Lost, but Now Found, Knife.

August 22, 2025Aug 22

Super User

I have been using a knife to cut my fishing lures free of the line since I began fishing. I have carried a knife of one sort or another for 31 years, and I make it my goal to be adept and deft with my knives.

This particular knife is a Case Folding Hunter, pattern number 6265. It has wood scales and stainless blades. It comes from Case's working knives lineup, but this happens to be an excellent example of the pattern.

It came about when I had made some knife display boards.

I traded one of the boards to a knife guy who worked at the local Ace Hardware. He offered me 2 knives out of the case in trade.

One of the knives was the Folding Hunter. It's a pattern I'd thought about trying for quite some time, but I never was able to commit to purchasing. This pattern pre-dates the ubiquitus Buck 110, and indeed was extremely popular until the Buck uprooted it in the pockets and belt pouches of hunters and sportsmen.

The knife when it was nearly new.

Well, after the acquisition, I started carrying the knife constantly. I used multiple times a day for 4 years.

Last night I was at the lake fishing when the park employees came around to lock the gates at dusk. It had been a good evening. I caught a 3lb6oz bass and another weighing about a pound on a Rat-L-Trap.

Upon leaving, though, I was hurried, and after cutting a lure off, I ended up leaving the knife on the roof of my Tracker. I often set the knife and other things up there, but I rarely make the mistake of leaving anything there.

I didn't realize until about an hour later when we were in Academy Sports, looking at lures and rods. I had the boy with me, and we mentally retraced my steps. The last place I'd known of to have the knife was cutting that lure off.

We left Academy and went back to the lake, parking on the entrance to the parking lot outside of the gate. The gate is more of a formality, so we just walked around it and looked in the parking lot to no avail. On the way out I looked in the road, taking the same path I took the first time leaving.

I was pretty upset, but we had to go to Walmart, and then we went home. I said a prayer about it, and asked God that if I couldn't get it back, at least someone would find it and give it to a kid who loves knives. I know I would have loved to get a knife like this when I was a kid.

Early this morning, I made a beeline for the lake... scouring the parking lot. There, I found it. It had slid off the car roof and sustained only minimal dings, though having landed in gravel. It had not been run over either, or snatched up by any hawk-eyed park goers.

I got down on my knees and thanked God to have my trusted companion back.

This is the last known photograph of the knife, taken only a few weeks ago. My phone is down currently, so there aren't any celebratory pictures of the newly-found knife.