Hardcore John Gierach fans will remember his “Lost Rod” essay from Another Lousy Day in Paradise, where Gierach discovers a package containing a bamboo fly rod built by uber-builder George Maurer arrived sans the rod itself. From Gierach’s essay:

“It took a few seconds to sink in, but, sure enough, one end of the tube had been opened neatly with a sharp knife and there was nothing inside. It wasn’t a mistake and it wasn’t a joke. Maurer’s sense of humor is a little odd, but he wouldn’t do something like that.”

Later in his essay, Gierach says:

“I had thing for this rod because it had spoken to me, and because the one that had been in the now-empty shipping tube was serial number 001 of a model George calls the Trout Bum, an allusion to some old fishing book.

“So I stood on the porch, looking down into the empty tube, and after those few initial moments of disbelief, my first rational thought was, this was bound to happen.”

It’s a typically engrossing Gierach essay, and having worked with George Maurer on his rod-building Web site, I discovered exactly what Gierach meant about Maurer’s sense of humor.

A pair of George Maurer bamboo fly rods

A pair of George Maurer bamboo fly rods

Still, I admit to being surprised when I received an email from a man who said he had Gierach’s lost Maurer fly rod in his possession, and that he intended to auction it off to support Intermountain – a Montana children’s charity.

From his email:

A friend bought a container full of lost items from UPS and it was in there (at least 15 years ago). This friend gave the rod to his son after he learned to fly fish, but the son died in a car accident before he ever used it. The father gave it to a mutual friend – the man who taught the boy how to fly fish.

After some research, the new owner contacted Gierach to give him his famous rod, but Gierach said my friend should keep it since his friend technically paid for it.

My friend even has a letter signed by Gierach stating that he is, indeed, the rightful owner. The serial number is 001, and it’s still never been used. My friend has given it to me, or more appropriately to the charity I work for. He wants us to auction it off, with all of the proceeds going toward saving abused and neglected children.

I live in Western Montana, among some of the greatest trout streams in the World, and the current owner is the consummate fly fisherman, who also lives in this area. He already has a semi-parabolic bamboo rod that he loves, so he has no use for this rod other than for stories, which will no doubt be enhanced when he is able to add that the rod he once owned literally saved the lives of children.

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen a photograph of the rod or any evidence of the letter mentioned above, but the whole story seems plausible enough to be the real thing. I’ll continue checking as I have the opportunity.

Still, has Gierach’s lost fly rod been found? And is it about to come to market a year after Underground Fave builder George Maurer’s unexpected death?

George Maurer inspecting bamboo in China

George Maurer inspecting bamboo in China

Perhaps. And yes, I’m tempted to cast this story in terms of one of fly fishing’s most-interesting literary mysteries – involving a famous writer and one of its most-famous bamboo rod builders – finally being put to rest.

And one wonders what price the rod might bring at auction. Any guesses from the Undergrounders?

More as it happens from the Trout Underground’s Breaking Bamboo-Related News Division.

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