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IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: potatoe on Feb 03, 2019, 03:41 PM

Title: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: potatoe on Feb 03, 2019, 03:41 PM: On the ice early today, look to the North and I see a shadow. It looked like a Vexilar. We were the only ones on the ice, I walked over and it was a bag full of items. I decided to take the bag and I fished with it all day looking around to see if anyone was searching. I could tell it was from the day before, it was froze down on the ice pretty good.

Got home today and emptied it out, looking for a phone number or a possible anything. I found an old Garmin GPS, the batteries were dead and I replaced them. Started looking at waypoints and found home. Told the wife we could go on a treasure hunt and see if we could find the house. Turns out it was in our old town a few miles away. Drove up to a house guy was outside. I asked him if he was fishing yesterday and I could tell immediately it was his items

Felt pretty good returning the items, he had a collection of fishing items and good gloves. He was pretty happy to see us.

After this I am marking most of my items with a paint marker - going to put name and phone number. And hope if I do forget someone calls or texts me
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Fisherman 1 on Feb 03, 2019, 03:43 PM: Excellent on you for making the effort, not all are so honest.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: lefty2053 on Feb 03, 2019, 03:45 PM: Good idea. I see every year people on forums saying they left something here or there. A lot of the times the items get returned but there is some I am sure that don't. Thanks for sharing, good to see a good Samaritan.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Whopper Stopper on Feb 03, 2019, 03:47 PM: Excellent story :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

WS
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Huntindave on Feb 03, 2019, 03:50 PM: Quote from: potatoe on Feb 03, 2019, 03:41 PM
On the ice early today, look to the North and I see a shadow. It looked like a Vexilar. We were the only ones on the ice, I walked over and it was a bag full of items. I decided to take the bag and I fished with it all day looking around to see if anyone was searching. I could tell it was from the day before, it was froze down on the ice pretty good.

Got home today and emptied it out, looking for a phone number or a possible anything. I found an old Garmin GPS, the batteries were dead and I replaced them. Started looking at waypoints and found home. Told the wife we could go on a treasure hunt and see if we could find the house. Turns out it was in our old town a few miles away. Drove up to a house guy was outside. I asked him if he was fishing yesterday and I could tell immediately it was his items

Felt pretty good returning the items, he had a collection of fishing items and good gloves. He was pretty happy to see us.

After this I am marking most of my items with a paint marker - going to put name and phone number. And hope if I do forget someone calls or texts me

Sounds like you would enjoy "geocaching". ;D Good on you for making the effort.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: esox_xtm on Feb 03, 2019, 03:50 PM: Nice work Mr. Holmes! Thanks for your integrity, seems to be in pretty short supply these days :thumbsup: :clap:
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: iceman10 on Feb 03, 2019, 03:53 PM: Good to hear this turned out well !! Thanks for being aTrue sportsman and taking the extra efforts 👍
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: tbern on Feb 03, 2019, 04:15 PM: Take a bow!! Great story and congrats on your effort to get the stuff back to its owner!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: emmettid on Feb 03, 2019, 04:25 PM: this is an excellent story on the honesty of our fellow ice shanty members.way to go!!!!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: TheManInBlack on Feb 03, 2019, 04:29 PM: Way to go the extra mile to find the guy and return his stuff. May good karma come back to you!

A few years ago, I found a tip-up frozen to the ice. I dug it out, and it had a name and address on it (and it was from someone about 100 miles away). I couldn't find a phone number, so I sent a letter with my email address. The guy emailed me to tell me that he had sold all his ice fishing gear some years before, but I made his day.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Iceattic on Feb 03, 2019, 04:30 PM: Great job!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Iceattic on Feb 03, 2019, 04:31 PM: Great job!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Fish Farmer on Feb 03, 2019, 04:58 PM: Definitely a good idea to tag your bag with a phone or address.

I found a fly vest next to a river once, it had the persons license with address. Boxed it up and shipped it since it was several hours away.

While ice fishing I found a lure box packed with jigs at an access. Many of this jigs were a similar style that I fished with and some unique flies. It happened to be from a guy I work with.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: mr.clean on Feb 03, 2019, 05:09 PM: Potatoe a smart idea to label our gear with name and phone number or address. Ditto all the compliments on taking the time to return the bag and it's contents once you found a way to locate the owner. :clap: :thumbsup:
Steve
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: perch chacer on Feb 03, 2019, 05:26 PM: What a great find and return.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: potatoe on Feb 03, 2019, 05:38 PM: Thanks everyone, I was going to post on this forum that I found the items to see if the owner was a member. Once I got his GPS going and found he was only a few miles away we decided to give it a try. We were fortunate he was outside working, the GPS had us pretty close to his house.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Hooked up on Feb 03, 2019, 06:08 PM: Good story, not only was the guy happy to get his stuff back, it made me feel good knowing there are people like yourself out there doing the right thing.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Hardguy on Feb 03, 2019, 06:40 PM: I only hope you find my stuff if I ever leave anything!
Nice Action
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Bucket Rump on Feb 03, 2019, 06:41 PM: Very cool story! Nice bit of sleuthing and your integrity is to be commended, Potatoe!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: earlyrise on Feb 04, 2019, 06:59 AM: Nice story , my wife and myself were smiling at the end .
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: missoulafish on Feb 04, 2019, 07:53 AM: Good for you!! And him:)
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Piltzviller on Feb 04, 2019, 08:15 AM: Well done... I have to ask though, did you jot down any of his other coordinates in hopes of finding a honey hole? Ha
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: TheCrappieFisherman on Feb 04, 2019, 08:42 AM: Great job!

In addition to marking all of your gear, I have heard of some making an excel spreadsheet or taking pictures of their gear incase it ever gets stolen or something else happens and need to make an insurance claim(house disaster etc.) , that way they remember exactly what they had. Kinda makes sense but also might be a little overkill? Pictures of the item and a picture of the bar code or serial number would probably be quickest if one did something like this.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Huntindave on Feb 04, 2019, 09:03 AM: Quote from: TheCrappieFisherman on Feb 04, 2019, 08:42 AM
Great job!

In addition to marking all of your gear, I have heard of some making an excel spreadsheet or taking pictures of their gear incase it ever gets stolen or something else happens and need to make an insurance claim(house disaster etc.) , that way they remember exactly what they had. Kinda makes sense but also might be a little overkill? Pictures of the item and a picture of the bar code or serial number would probably be quickest if one did something like this.

I'll snap a few photos when packing for a trip. Never know when they could come in handy. One could be involved in a car accident and lose everything. Are you really going to remember every thing you took along with you?
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: TheCrappieFisherman on Feb 04, 2019, 09:57 AM: Quote from: Huntindave on Feb 04, 2019, 09:03 AM
I'll snap a few photos when packing for a trip. Never know when they could come in handy. One could be involved in a car accident and lose everything. Are you really going to remember every thing you took along with you?

Not a bad idea at all, makes sense.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: IceholeHEN on Feb 04, 2019, 11:37 AM: Quote from: Piltzviller on Feb 04, 2019, 08:15 AM
Well done... I have to ask though, did you jot down any of his other coordinates in hopes of finding a honey hole? Ha

I was thinking the same thing. Good karma coming your way. Maybe in ones of those honey holes.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: potatoe on Feb 04, 2019, 07:01 PM: It was a pretty old Garmin unit, one I have never seen. It would not power up so I changed the batteries. I did not look long enough to look at any honey holes, after I got it powered up and found home we pretty much took off.

I also programmed home in my hand held Garmin, I have an older Etrex that has worked pretty good over the years but I never had home programmed in.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: pike4some on Feb 17, 2019, 03:02 PM: This is a great story. Just curious though, did he mention how all the stuff was left there.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: wallyworld on Feb 17, 2019, 03:13 PM: Kudos to you sir on your honesty and integrity !!!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Mr.Seaguar on Feb 17, 2019, 03:25 PM: I only leave stuff behind if I want to replace it. So don't bring anything back to my place.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: KRASHED on Feb 19, 2019, 07:01 AM: I left my entire fishing tackle on the side of a river by accident a few years back. Three rods and 10 years worth of lures.

Came back an hour later and it was all gone.

I label everything I own now hoping that people like you would be the ones to find it.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Rugburn on Feb 19, 2019, 07:38 AM: Great story and return, I suspect the reward of his smile will last you throughout your life.
I put those sticky address labels on my bigger ticket items for just such an occasion.
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: jimhaney08 on Feb 19, 2019, 12:20 PM: Great idea. After losing a float coat this year, I'll be doing the same.

You know, I used to complain about my mom writing my name and number on all of my stuff. But now I wish I had done that!
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Royalwapiti on Feb 20, 2019, 07:50 AM: I see posts on FB from both persons, the guy who left something behind and the guy who found stuff. Yesterday it was a camera that someone lost. The person who lost it ended up calling a nearby resort and having them look for it at the ramp. They found it. It fell off his sled as he was walking back to ramp. It makes a person feel good about others and the person finding it can feel good about themselves...and my son thinks I am paranoid as I always look back when going onto and off the ice..
Title: Re: I am going to mark all my items, name and phone number
Post by: Seamonkey84 on Feb 20, 2019, 02:13 PM: A buddy recently found a bucket full of tipups and some jig rods at a parking lot. A few days later he checked them and the guy left his info on the flags, so he called him up and set up a meet. I think I’m going to start labeling my gear too, but I’m also kinda ocd with my stuff so I don’t leave stuff.