After weeks of mystery, the case has finally been solved. James Ryan, a legendary Trouts customer, laid claim to this gem of a custom Trouts hat. James hit us with the following email:

"Hey fellas, hope you are well!! Nice blog post about my hat!! That's awesome.

I bought that hat at Ace Hardware down by Hartsel last summer for about $12 but I didn't like the stupid patch on it. Andrew and Austin in the shop gave me that Trouts patch and we glued it on. This pic below was from the Rio trip last year then I also took the hat to Beaver Island with Kyle. And I left it in the Fisherman's house that we also rented.

Glad the hat lives on!! Hopefully that dude left it there for the next Trouts customer that swings through the fishermans house."

I think we can all breath a little easier knowing the origins of this legendary lid. If you have any quality stories involving your Trouts gear, shoot me an email at ivan(at)troutsflyfishing.com.