A little Ballistol ought to clean that right up. (Photo: Augusta Police via the Kennebec Journal)
A father and son fishing on the Kennebec River over the weekend reeled in a bolt-action rifle rather than highly sought brown trout.
As reported by the Kennebec Journal, the rifle was plucked from the river by the unidentified fishermen near the northern end of Canal Street in Augusta. The Remington 700 had three rounds in the magazine but was otherwise in likely unshootable condition.
An accompanying image released by the Augusta Police shows the synthetic-stocked rifle with a bright orange patina on the barrel and receiver, bleedig over onto the furniture. A low-power scope, Harris-style sling post mounted bipod, and adjustible nylon sling completes the rig.
Police, who currently have the gun in inventory and confirm it was not reported as stolen, are at a loss to explain how it wound up in the river.
“I am not able to tell for sure why it’s there, but it is possibly related to some type of burglary, theft or other crime,” Lt. Chris Read told the Journal. “It’s illegal to duck hunt with a rifle, so the ‘oops it fell out of the boat’ doesn’t sound too good. You can’t hunt from that area within the compact urban zone with a rifle.”
It’s not the first time a fisherman got more than a nibble.
In 2014, a man on California’s drought-stricken Castaic Lake reeled in a backpack containing an ATF agent’s badge and gun lost decades prior, while more recent success stories have included a rare Glock-fish in Oakland and a Mossberg shotgun picked up by a spear-o in beautiful Hawaii.
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