Can anyone help this guy?

[H20doctor]

It would seem if the reel was gone off the pole at 80 feet of water..... Then another dive stoled it. So what Kind of diver would do such a thing..? and to benifit WHOM.? I am happy for the recovery and the city granting permission.. But for a diver to do such a thing is crap and dishonest.

[airsix]

So frustrating and disappointing. I keep trying to write something but it just keeps coming out in words so vile I'd lose everyones respect and likely get banned from the forums if they were posted. It sure would be nice if there were a way to flush out the rat. I can think of some creative ways to find the perp but I'm sure it would make a few people uncomfortable.
I have to apologize before I even write this, and I mean no disrespect to an individual I know nothing about... but is it possible the individual on the pier who dropped the rod first pocketed the reel? If the rod was found with the line still in the guides this would be pretty unlikely (I would expect the line to slide out of the guides as the pole sank) but I just thought it might be a possibility. I just hate the idea of this being a diver - a turd in our punch bowl.

-Ben

[somedaydiver]

Thanks again to all of you. In a perfect world it would have been recovered, we could of popped champagne and shouted "hoorahs", but unfortunately that was not the case. It's puzzling me why who ever got it didn't take the pole as well, cause its worth close to 200. All i know is that IF someone took it for their own personal gain, they will get it back in someway or another. Karma is a wonderful thing, provided you are on the good side of it. Having had this experience with you all, I know each and every one of you are on the good end. And it has been my experience that if I do my best to help others and live my life with integrity, like you all, I get to live out a pretty damn rewarding go around. So... From the bottom of my heart, Thanks! I still have a feeling this is not over. And I can't wait to start saving for a rig so that I too can be part of such an awesome bunch of people. -Blane

[Nwbrewer]

Awesome work by Sounder and the recovery team. I'm glad you had such good luck working with the city on this.

Blane, that really sucks that somebody stole the reel. I can only hope that it was somebody who did not know the value of what they took and become aware of the sentimental value and return it. Maybe find a place they could drop it anonomously, since they were diving in the exclusion zone.

Unfortunately I think this demonstrates the danger of public forums, not everybody out there reading this stuff is an upstanding member of the community. This is the same reason we don't post exact locations for finding large Octo's anymore.

Here's the story -

http://q13.trb.com/news/kcpq-031108-hei ... 1032.story

Jake

[BDub]

It would seem if the reel was gone off the pole at 80 feet of water..... Then another dive stoled it

We found the rod in about 25fsw, not 80'. It still had the line in the guides...probably a couple of feet hanging out the "casting" end. The line coming out the handle end, where the reel was, ran 30' or so, up the slope toward the dock to about 15fsw.

The rod itself was on the west side of the pier, laying east to west. It was almost half under the pier and half "outside" the pier, if that makes sense. Blane said that as his buddy cast, the line caught, and it was obvious that he was going to lose the rod, he tried to bat it down so that it didn't go flying way off the pier (Blane saw this happen, Ben). We expected it to be pretty close to the pier, if not under it, but where it we found it was on the opposite side of the pier from where the fishermen cast. I have a hard time believing it floated back that far, even if it was batted down.

Additionally, Blane had said that they noticed the reel was a little loose before casting, so they really tightened down on it prior to casting.

Really, with the way it was found, where it was found, it was obvious to me that someone had been there. The sad thing is, we had thought of the possibility that someone(s) may go in there late at night to retrieve the reel and rod for Blane. We were hoping that wouldn't happen simply due to safety reasons and the opportunity this gave the dive community to work with the city. Since no one had come forward with the reel, we figured that hadn't been done. Our next concern was that since this had a chunk of salmon on it for bait, was that six gill got a hold of it and took the rod and reel for a ride through Puget Sound. I never even considered a diver would actually go steal the thing...unthinkable.

And like Richard said, this effects the entire dive community. One person's greed has demonstrated to the city and harbor patrol how seriously the boundary line is taken by some divers.

[spatman]

i echo everyone's sentiments about the great job the team did, the disappointment that followed, and the unfortunate possibility that it was a deliberate theft.

blane, do you happen to have a picture of the reel, in the off-chance someone may recognize it?

[Diver_C]

That is a bummer about the reel, but great job on finding the remaining parts!

Isn't it a little odd someone went through the trouble of unscrewing the reel off the rod, and cutting the line, but then left the rod. I guess most criminals are not the brightest bulbs, but if everything was taken or the rod moved to somewhere else, then it wouldn't be so obvious the reel was stolen. It's probably on Ebay or Craig's List.

Rich

[BDub]

That is a bummer about the reel, but great job on finding the remaining parts!

Isn't it a little odd someone went through the trouble of unscrewing the reel off the rod, and cutting the line, but then left the rod. I guess most criminals are not the brightest bulbs, but if everything was taken or the rod moved to somewhere else, then it wouldn't be so obvious the reel was stolen. It's probably on Ebay or Craig's List.

Rich

Only thing I can speculate is it's much easier to fit a reel into a goody bag than to swim with, and carry out a rod and reel.

[CaptnJack]

That is a bummer about the reel, but great job on finding the remaining parts!

Isn't it a little odd someone went through the trouble of unscrewing the reel off the rod, and cutting the line, but then left the rod. I guess most criminals are not the brightest bulbs, but if everything was taken or the rod moved to somewhere else, then it wouldn't be so obvious the reel was stolen. It's probably on Ebay or Craig's List.

Rich

Walking out with the reel it was probably easier to be discreet. The rod was pretty big (6-7ft). This was not a theft of opportunity, "well allbee and fishing pole!!," it was (obviously) planned.

[edm81363]

I was there last night providing MINOR surface support and media wrangling. I took some pictures of the topside activities, which can be found here;

http://gallery.mac.com/edmcnichol#100065

I'm proud of the spirit of the diving community in stepping forward to assist this young man. There was great coverage on KCPQ and KOMO.

Now, a quick word to whoever has this item;

You probably feel a little bit clever at this point. You got out there first and grabbed something that you thought has value. But, as you've already discovered, the novelty wears off. It will fade much faster in the coming days.

What you have doesn't belong to you - heck it didn't even belong to Blane. It belongs to Blane's entire family. It was handed down from generation to generation, and Blane was the current caretaker until he could hand it down to his kids. That's who you really stole this from - the future generations of Blane's family.

I'm sure you have a perfectly logical explanation in your head. Something like "it was dropped in ocean, salvage operation, perfectly legal, etc.". Let's ignore that train of thought about decisions already made and focus on the future.

This item will not bring you anything but bad luck. You won't be able to show it to any one or even use it for fishing. The word is out and the entire city will spot you using this item if it ever comes out of hiding.

I'm sorry that you ended up in this position, but as I've always told my daughter, "Decisions result in actions that result in consequences". I'm not concerned with the consequences part - life seems to take care of that on its very own.

However, I am concerned about the loss for Blane's family. I am volunteering to assist in the return of this item. You can contact me at any time, and I will coordinate the safe return. No tricks, nothing complicated. I'll pick this item up anytime, anywhere, and return it to Blane. Sooner or later, you may realize that this is the only proper thing to do. I can be reached at 425-239-4414 or at ed@mcnichol.com. This is the only right thing to do.

-Ed in Mill Creek

[enchantmentdivi]

I applaud everyone's effort...thank you so much. Blane, I am so sorry that this didn't work out as we had all hoped.

For the person who took the reel, SHAME ON YOU! You disgust me.
I'll stop there.

[spatman]

sounder forwarded me some images of a reel that looks exactly the same as the one blane lost. here they are:

[Sounder]

First, a HUGE thank-you to Rob, Brian, Jeanna, Lynne, Peter, Chris, and Kirk. You're awesome and are the reason the dive and search went flawlessly. I feel very fortunate to have been in the water with divers of your caliber and appreciate you spending a weekday evening helping me with this project. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When I first read Jenn's posting of Blane's message, I was sitting right here in my office where I'm sitting now and I just couldn't sit idle. I contacted the team asking if they were interested in this and received an overwhelmingly strong response in favor of it. Working with the City and the Police was fantastic and without them we would not have been able to do the recovery in the manner we did.

Yesterday evening, the team showed up and we formed a search/dive plan before gearing up. The dive went flawlessly. Each team conducted their portion of the search perfectly and it was neat to cross paths with other teams during the dive to know that the entire area was being covered. I can't express how great it was to feel so confident in the team's ability to do what we set out to do. I promised Blane that if it was down there, this was the team that would find it... and they did. Bottom line, despite the reel being gone, your showing up for a stranger and willingness to try meant the world to him, and me.

Also, Ed is a new diver here on the board (15 dives!) but he's an experienced public relations specialist who was very helpful in creating the positive PR regarding this story. Thank you to Ed for lending your talents and experience in helping to promote a positive image of Puget Sound divers.

Unfortunately, the reel was removed purposefully by someone diving in the exclusion zone... someone who was either a) looking for random fishing gear or b) read the forums and went to find the booty. I'd like this person to know that while I understand the desire to find lost treasure, this piece means so much more to Blane than just dollars. Blane is a really nice guy who is VERY upset at the loss of his grandfather's reel. I hope that you'll consider the value of doing the right thing by returning the reel to him.

You were diving in the exclusion zone, you did find something that should be returned to its rightful owner, and you're probably pondering what you're going to do. Look, nobody wants to get you or anyone else in trouble for diving in the exclusion zone because we don't want to have that kind of attention with the City. Outside of the no-dive-zone concern, you located and salvaged the piece of gear and/or you removed a piece of litter from a marine habitat... either way, there is legally nothing wrong with it. Morally and ethically however, someone is distraught at the loss of something very important to them and you are the only one who has the ability to mend his broken heart. If you lost something dear to you and someone found it, I expect you would have the same desire for them to do the right thing too.

Please return the reel to Blane. If a cash reward is desired, Blane is offering one as am I. If a fishing reel is what you want, please allow us to purchase a better one for you and we'll trade it out. No questions, no names, no BS... please, just work with us to get the reel back to the guy who misses it so much.

On a funny note... Chris Finley was emptying his team's garbage bag after the dive and found a stowaway! Apparently in one of the pieces of garbage (they weren't picking up things that typically create habitat, just real garbage) there was a little octopus! As soon as he realized the little guy was in there, he returned his little 8-legged vagabond safely back to the water. Cute little octo, but he was glad to be back in the water.

[Sergeant Pepper]

I haven't been up here in awhile, but I did run into Blane with Penopolypants. I didn't even know a search and recovery was being conducted. These are rhetorical questions, but do we suppose that there are divers that do frequent dives below the pier to get booty? If that is the case, and they don't check message boards, they would have pawned it where..... pawn shop, fishing specialty store? Is there a store out there specializing in fishing equipment that also takes items in trade or consignment? The person that took the reel, may not even know of the story and may just be a regular treasure hunter. If I was into that sort of thing, I may take the reel and leave the rod also as someone else has already pointed out, it's much easier to stick it in a pocket.

[dsteding]

I gotta believe, unfortunately, that whomever took the reel read abut it, probably here.

1) There was well described location information posted here, not sure where else.

2) The value of the reel was emphasized, and there was even some discussion of going in during the middle of the night.

3) Only the reel was taken.

4) It happened before the "middle of the week" ambiguity we put out there regarding the recovery efforts.

So, I'd say it happened because of the posts here, which is really unfortunate, but perhaps not surprising.

[Pez7378]

I was there last night providing MINOR surface support and media wrangling. I took some pictures of the topside activities, which can be found here;

http://gallery.mac.com/edmcnichol#100065

I'm proud of the spirit of the diving community in stepping forward to assist this young man. There was great coverage on KCPQ and KOMO.

Now, a quick word to whoever has this item;

You probably feel a little bit clever at this point. You got out there first and grabbed something that you thought has value. But, as you've already discovered, the novelty wears off. It will fade much faster in the coming days.

What you have doesn't belong to you - heck it didn't even belong to Blane. It belongs to Blane's entire family. It was handed down from generation to generation, and Blane was the current caretaker until he could hand it down to his kids. That's who you really stole this from - the future generations of Blane's family.

I'm sure you have a perfectly logical explanation in your head. Something like "it was dropped in ocean, salvage operation, perfectly legal, etc.". Let's ignore that train of thought about decisions already made and focus on the future.

This item will not bring you anything but bad luck. You won't be able to show it to any one or even use it for fishing. The word is out and the entire city will spot you using this item if it ever comes out of hiding.

I'm sorry that you ended up in this position, but as I've always told my daughter, "Decisions result in actions that result in consequences". I'm not concerned with the consequences part - life seems to take care of that on its very own.

However, I am concerned about the loss for Blane's family. I am volunteering to assist in the return of this item. You can contact me at any time, and I will coordinate the safe return. No tricks, nothing complicated. I'll pick this item up anytime, anywhere, and return it to Blane. Sooner or later, you may realize that this is the only proper thing to do. I can be reached at 425-239-4414 or at ed@mcnichol.com. This is the only right thing to do.

-Ed in Mill Creek

Perfectly stated. Thanks Ed!

[Sergeant Pepper]

The problem may very well be that another diver could have heard the story up here or some other board, retrieved the reel with the intention of NOT returning it to the owner and fully expected that no one would actually get a group together to go find it. When I saw the news footage, I realized how truly amazing the story was. In any other circumstance, something like that happens and you aren't going to get someone to go get it for you. I'm sure the guy felt like he never had a chance. Doug, the way you hopped on the issue was very admirable and sincerest kudos to you. But I digress. Now that there was a public broadcast of the search for the reel, the person responsible may feel like returning, but may feel unable since it has some level of infamy. He certainly wouldn't want to get in touch with some member of the dive community as he may not only see them, but see them frequently. The best thing he could do is drop if off somewhere, (dive shop that you don't frequent, fishing supply store, et al) and phone the owner. Alternatively, you could mail it from some anonymous address and insure it.

... Just trying to be a glass half full kind of person... but maybe.

[Nwbrewer]

Are the folks at the fish shack diver friendly, I'll bet he could drop it there too.

[somedaydiver]

:smt038

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you... I just recieved an e-mail from a man in your community that has my reel. He was out on thursday, no one around and no ferry's, so they took a detour on their dive to the pier and he found it. He can't wait to get it back to me and had no idea of the efforts that have been put into its retrieval. Thankfully, i can conclude now that you ALL rock. No bad seeds here! He heard from a friend of a friend who saw the news that it was being missed dearly by it's owner, then found my post with my contact info. It still is not in my possesion, but i will keep you all posted.

Again I want to thank you all, but especially Sounder. He is the epitome of a selfless, genuine, good man. I hope you all are proud to have such a great friend. I also want to thank all the divers Rob, Lynne & Peter, Brian & Jeanna, Kirk Hamblen, and DSteding, The City of Seattle, for giving the permission, Fox and Komo for covering the story and to all the rest of you that helped spread the message, cheered these guys on or prayed. People helping people, this is what it was all about and I am so grateful to have had this expierience.

Now, I need to start saving(a lot) so i can get my gear and get certified. I look forward to doing so and again would feel priveleged to be a part of your community. I truely feel i have made some new friends and can't wait to dive with you all.

God bless you all, Blane Harden

[Sounder]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!

I just received a call from Blane who read me an email from a diver who found the reel while diving around Seacrest Park. The diver heard about it being a missing heirloom from a friend who saw the news story last night. He then googled the dive forums to obtain Blane's contact information and they should be making arrangements to return the reel to its rightful owner soon.

I will keep you posted on developments, but I appreciate everyone's concern and help. Blane will let me know when he gets the reel back and I will certainly keep you all informed.

I'm really glad this was just a case of unknown ownership and that the person who found it did the right thing when they heard how much it meant to Blane. I hope you all join me in the great feeling this provides and will post your positive feelings about the reunion here while we wait for the offical word from Blane of the reel's return!

Thank you again to the dive team, and to Ed for coordinating the media effort. I'd call this one a success!! :occasion5:

[Sounder]

Seems Blane and I were posting at the same time!

[LCF]

Well, I'm glad my faith in human nature was upheld. I was seriously hoping someone simply ran across the reel and thought it looked cool. The question of what he was doing that deep into the forbidden zone is another issue altogether!

[Penopolypants]

Whoohoo!

:occasion5:

[Diver_C]

That's cool!

[sanjaun2]

Hello all,
I am that dirty rotten sob that found Blaine's reel. He sent me a link to this site last night. To make a very long story short. I was diving with a bunch of buddies at Seacrest and noticed not a sole on the pier and new the ferry was not operational. So, I talked my buddies into a short detour to the pier to see what we could see (and find) I figured it would be interesting since it normally does not see any diving. I found the rod and reel and thought how cool is that. I left it there and continued our dive within the park boundries. At the end of the dive I still had 500 pounds of air left and swam back to get the rod and reel. For some reason I decided to take only the reel. I surfaced and cleaned her good in fresh water in the sink at the pier. I showed it to all the divers that were hanging around because I thought I salvaged it. I really liked the reel and had many offers to buy it from friends but I kept it because it was starting to feel special to me. It started to bug me that I left the rod down there so I returned the following Monday. (Original dive was thursday) Isearched for the rod but it was gone. Now I know why. I appreciate all those that kept an open mind about what happened to the reel. However, I do understand the negative comments about whoever took it since there are a lot of unsavory people out there. I was wary of giving Blaine any contact info because I did not know him.But, since you all give him a good opinion I feel better about that. I am glad the reel is going to find its way back to such a deserving person. I guess I'm a member now so I just may see ya around sometime, Brian