to retrieve it, go for it.  If the water is only 3ft. deep, you can use a garden rake to scour the bottom. I retrieved one of my favorite combos that way a week after I lost my grip on it while casting.