Spiel Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Angler and his $800 rod are reunited An amazing catch completes amazing story for a Duluth man swept into Lake Superior. March 26 2010 John Myers / www.duluthnewstribune.com Craig Juntti suspected right away whose fishing rod his friend had snagged while they were trolling on Lake Superior off the Lester River last week. "There aren't that many Orvis fly rods out there on the bottom,'' said Juntti, of Duluth. "And you can tell it wasn't in the water very long. It didn't have any slime on it.'' On Wednesday night, Juntti's hunch proved true. Duluth angler Paul Kosmatka identified and claimed the rod as the one he lost on March 17, just a day before Juntti's friend's Rapala snagged it up. Kosmatka is lucky to have his rod back after losing it in the big lake, but he may be even luckier to be alive. Kosmatka was wading in the mouth of the Lester River on March 17 when he lost his footing and was swept out into the frigid lake. The rushing river, full of spring snow runoff and moving swiftly, pushed Kosmatka out into the lake faster than he could swim back. Passersby launched a small motorboat and rushed to Kosmatka, who was more than 150 yards out by then, towing him back to shore. He was aided by Duluth firefighters and taken to a hospital, and quickly recovered. Authorities said that Kosmatka, had he not been rescued, might have been minutes away from hypothermia. Juntti, his son and a friend were fishing about 6 p.m. the next day when they snagged the rod. He tried for a week to find out from authorities who the rescued man was, but no one seemed to know. On Tuesday, Juntti got the right name from a newspaper reporter and finally hooked up with Kosmatka. "I looked it up on the Internet and this rod goes for $795,'' Juntti said. "I figured he'd want it back. After what he went through, he deserves to have it back.'' Kosmatka said he hung on to the rod for some time in the water before realizing he was in more trouble than he first thought. "At first I didn't let go, thinking I'd be fine,'' Kosmatka said. "Then I realized I needed both arms to try and keep afloat.'' Kosmatka said he had been fishing for Kamloops trout, wading in shallow water, for about 10 minutes when he moved to take a step. He went from shallow water to over his head in a single step, unable to touch bottom from that point on. He was not wearing a life jacket. "At first, when I looked back, there were only a couple of people there [on shore] looking out at me ... but the next time I looked there must have been 20 people watching,'' he said. "At that point I was just trying to focus on keeping my head above water. I wasn't making any progress getting back toward shore.'' Kosmatka wants to thank the people who launched their small boat and reached him in time, and anyone else who aided in his rescue. He has no lasting problems from the unexpected dip and was quickly back at work as an SMDC orthopedic surgeon. "I never really noticed how cold the water was,'' he said. "But by the time I got back to shore, my arms and legs weren't working … so that's pretty cold.'' He also thanked Juntti for coming forward with the rod. Kosmatka has no plans to give up fishing. But he is adding a new piece of gear. "I've already ordered one of those inflatable life vests,'' he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 That son of a gun got real lucky twice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted March 31, 2010 Report Share Posted March 31, 2010 I would have kept it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cure-hb Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fshrgy99 Posted April 10, 2010 Report Share Posted April 10, 2010 Kudos for the rescuers ... of the fisherman ...and the rod! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaris Posted April 15, 2010 Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 NICE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.cortellessa Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 Thats one expensive rod! Its up there with the pinners! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcba Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 dang thats a lucky guy.. lol i remember a few years back i was at the humber just south of the bloor street bridge fishing for bows when i hooked into a GL2 with an islander float reel... SWEET! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.cortellessa Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 You were fishing for bows and you hooked a GL2 rod and Islander reel that was under the water? haha Thats awesome.. don't know how someone let a rod like that just get away from them.. it isn't that deep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcba Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 (edited) If you know the area well there is a rather deep hole past the bridge. there is a huge fallen tree in the water. i am assuming the guy fishing was on shore and possibly lost his footing and dropped the rod. the bank is high and very fragile due to erosion. I've seen people, tackle boxes, and rods go into the hole over the years. i usually snag a few lures, rod halves, reels a couple times a year fishing there lol. i think a sign needs to be posted warning people. the undercut in that area is massive and i am waiting for the day that entire chunk of bank just falls off (hopefully no ones on it). will make an awesome little point for fish to line up on. and if that tree stays put the browns will swarm that spot your right tho, if that was my GL2 i would have been doing a swan dive after it. lol i gotta get some scuba gear and take a swim in there one of these days. dont know why more people dont throw on their waders and fish off the shallow island there, it takes no effort to get to and is only knee deep at most up to it. Edited June 22, 2010 by alexcba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.cortellessa Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 No way i fish there all the time!! haha thats awesome. We should go in with some shovels one day and do a little demolition ourselves... no one will know about our little honey hole there haha. Maybe we could even toss a boulder or two in there. That and the tree we'll be catching salmon, bows, browns, carp and bass year round ahah. And was the rod functinal??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcba Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 yep, had a few dings, all i had to do was align the guides, 3 looked twisted and i had my uncle replace the tip, think it got caught on a branch. (that mans a god send with repairing fishing rods) and seeing as how at that point i had gear coming out the yin yang i handed it over to a friend of mine who really badly wanted to get into salmon/trout fishing but didn't have the money to afford a new pole. to this day that GL2 brings in fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.cortellessa Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 ahah.. thats insane. Like I said earlier, if my raven rod and islander reel fall in the water ill be in there in a second ahah. At least you have another fishing buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutherh Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eastpinner Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 wow, thats awsome! I remembered dropping my rod into the lake before but it was only 60.00 compare to 800.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t4runner Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 He is very lucky!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basschaser77 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Great story with a happy ending. Without a bit of luck it would have been a tragedy. Kudos to all parties involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willfish88 Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Great story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Field Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Great story with a happy ending. Without a bit of luck it would have been a tragedy. Kudos to all parties involved. x2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernewf71 Posted November 9, 2017 Report Share Posted November 9, 2017 Thats a story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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