The water level and current being low this year my "out back jack" brother in law who was bored offered to canoe me down the river so I could hit one of the many sandbars. Who was I to say no? So we loaded up the canoe and slid it sown a steep slope into the south saskatchewan river... The plan was to hit a couple of the sandbars for about 40 minutes and then cruise down the river into downtown for a pick up (a couple of kilometers). He would paddle with the current while I fished. Again, this was OK to me.
Expectations were low for such a qucik trip at a new spot but low and behold while working some bridge pilings I managed to land a small pike. It decided to roll around the sandbar for a bit:
My brother in law asked me why I was taking picture of a sandy fish I told him because of previous expereince... Sure enough, as I washed him off and posed for a picture he fliped out of my hands and back into the river. Leaving me nothing but pike snot on my hands
So we got in the canoe and started heading towards town.... My brother in law spots a good spot about 10 minutes later and we land. As I am looking for a place to cast from I spot something "Huston we have a problem":
I am no expert but I was in the militia so I was pretty sure this was unexploded ordnance (UXO). A couple of pictures (one with an iPhone so we can get the GPS coordinates from the meta data) and we left the spot. Once home and the kids are put away I call the police and report it. My wife thinks I am imagining things and it's likely nothing. I say maybe but we need to report it anyway just in case. Early the next morning a detective and an explosives expert show up. I show them a picture and the explosives expert eyes bug out. I think they are expecting a picture of a pipe or something else innocuous. They take all the info and head off and grateful such a precise location. My brother in law runs in the mornings in the area and reported an unmarked van parked on the road near the spot. Likely the police.
A couple of days later curiosity gets the better of me and I call back the detective. It turns out that after they found it they had to wait for 7 hours for a military team to come and asses it. It turns out that it was an inert (non-explosive) RPG round (don't know which RPG the CF are using nowa days; Is it still the M-72?)) used for training. They had no idea how it would have gotten to this spot.
A warning to all if looks military or explosive, or if you are not sure just call the authorities. Hell, even if it does not look explosive call the authorities.
