Have you ever found someone else's gear while fishing? And either returned it to them or left it since there was no way of contacting them? Or perhaps helped yourself to some of that stuff?
A few years ago I was fishing the bank of a local river set back in the bush and came across a three tray tackle box full of tackle and one rod laying on the ground. Not a single person was in sight. I was there for half an hour and no one showed up in that time. And the stuff wasn't dirty so I thought it probably had been there for a few hours at most.
I eventually moved up and down the bank, probably 500m each way and I think I saw one jogger in the distance. Came back to the spot and the stuff was still there. I thought maybe he fell in and since the water was muddy I can't see him. And I didn't think he would have floated downstream since it was very slow moving.
So as I left, I called the cops and told them about it in case they had any reports or wanted to go have a look for themselves. Anyway, there was nothing in the news about a missing person so I figured there was some other reason for this mystery.
And last year I went to go wade a river and had my waders in a big plastic bag and kept my hiking shoes on to hike down from the parking lot. Once I got to the bank, I would change to my waders and put my shoes in my backpack. Well after half an hour, I opened my backpack to get something and noticed my shoes weren't in there. I realized I somehow must have left them on the bank while I changed over. I said I'll just grab them when I go back that way.
Two hours later and they're gone. And where I did this was in the bush and not on a path or trail. And these hiking shoes were 9 years old and the sole was coming apart on both shoes. Who would take them?
I also reeled in a rod and reel combo at a pond while fishing from a raised gazeebo over the water. To this day I still use that reel as my 5th choice bass fishing reel even though it really does not cast very smoothly.