I've done quite a number of search and recovery operations for gear, and like eponym, it depends. For me it starts with how much time I have to waste, the demeanor of the person asking, and how tough a job it will wind up being. I'll take a reward but is has to be more in line with the amount of work or inconvenience rather than the value of the item, 'cause I'd just as soon be underwater anyway. Motors and anchors are the easiest, as the owner has a good idea where they are and they don't drift much on the way down.
The luckiest I ever got was looking for a wedding ring in a lake for a very distraught guy, who I told that there was a snowball's chance in h*ll that I'd find it, but I'd look. It was all pretty shallow so I was down quite a while and at the end of the tank, getting ready to surface, I saw a flash so I went for my last look, figuring yet another piece of shiny crap on the bottom, and found the ring. He offered a big reward but I took just enough for the air and a couple of beers and told him to use the rest to get the ring sized right, since the chance of finding it again would be astronomical.
I went looking for a lost commercial crawdad trap in Lake Paulina, Oregon. I did a search past recreational limits since there is a steep down slope but never found the trap after two dives. From the results of the search they figured that the trap was stolen rather than lost. They insisted on giving me a reward of a couple or three of gallons of crawdads, so the family ate like Cajuns that night.
I guess I like an adventure and you never know how it will turn out, but there is always a story, and sometimes a good one.
Bob
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... you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Harry Calahan