Jeff Wettstein, Author at The Ring Finders

Sometimes three times is a charm and sometimes a little or a lot luck comes with it.  I received a text from Nolan inquiring if I would be willing to look for a lost ring in a central Wisconsin lake at the end of July.  It was a vague request.  So, I responded with a few questions about the lost ring via text.  I learned over time the ring belonged to his mother, Jenny.  She and her family were visiting a relative’s place on the lake.  Jenny was spending a fair amount of time in the water on a floatie.  And while on her back, she was moving her arms back and forth in the water.  During this activity, Jenny’s wedding ring slipped off her finger into the lake.  Since the lake is rather clear Jenny watched the ring fall the entire way to the bottom.  Jenny was more than sad.  Her husband Eric was nearby on his kayak when this event occurred.  They both made an attempt to rescue the ring.  No success was to be had the day the ring was lost.  Their son Nolan did some searching on the Internet and discovered “The Ring Finders.”.  Jenny and Eric had no idea such a service existed.  Two days after the ring was lost, I was under water searching for the ring.  The issue I had was, Jenny said “over there” and Eric said “over here” from the pier.  Where you think you lost it, where you thought you lost it and where it’s actually found end up many times in 3 very different places.  I searched 5-6 hours in 10-12 feet of water.  I had no success this 1^st time out.  Jenny and Eric thought I might give up 2 hours into the search.  I was having fun, the water was beautiful and the fish in the area were bountiful.  The second time I went, I took fellow Ring Finder, Tom Caldie along.  So now we have twice the chance and area to cover and recover the ring.  Again, another 5-6 hours underwater each and still no ring.  Through Eric, Jenny was having serious doubts and losing the faith that Tom and I would rescue the ring.  We went a 3^rd time.  Tom and I know the ring is there and when the coil on our machine goes over it, the music from our detectors will be crystal clear.  This time we put Eric in his kayak on the water and asked him to recollect and jar his memory where he was when Jenny lost her ring.  He was very near her when the activity took place.  Tom and I put our PVC pipe grid down to the bottom of the lake.  In an hour and half Tom’s machine had a significant and repeatable signal.  The ring had settled on hardpan, which was underneath three layers: a carpet of weeds about four inches thick, over about four inches of silt, then about six inches of sand.  His detector shaft kept getting caught up in weeds, so he had to use his arm as the shaft and hand sweep the coil underneath the weed layer in the silt, which meant zero visibility and going by sound and feel.  And, there was this big largemouth bass that kept playing with Tom’s coil like a cat after a toy.  That was funny! Finally, success!  His fingertips felt the two-ring set among some pebbles on the hardpan!  We had searched for close to 20 hours in total.  It was located just outside the one of the corners of the grid we put down.  Tom motioned for me on the bottom of the lake to come up thinking we would discuss what direction to move the grid.  When I surfaced, Eric mentioned, “I have the ring…Tom recovered it” It was a pretty nice feeling after so much time underwater searching.  Jenny was not present when we recovered the ring, but was eventually contacted and was more than ecstactic over the news the ring was found.  Eric’s help was the key to locating the ring by putting him at the scene.  A little bit of perseverance, tenacity, teamwork by all involved and sticktoitiveness on our part didn’t hurt either resulting in another happy ending and smiles on all faces…