What's your best find?

cillovely · 07-12-2013, 09:23 AM

Well it wasn't someone else's loss, but when my son was younger, we went out early one morning to get gas at Channel Marine, then we did a loop around Paugus Bay. He was still in the pacifier stage and of course dropped it in the water. So we circled it a few times and finally I was able to snag it. Of course I didn't let him put it back in his mouth without some sterilization, but he was happy it was found.

jrc · 07-12-2013, 09:33 AM

All I ever find is water bottle and Styrofoam bait cups. The Styrofoam cups are white and easy to spot, the water bottles are just everywhere.

BroadHopper · 07-12-2013, 10:26 AM

I found an original Bruins Stanley Cup finals winning jersey! I stop at the Bruins guy on the island to return his jersey. He told me to keep it! Precious.

Dave R · 07-12-2013, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cillovely

Well it wasn't someone else's loss, but when my son was younger, we went out early one morning to get gas at Channel Marine, then we did a loop around Paugus Bay. He was still in the pacifier stage and of course dropped it in the water. So we circled it a few times and finally I was able to snag it. Of course I didn't let him put it back in his mouth without some sterilization, but he was happy it was found.

Must have been the first born. I bet the binkie goes right back into the mouth of the second born...

AC2717 · 07-12-2013, 12:00 PM

i'm not telling either, but it was great and did not take ownership until I put signs up and add saying it was found

sluggo · 07-12-2013, 01:20 PM

Mine was the best find of all......HAPPYNESS

upthesaukee · 07-12-2013, 01:22 PM

Found one one day in the middle of the broads. A few weeks later, found another one, again in the middle of the broads. Thought it was something until we saw how cheap they were. No wonder nobody looked like they were looking for them.

Kamper · 07-12-2013, 01:28 PM

To keep? An oar, some fenders, a couple hats and a dock section.

A swim raft came ashore at the property I used to manage. This was April/May-ish. I tied it to a tree and it was gone when I came back for Spring cleanup. They kept my ropes too! I also had a spar bouy wash up and the MP sent a boat to pick it up.

Just Sold · 07-12-2013, 02:11 PM

I found a very nice 25' mooring line. It was even in a matching color to my boat. Another time a brand new fender & rope that was definately from a Pontoon because of the railing hook on the end of the rope. Both times no other boat was anywhere near by nor did I find/see anyone looking for one. Years ago a very nice inflatable single person raft. Yes, plenty of trash, boards and logs too.

boat_guy64 · 07-12-2013, 06:35 PM

I found a kids tooth retainer off of our beach in about 2 feet of water. When I was telling my wife about it ( I know how much the cost) an 11 year old runs up to me and says thanks and that he lost it 2 days ago.

Of course....he popped it right into his mouth....No worries for him

Winnipesaukee Divers · 07-12-2013, 07:54 PM

People often ask me: “what’s the best thing you ever found while diving?” My stock answer is: “narrow the category for me”. Do you want to know by?
• Jewelry: modern or antique
• Watches: Men’s, women’s, dive, dress, or antique pocket watches
• Wallets, purses, or hand bags
• Fishing gear: Rods, down riggers, weights or the whole transom with two down riggers and the motor
• Boats: new ones or the old ones or the boat trailers
• Cars: new ones, antiques or just the trucks
• Outboard motors: what size, what color, what era?
• Coins: antique, silver, gold or how about the box full of silver ½ dollars
• Cash
• Tools
• Pottery
• Rocks, I love breaking open a geode… what treasure it is
• Bottles (this one breaks down into several sub categories)
• Guns, new or old, bullets or cannon balls
• Arrowheads, spearheads or stone tools
• SCUBA gear
• My favorite category; Towels, I’m a sucker for beach towels…

The list goes on and on. There are literally thousands of items that I have found over the years diving in the lake. Like I always say; if you like dump picking, you’ll love diving in the lake… How all this stuff got to where it is on the bottom is another story all unto itself.

Par Four · 07-12-2013, 08:43 PM

Sounds like fun and adventure there... Gotta wonder about the boat trailer(s?) you came across. Also the SCUBA gear? That was a surprise to read.

I've made probably only 2 underwater 'finds'... The first was the embarrassing 4' plunge of shame along side the boat tied to the dock to retrieve my cellphone.

The second find was also embarrassing to perform. It was years back, when we had the registration license plates for the transom. We had a humble little runabout and it was our first time in NH. I put tie-wraps thru the mounting holes of the plate but couldn't find any suitable way to mount it. I thought I'd run the risk of taking the boat back to the cottage dock where I would surely figure out something.

Well, this was on Winnisquam and I was on one side of the bridge, needing to get to the other side, and wouldn't you know it the Marine Patrol was hovering under the bridge. So I pull over closer to shore and try to attach the plate to the outboard's steering control arm. Of ourselves I dropped the plate into the water about 8-10' deep, but clear and sandy bottom.

I took an immediate sight-line reference bearing to mentally mark the spot, which was a deck full of party people having a great Saturday afternoon blast. I set the anchor up wind and played out just the right length of line to position the boat right on top of my drop. I was able to use a $1.99 K-Mart child's goggles to see the 20-minute old shiney new reg plate on the bottom.

It took 30-minutes at least, to tie together 2 fishing poles and with a treble hook at the end of it, finally able to snag the tie-wrap loop, and bring my prized plate back up to the surface.

Now I could a least get back to the cottage at start our vacation. I looked over to the bridge in time to see the MP boat pulling away!

The party crowd on the nearby dock cheered ( I think it was a cheer) but a lone voice called out "why didnt you just jump in an grab it? You could probably stand up there..."

Well, when you're new, you don't see things the same as when you now have 30-ish years experience with "stuff" happening.

Here many years later, I'm still happy about that "find". And I still Rembrandt the voice from he dock, too. Not sarcastic, but just say'in...

Winnipesaukee Divers · 07-13-2013, 07:10 AM

Ya, you got a wonder about the stories that are tied to all the treasures own there.

The boat trailer is off Seawall Point, it went through the ice and the owners just abandoned it. It was almost new when I found it.

SCUBA gear is a very popular find in the lake. Most divers put their gear on & take it off in the water due to the weight. I'm always cleaning up after my dive buddies and even my gear too. It's very easy to inadvertently loose stuff off the boat.

The best explanation for artifacts on the bottom is: There has been over 300 years of civilization on the lake and for the first 250 years, it was considered the dump. Just haul your trash out on the ice, come spring, it's gone. Fast forward a few hundred years and all that left are glass, ceramics and non-ferrous metals. AKA: "treasures"...

Kamper · 07-13-2013, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winnipesaukee Divers

... The boat trailer is off Seawall Point, ...

They thought the boat was a little slow so they cut it loose?

AB_Monterey · 07-13-2013, 08:12 AM

A brand new pillow still in it's plastic packaging floating in the broads in May.

No luck on sheets or comforter

ursa minor · 07-16-2013, 10:22 PM

Forgot a good one. My Mom found one of the lighted bouys (either from Pick Point or the Barbers Pole, I forget) floating off Cow Island really early one Monday morning in the 1970's when she was coming back from dropping my Dad off so he could go to work in MA while we stayed for the week. (Poor guy) We dragged it back, tied it to the dock and called the Marine Patrol. Those old ones were a LOT bigger and heavier than the lights used now. It looked cool at the dock though.

Lakegeezer · 07-18-2013, 07:49 AM

Found a brass rudder in some shoals while snorkeling. It had "NH Marine Patrol" stamped on it. Shined up pretty good.

Shreddy · 07-18-2013, 08:50 AM

I lost my boater's license in the water years ago maybe 400 feet out in front of Suissevale beach. About 3-4 years after, I was swimming at one of our rafts and I broke a necklace and it fell to the bottom (maybe 10-12 feet at most). Me and a buddy started diving and we eventually recovered my necklace and the charms on it. In the process, as I was sitting on the swim raft, my buddy dove and came up with a small white plastic card. I knew IMMEDIATELY that it had to be my boater's license from years ago. Sure enough...it was mine, nice and seasoned from spending a few years at the bottom of the lake. Somehow it managed to drift about 500 feet inward towards shore during that length of time.

HomeWood · 07-18-2013, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Found a brass rudder in some shoals while snorkeling. It had "NH Marine Patrol" stamped on it. Shined up pretty good.

Excellent lake house decor.

lakershaker · 07-18-2013, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

Found a brass rudder in some shoals while snorkeling. It had "NH Marine Patrol" stamped on it. Shined up pretty good.

Was that near Ganzy Isl?

Broken Glass · 07-18-2013, 06:00 PM

I have found bumpers, balls, hats, lines, jackets, and too many empty beer cans and bottles to count. I fish on the weekends, and I always try to pick up some trash while I am trolling along enjoying the lake. Last weekend, after being almost swamped by two cruisers headed into Meredith, I found a TV remote control bobbing up and down like a beer bottle. I had to laugh to myself thinking that it probably slid off of the table of one of the "bubs" that went crawling by.

Dan "Good Stuff"

Lakegeezer · 07-19-2013, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakershaker

Was that near Ganzy Isl?

Found it in the shoals that come out from Gun Island and extend towards marker 13. The water looks very safe for travel there, but is only for the very lucky.

Justenuff · 07-19-2013, 08:29 AM

Sailing out on the lake, going slow we used to see a lot of stuff floating. Being conscious of the environment, we would pick up water bottles, floating cooler or pieces of coolers and other trash left by someone. We used an old pool skimmer we had stashed on deck.
One day we picked up a nice 4 foot plastic cutting board, most likely a fisherman's who lost it off of the back of the boat. It looked like it had never been used.
Cut it up into smaller pieces and everyone had a new cutting board near their grills!

07-12-2013, 10:26 AM	#3
BroadHopper Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Laconia NH Posts: 5,594 Thanks: 3,234 Thanked 1,111 Times in 798 Posts	Off Rattlesnake Island I found an original Bruins Stanley Cup finals winning jersey! I stop at the Bruins guy on the island to return his jersey. He told me to keep it! Precious. __________________ Someday may never be an actual day.

07-12-2013, 12:00 PM	#5
AC2717 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maynard, MA & Paugus Bay Posts: 2,583 Thanks: 755 Thanked 356 Times in 268 Posts	i'm not telling either, but it was great and did not take ownership until I put signs up and add saying it was found __________________ Capt. of the "No Worries"

07-12-2013, 01:22 PM	#7
upthesaukee Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Alton Bay Posts: 5,604 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 2,469 Thanked 1,983 Times in 1,083 Posts	Noodles Found one one day in the middle of the broads. A few weeks later, found another one, again in the middle of the broads. Thought it was something until we saw how cheap they were. No wonder nobody looked like they were looking for them. __________________ I Live Here... I am always UPTHESAUKEE !!!!

07-12-2013, 02:11 PM	#9
Just Sold Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Suncook, NH, but at The Lake at Heart Posts: 2,615 Thanks: 1,083 Thanked 434 Times in 210 Posts	I found a very nice 25' mooring line. It was even in a matching color to my boat. Another time a brand new fender & rope that was definately from a Pontoon because of the railing hook on the end of the rope. Both times no other boat was anywhere near by nor did I find/see anyone looking for one. Years ago a very nice inflatable single person raft. Yes, plenty of trash, boards and logs too. __________________ Just Sold At the lake the stress of daily life just melts away. Pro Re Nata

07-12-2013, 06:35 PM	#10
boat_guy64 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Windham and Meredith Posts: 225 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 33 Thanked 90 Times in 43 Posts	retainer I found a kids tooth retainer off of our beach in about 2 feet of water. When I was telling my wife about it ( I know how much the cost) an 11 year old runs up to me and says thanks and that he lost it 2 days ago. Of course....he popped it right into his mouth....No worries for him

07-12-2013, 09:23 AM	#1
cillovely Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 106 Thanks: 17 Thanked 26 Times in 15 Posts	Well it wasn't someone else's loss, but when my son was younger, we went out early one morning to get gas at Channel Marine, then we did a loop around Paugus Bay. He was still in the pacifier stage and of course dropped it in the water. So we circled it a few times and finally I was able to snag it. Of course I didn't let him put it back in his mouth without some sterilization, but he was happy it was found.

07-12-2013, 09:33 AM	#2
jrc Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NH Posts: 2,689 Thanks: 33 Thanked 439 Times in 249 Posts	All I ever find is water bottle and Styrofoam bait cups. The Styrofoam cups are white and easy to spot, the water bottles are just everywhere.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Dave R For This Useful Post:
secondcurve (07-16-2013), upthesaukee (07-12-2013)

07-12-2013, 01:20 PM	#6
sluggo Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 170 Thanks: 13 Thanked 70 Times in 43 Posts	Mine was the best find of all......HAPPYNESS

07-12-2013, 01:28 PM	#8
Kamper Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Thornton's Ferry Posts: 1,309 Thanks: 67 Thanked 172 Times in 128 Posts	To keep? An oar, some fenders, a couple hats and a dock section. A swim raft came ashore at the property I used to manage. This was April/May-ish. I tied it to a tree and it was gone when I came back for Spring cleanup. They kept my ropes too! I also had a spar bouy wash up and the MP sent a boat to pick it up.

07-12-2013, 07:54 PM	#11
Winnipesaukee Divers Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Exeter, NH or @ WCYC on weekends Posts: 250 Thanks: 7 Thanked 46 Times in 28 Posts	Above or below the surface? People often ask me: “what’s the best thing you ever found while diving?” My stock answer is: “narrow the category for me”. Do you want to know by? • Jewelry: modern or antique • Watches: Men’s, women’s, dive, dress, or antique pocket watches • Wallets, purses, or hand bags • Fishing gear: Rods, down riggers, weights or the whole transom with two down riggers and the motor • Boats: new ones or the old ones or the boat trailers • Cars: new ones, antiques or just the trucks • Outboard motors: what size, what color, what era? • Coins: antique, silver, gold or how about the box full of silver ½ dollars • Cash • Tools • Pottery • Rocks, I love breaking open a geode… what treasure it is • Bottles (this one breaks down into several sub categories) • Guns, new or old, bullets or cannon balls • Arrowheads, spearheads or stone tools • SCUBA gear • My favorite category; Towels, I’m a sucker for beach towels… The list goes on and on. There are literally thousands of items that I have found over the years diving in the lake. Like I always say; if you like dump picking, you’ll love diving in the lake… How all this stuff got to where it is on the bottom is another story all unto itself.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Winnipesaukee Divers For This Useful Post:
Rattlesnake Gal (07-17-2013), SunsetPointWentworth (07-14-2013)

07-12-2013, 08:43 PM	#12
Par Four Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Central MA Posts: 77 Thanks: 23 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	WinniDiver Sounds like fun and adventure there... Gotta wonder about the boat trailer(s?) you came across. Also the SCUBA gear? That was a surprise to read. I've made probably only 2 underwater 'finds'... The first was the embarrassing 4' plunge of shame along side the boat tied to the dock to retrieve my cellphone. The second find was also embarrassing to perform. It was years back, when we had the registration license plates for the transom. We had a humble little runabout and it was our first time in NH. I put tie-wraps thru the mounting holes of the plate but couldn't find any suitable way to mount it. I thought I'd run the risk of taking the boat back to the cottage dock where I would surely figure out something. Well, this was on Winnisquam and I was on one side of the bridge, needing to get to the other side, and wouldn't you know it the Marine Patrol was hovering under the bridge. So I pull over closer to shore and try to attach the plate to the outboard's steering control arm. Of ourselves I dropped the plate into the water about 8-10' deep, but clear and sandy bottom. I took an immediate sight-line reference bearing to mentally mark the spot, which was a deck full of party people having a great Saturday afternoon blast. I set the anchor up wind and played out just the right length of line to position the boat right on top of my drop. I was able to use a $1.99 K-Mart child's goggles to see the 20-minute old shiney new reg plate on the bottom. It took 30-minutes at least, to tie together 2 fishing poles and with a treble hook at the end of it, finally able to snag the tie-wrap loop, and bring my prized plate back up to the surface. Now I could a least get back to the cottage at start our vacation. I looked over to the bridge in time to see the MP boat pulling away! The party crowd on the nearby dock cheered ( I think it was a cheer) but a lone voice called out "why didnt you just jump in an grab it? You could probably stand up there..." Well, when you're new, you don't see things the same as when you now have 30-ish years experience with "stuff" happening. Here many years later, I'm still happy about that "find". And I still Rembrandt the voice from he dock, too. Not sarcastic, but just say'in...

07-13-2013, 07:10 AM	#13
Winnipesaukee Divers Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Exeter, NH or @ WCYC on weekends Posts: 250 Thanks: 7 Thanked 46 Times in 28 Posts	Junk on the bottom Ya, you got a wonder about the stories that are tied to all the treasures own there. The boat trailer is off Seawall Point, it went through the ice and the owners just abandoned it. It was almost new when I found it. SCUBA gear is a very popular find in the lake. Most divers put their gear on & take it off in the water due to the weight. I'm always cleaning up after my dive buddies and even my gear too. It's very easy to inadvertently loose stuff off the boat. The best explanation for artifacts on the bottom is: There has been over 300 years of civilization on the lake and for the first 250 years, it was considered the dump. Just haul your trash out on the ice, come spring, it's gone. Fast forward a few hundred years and all that left are glass, ceramics and non-ferrous metals. AKA: "treasures"...

07-13-2013, 08:12 AM	#15
AB_Monterey Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Alton Bay Posts: 293 Thanks: 86 Thanked 78 Times in 49 Posts	A brand new pillow still in it's plastic packaging floating in the broads in May. No luck on sheets or comforter

07-16-2013, 10:22 PM	#16
ursa minor Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Tuftonborough & Franklin MA Posts: 265 Thanks: 99 Thanked 143 Times in 64 Posts	Forgot a good one. My Mom found one of the lighted bouys (either from Pick Point or the Barbers Pole, I forget) floating off Cow Island really early one Monday morning in the 1970's when she was coming back from dropping my Dad off so he could go to work in MA while we stayed for the week. (Poor guy) We dragged it back, tied it to the dock and called the Marine Patrol. Those old ones were a LOT bigger and heavier than the lights used now. It looked cool at the dock though. __________________ " Any day with a boat ride in it is a good day"

07-18-2013, 07:49 AM	#17
Lakegeezer Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Moultonboro, NH Posts: 1,679 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 355 Thanked 640 Times in 291 Posts	Found a brass rudder in some shoals while snorkeling. It had "NH Marine Patrol" stamped on it. Shined up pretty good. __________________ -lg

07-18-2013, 08:50 AM	#18
Shreddy Senior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Moultonboro Posts: 513 Thanks: 180 Thanked 222 Times in 116 Posts	I lost my boater's license in the water years ago maybe 400 feet out in front of Suissevale beach. About 3-4 years after, I was swimming at one of our rafts and I broke a necklace and it fell to the bottom (maybe 10-12 feet at most). Me and a buddy started diving and we eventually recovered my necklace and the charms on it. In the process, as I was sitting on the swim raft, my buddy dove and came up with a small white plastic card. I knew IMMEDIATELY that it had to be my boater's license from years ago. Sure enough...it was mine, nice and seasoned from spending a few years at the bottom of the lake. Somehow it managed to drift about 500 feet inward towards shore during that length of time. __________________

07-18-2013, 06:00 PM	#21
Broken Glass Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atkinson,NH/Rattlesnake Island Posts: 164 Thanks: 331 Thanked 67 Times in 28 Posts	TV Remote? I have found bumpers, balls, hats, lines, jackets, and too many empty beer cans and bottles to count. I fish on the weekends, and I always try to pick up some trash while I am trolling along enjoying the lake. Last weekend, after being almost swamped by two cruisers headed into Meredith, I found a TV remote control bobbing up and down like a beer bottle. I had to laugh to myself thinking that it probably slid off of the table of one of the "bubs" that went crawling by. Dan "Good Stuff"

07-19-2013, 08:29 AM	#23
Justenuff Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Wilmington, North Carolina Posts: 74 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Nice Cutting Board Sailing out on the lake, going slow we used to see a lot of stuff floating. Being conscious of the environment, we would pick up water bottles, floating cooler or pieces of coolers and other trash left by someone. We used an old pool skimmer we had stashed on deck. One day we picked up a nice 4 foot plastic cutting board, most likely a fisherman's who lost it off of the back of the boat. It looked like it had never been used. Cut it up into smaller pieces and everyone had a new cutting board near their grills!