crappie chris with the winner!  
 
Found:
Mid 90's.  Trolling for trout with spinners in a pedal boat at Twin Lakes in Westmoreland Co with my dad.  My dad has what he thinks is a snag, so we slow down and back track.  He handed the rod to me so I could maneuver.  The "snag" starts fighting.  20 minutes or so getting pulled around the lake.  Up comes an . . . ultralight outfit with his spinner hooked on one of the eyes.  Still in pretty good shape, hasn't been in the water more than a few days probably.  Another 20 minutes of getting dragged around the lake.  Making progress . . . see a split shot so I know I'm getting close . . . leader . . . then the line goes limp.  Hook pulled out of whatever it was.  Guessing a big snapping turtle by the manner of fight.  
 
Lost:
Last summer, fishing a jetty/harbor wall for speckled trout and flounder in Long Beach, MS on the Gulf of Mexico.  Laid a rod and reel down as I was helping my son land a fish.  Forgot about it.  Left at 10 PM.  Back at 6 AM and I remembered, "Hey, I left a rod here last night."  Gonzo.  Fortunately, the rod and reel combined were probably only about $40 new.  Just a beater I used in the salt.  But somebody got a free and fairly functional rod and reel out of the deal.  Lots of poverty in that area, and folks that fish for meals.  So hopefully it was somebody who needed it more than I did.  
 
 

Left a nice long handled net on the ground while night fishing Pymy.....opp's
 
Stuck a knife in the ground small game hunting after cleaning some rabbits and forgot it . One year later just happen to be in the same area hunting again and got to looking around and there it was ! A little rusty but back in the sheath it went .

Captain, that reminds me of my own Lost AND Found hunting story . . . 
 
Late 90's, lived in Kentucky but would return for a one week bow hunt in PA for those three years.  On my last morning hunt that year, I set my little Mag Lite on the ground and forgot to get it at the end of the hunt; got back to Kentucky and was prepping for a hunt down there when I realized where I had left it.  Had my dad look for it during gun season, but he did not find it.  
 
A year later, when I got back to PA, I kicked around some leaves and found it, and it turned right on!  

Found - Second weekend of trout season on Laurel Hill Creek I used to have a bunch of buddies to my cabin.  One year one of the guys who had several kids & didn't get out much forgot to buy his license.  While rigging up creek side he realized his error & asked what should he do, it was a decent length drive, in unfamiliar to him territory, to go buy one at the moment.  One of the guys was busting ballz relentlessly about how the warden would take his car, etc. if he was caught with no license, scaring the crap out of the guy who was kind of new to fishing.  I'm wading & laughing at them when I see something shimmery floating downstream towards me.  It gets closer & I grabbed it... a valid fishing license.  The first name on it was Paul, so we still call this guy Paul all the time.  He used it for the day, bought his own on the ride back & we mailed it to the real Paul, with the story, in a letter.
 
Lost - my dignity.

while fishing a lake in Canada years ago. I pulled in a 4 piece packable fly rod, the cork handle was in pretty bad shape and some off the guides where rusty, back at camp the next day, I was talking to the camp owner that we new well and mentioned the rod and he described it to the T. said he lost it about 8 or 9 years ago. I offered it back to him and he said he didn't want it . so I stripped it down and rebuilt it, and still have it 20 yrs later. I have lost an amazing amount of items while ice fishing down that incredibly  large 8 inch hole, dippers ,foreceps, weights, jig box with about $60 worth of jigs I swear if I could drive the truck close to that hole it would go down.

All great stories ! Keep em coming...... 
 
D, the fishing gods came though ! ......good one...lol 
 
A guy I worked with went archery hunting. Not being much of a hunter or woodsman he decided to try a new woods and ended up climbing a tree. For some reason he took his wallet out and wedged it in a limb. Got home and realized he left it there. Went back several times but never found that same tree again ! 
 

Found....It's November and a buddy and me are hunting ducks in Hartstown Swamp in the early 70's. Wading along through the brush he finds a 12oz. can of beer stuck in the muck. It's so rusty you can barely read the label, but it's still sealed. He looks at me and pulls the tab off and it foams up. Down the hatch it went ! Not bad he said......lol 

Hey I just found a brand new 9' UL spinning rod at Field and Stream today. $69.99 lol  I need another one to go with the other 30 plus rods.

$5.00 reward............

For return of new 9' UL spinning rod lost in the vicinity of Field and Stream. 😒

Ha Ha. Did it have the plastic cover on the cork handle? Must identify to get it back.