I am sure all of you have lost something overboard and watched it slowly sink. Weaving back and forth as it sinks out of site. We have.
Remember once on Keefer in Quetico. My brother dropped his reel overboard and for a second I thought I would get it. It hesitated for a second on the surface than slowly sank just out of reach before we could get the canoe in position to retrieve it.

Not in the BWCA, But Portsmouth mine pit in Crosby MN. My bill fold came out of my pocket and that sank like a rock in at that time the deepest inland water in Minnesota. 419 feet deep-what is ironic I has my Scuba diving certificate in my billfold.

Couple times I casted in Quetico over deep water getting ready to troll and threw my rod in also. Lucky I use floating deep diving plugs. The lure came to the surface and pulled the rod in plug first.

I am sure some of you got careless or clumsy like I have.

What lies in the lake bottom that nature may never give up?

I’ve been pretty fortunate—- but I did lose my favorite Marine General hat on Shagawa a couple years ago :)

thegildedgopher: "I’ve been pretty fortunate—- but I did lose my favorite Marine General hat on Shagawa a couple years ago :)"

Hats usually can float until you turn around before it sinks. Wow.

Wait - You were a general in the Marines - or worked for a company called Marine General and your head was too small for your hat. When I moved to my pad I’m in now I threw out 70 hats, collected being in const jobs my whole life. I kept about 30, you know the best ones I just needed to keep in a sitting in a box, and now have added maybe 10 more, cuz I just needed them. 2 premo BWCA.com brims I will add. Those are good hats btw, I’ve tested my share haha. They are def in the rotation. Esp the mesh type one, most comfy hat I have. Very classy as well.

I only have one head last I checked, do the math, I can’t figure that out. Gotta rotate, a bad hate is a bad look.

Haha. I’m pretty sure you know this but the internet is hard to read at times — I meant Marine General, the store in Duluth. I was in a fishing boat going 25mph and it had sunk by the time I was able to circle back to it.

Love my waxed canvas flying moose hat and hope it doesn’t meet the same fate.

The BWCA.com hats are good hats, I have that one too, I wear it when it’s raining under a hood cuz it’s sposed to be waterproof/waxed whatever. My new cool hat being broke in on trips is a genuine USMC issue boonie hat. Totally badass.

The most important stuff I put lanyards on.

Watched my favorite pliers sink to into the abyss in Quetico last year. First time I’ve ever lost pliers before. Luckily I had a Leatherman along as a backup. Now my pliers are tethered to my PFD.

Tony

A number of years ago, one of my students was casting from the campsite. I watched him cast and I watched my rod fly out and sink like a torpedo down about 30ft. I took my other rod and put on a heavy spoon and started casting out to where I thought the rod would be. Within 10 minutes I was able to snag my line and and eventually recover my rod and reel (lucky student, he was!)

Carbonfiber: "The most important stuff I put lanyards on. "

+1. Phone, forceps, inreach...

I've watched a ballcap sink faster in the BWCA than any piece of clothing had a right to.

Not in the BWCA, but snorkeling off St. Thomas I jumped into the water with my $200 prescription snorkel mask on my forehead and it came off and sank straight to the bottom. Could see it sitting on the sand perfectly in that crystal clear water... I dove about 6 times and finally managed to snag it. The dive master checked her depth sounder and it read 23 feet. I never want to repeat that.

Great topic! Lessons learned for sure.

Ice fishing: leatherman and phone.

Open water: I was just coming off the Frost river and was getting these random downbursts of wind hitting the lake. One of them caught me by surprise and blew my favorite leather Brahma Squashy hat off and in my attempt to grab it, the paddle was pulled from my hand as well. I did not have a second paddle that trip, so I spent the next 20 minutes getting blown around, using my hands to paddle to retrieve my paddle. The following search for my favorite hat was unsuccessful.
I've watched a few poles go down over the years and been glad when the bow guy didn't leap after them.
I had a fly get stuck between my sunglasses and my face and, in a momentary lapse of reason, batted my face and $60 sunglasses into the cool deep. Last pair of $20 plus sunglasses I've purchased AND I do use lanyards now on backcountry trips.
In my younger years, my cousin cought a laker, tied it off and I watched as his absence of a knot quickly came undone and our dinner and stringer floated down in the water column.

About 40 years ago I had my then-new Old Town Tripper on it maiden voyage and was trolling down Winchell Lake. I usually stash my rod behind the stern seat when I troll (with drag adjusted) , but the distance between my seat and the stern deck was farther than I was used to, so when my deep-diving lure snagged on a shallow reef my rod and reel went overboard and sank out of view to the bottom. It was a sickening feeling.

On another trip, a buddy and I were fishing on Alworth Lake and he accidently dropped his week-old, 400 dollar prescription sunglasses overboard. No amount of attempted snagging could retrieve them.

One winter when I was camping/fishing on Basswood, I had an ice spud to chop holes. When one of my buddies started chopping a hole I said "you should put that lanyard around your wrist so you don't drop the spud down the hole". He kind of scoffed, and about five seconds later, the spud was on its way to the bottom.

Just after sunset I had put my sunglasses on my hat. When I readjusted the hat they went plop. There goes $150 pair of Hobie shades. Literally 15 minutes later a gust of wind blew my hat off and it was gone before we could turn around for it. No hat and no shades for the last 3 days of the trip...

My Voyageur map on Wagosh Lake. It was even opened, and still sunk pretty quickly.

Funny stories... I think I've lost the brain cells to go along with whatever belongings I may have lost in the BWCA lakes or streams.

The only things I can recall missing forever in water are:

1) a water ski in the ocean off Cape Cod (I got up on 2 skis and dropped 1 that we never found again)

2) a dark navy hoodie I lost touring the metro lake I now live on with a realtor back in 1994 - he had a fast boat and the hoodie blew right off my waist and it was a goner

Not a lake but a Black Hills stream on a hot summer day. Six high school buddies on our first road trip.

”Hey Glenn! Will ya bring down those cans of pop and we can cool them in this stream before supper.”

Glenn was a dutiful sort, whose surname will go unmentioned for a reason to be made apparent in a moment. He carefully collects all the pop in camp and trundles down to the water’s edge with his arms full. And tosses the entire collection into the rapidly flowing stream.

Now, the physics students among you will already know that carbonated beverages have a density somewhat less than Black Hills streamwater - and a corresponding buoyancy when confined in sealed cans.

For a nanosecond it was like watching a floating toy duck competition, until the rest of us recognized that the beverages were instantly and irretrievably lost.

gravelroad: "Not a lake but a Black Hills stream on a hot summer day. Six high school buddies on our first road trip.


”Hey Glenn! Will ya bring down those cans of pop and we can cool them in this stream before supper.”


Glenn was a dutiful sort, whose surname will go unmentioned for a reason to be made apparent in a moment. He carefully collects all the pop in camp and trundles down to the water’s edge with his arms full. And tosses the entire collection into the rapidly flowing stream.


Now, the physics students among you will already know that carbonated beverages have a density somewhat less than Black Hills streamwater - and a corresponding buoyancy when confined in sealed cans.


For a nanosecond it was like watching a floating toy duck competition, until the rest of us recognized that the beverages were instantly and irretrievably lost."

That’s a good story! I’ve got a similar one. Solo camping at one of the shore-front sites at cascade river state park. I went through the trouble of packing in a 6 pack of miller high life but no cooler because I’m not that dumb. Got to my site, engineered what I thought was a genius little cooler corral between some rocks and then went about the business of pitching a tent and making camp. It worked up a big sweat and was looking forward to those cold beers. Went down the hill to fetch them and found them bobbing in the lake a ways out. I’d removed the plastic that holds the cans together because you don’t plastic in the lake, period. This meant they were scattered about over a 10-15 yard area. I wanted those beers. Bad. So I stripped down to my skivvies and went after them. I was able to get 2 cans when I started feeling my body tell me I needed to get to shore, pronto. I guess I’m a wimp but that water was frigid and I was losing strength quickly.

The worst part was I was now shivering instead of sweating and the thought of drinking a cold beer really lost its luster.

thegildedgopher: "So I stripped down to my skivvies and went after them. I was able to get 2 cans when I started feeling my body tell me I needed to get to shore, pronto. I guess I’m a wimp but that water was frigid and I was losing strength quickly."

As a year-round paddler on Gitche Gumee, ”I keep a close watch on this (lake) of mine.”

I guess I'm the guy that finds all your stuff. Dozens of rods and reels, several tackle boxes, hundreds of lures, 4 1/2 boats, enough knives and multi-tools for several lifetimes, maybe 10 pfd's, half a dozen cell phones, several of my best hats, and a few things I won't mention on a family site.

justpaddlin: "I guess I'm the guy that finds all your stuff. Dozens of rods and reels, several tackle boxes, hundreds of lures, 4 1/2 boats, enough knives and multi-tools for several lifetimes, maybe 10 pfd's, half a dozen cell phones, several of my best hats, and a few things I won't mention on a family site."

Magnet fishing?

I've lost so many sunglasses to lakes. So many...

I do use a strap in the BW, but that's not where I have lost most of them.

airmorse: "

justpaddlin: "I guess I'm the guy that finds all your stuff. Dozens of rods and reels, several tackle boxes, hundreds of lures, 4 1/2 boats, enough knives and multi-tools for several lifetimes, maybe 10 pfd's, half a dozen cell phones, several of my best hats, and a few things I won't mention on a family site."

Magnet fishing?"

I paddle mostly on rivers. Levels vary, stuff gets moved around, folks lose stuff at put-ins, sometimes stuff just floats by within reach. I don't try to find stuff I just trip over it.

One trip I had a nice Buck knife in a sheath on my belt. Somehow the snap can undone and the knife went to the bottom of Saganaga. Another trip my reel broke so my buddy loaned me one of his spare rod/reels. As I was letting the basketball net anchor out the rope grabbed the rod/reel and it went to the bottom of Ensign. As I turned around in the front seat of the canoe I could watch the rod/reel fade as it went deeper.

I highly recommend using rod floats. They're like mini pool noodles that strap onto your rod right in front of the reel. They saved my brother's favorite rod a couple days ago after he dropped it over the side of the canoe.

I don't think I've lost anything bigger than a jig when I forgot it wasn't tied into the line yet. But there's still time!

GopherAdventure: "Watched my favorite pliers sink to into the abyss in Quetico last year. First time I’ve ever lost pliers before. Luckily I had a Leatherman along as a backup. Now my pliers are tethered to my PFD.


Tony "

I still have the pliers but lost the Leatherman overboard.

Fun stories all.

Knocked my net overboard in Lac LaCroix near pocket creek portage and watched it slowly sink. Try as I might, I was unable to snag it off the bottom. The universe replaced the net when I arrived to the island site on Finger to find that a previous traveler had left their net at the site.

Onthefly6: "Knocked my net overboard in Lac LaCroix near pocket creek portage and watched it slowly sink. Try as I might, I was unable to snag it off the bottom. The universe replaced the net when I arrived to the island site on Finger to find that a previous traveler had left their net at the site. "

Wow, what goes around comes around.

egknuti: "A number of years ago, one of my students was casting from the campsite. I watched him cast and I watched my rod fly out and sink like a torpedo down about 30ft. I took my other rod and put on a heavy spoon and started casting out to where I thought the rod would be. Within 10 minutes I was able to snag my line and and eventually recover my rod and reel (lucky student, he was!)"

Haha… I had a similar thing happen. Brand new rod and reel… I had carpel tunnel pretty bad in both hands… I was fishing with my mom… she loved to fish. I made a cast and the line went out a long ways but the rod went too. Watching it sink was hard… my mom was disappointed I think I didn’t dive in after it. But I kept track where I was and where the lure had ended up and like you egg… I eventually snagged the line with the spoon. Of course it pulled all of the line off the reel and I was banking on my knot at the end to hold. Haha! It did. Still have that rod.