Haans Galassi, 31, was wakeboarding on Priest Lake in northern Idaho on July 4 when his hand was caught in the cord, fully severing his fingers. Wakeboarding is a sport that involves being pulled along the water on a board.
After the accident, Galassi had joked, wryly, that his fingers had become fish food.
The little finger turned up three months later inside a trout.
Nolan Calvin, an angler discovered the little finger inside the fish's digestive tract on September 11 while examining his catch.
Calvin placed the finger on ice, which he turned over to police, who were able to derive a decent enough fingerprint to trace back to Galassi.
According to the Bonner County sheriff's department statement: "It is unknown, of course, how long the fish actually retained the finger in its digestive track, however, it was noted that the finger was in remarkably good condition at the time of recovery."
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Once the investigation concluded, the sheriff's department offered Galassi back his finger.
"I was like: Let me guess, they found my fingers in a fish," Galassi told the Spokesman-Review newspaper.
Galassi says he does not want the severed finger back.