Lost Wedding Rings Found! – Lake Winneconne, Wisconsin.
Saturday afternoon, July 20th found teacher and Fond du Lac resident Amy Pickart, enjoying a refreshing lady’s weekend away on the picturesque Lake Winneconne in Wisconsin. It was a perfect getaway, a perfect setting, perfect weather and perfect company. 
A water-volleyball net invited playful competition, fun and exercise. But Amy was not aware that her wedding rings, welded together as one, quietly slipped off her hand during the activity. Later, as she climbed a ladder onto the boat dock, she was horrified to see the rings were gone. A frantic search ensued in the murky water but the rings could not be found. Amy was heartbroken.
I received a text message that evening from one of Amy’s colleagues. After getting details, I arranged to conduct a search first thing the following Monday.
Inland Wisconsin lakes have seen human occupation for well over a century. Lake Winneconne is no exception. The remains of half-century-old beer cans lay buried deep in the sand, making detection of a small ring challenging. Unbeknown to me, I found out later, other detectorists had tried to locate Amy’s rings the day before but were unsuccessful. Beer-can-sized craters on the lake bottom bore witness to their valiant and thorough attempts. I chose to expand the search area and use an approach that relies heavily on forensics.
Given the recent loss and the hard-packed sand conditions, I knew the rings would not be very deep in the sand; they would be shallow, close to the surface. Reducing my detector’s sensitivity and holding it higher up away from the lake bottom, provided the needed distance from the otherwise overwhelming beer-can signals. Additionally, I used a specially designed detection probe that helped further isolate the ring signal in an otherwise difficult detection environment.
About two hours passed when I received a signal in the volleyball area that was forensically appropriate for Amy’s rings. Sure enough, a shallow scoop brought her rings back up to the light of day! 
Tim, Amy’s husband of 23 years, met me on the dock as I emerged from the water. The smile on his face says it best, “It’s more than a ring!”
Amy’s ring marked my 121st successful recovery. That’s a lot of smiles!
If you or someone you know has lost a ring, even years ago, don’t let its story end. Contact a member of The Ring Finders near you @ theringfinders.com. We just might add your smile to the huge list of happy clients.
Dawn and her son, Tristen, were swimming at their favorite spot on Lake Harris and enjoying the cool water and digging clams. They would feel in the sand with their toes and when they found a clam they would dig it up and put it in their bucket. Now and then they would find old bottles and an assortment of junk. Some of the items were down right dangerous to be stepping on, especially in the water, and this made Dawn and Tristen tread very lightly. One of the clams was buried rather deeply in the sand and as Dawn tried to dig it up she actually felt her ring slip off of her finger. She frantically dug down into the sand trying to feel for it and after numerous failed attempts she gave up. This special ring was her son’s birthstone ring and Dawn had been wearing it for at least 8 years and now it was gone. Dawn’s heart was broken and she felt she would never see her ring again and that thought led her to do an internet search on « How to find a lost ring in the water »!
The other day my good friend Chris texted me about a lost ring in a small lake in the Heathrow area. In casual conversation a neighbor mentioned to Chris that she had lost her precious silver ring while feeding bread to the fish. It happened just after Christmas and Tina could not get her mind off of loosing the very ring her brother had given her just a few years ago. After hearing her story Chris told her « I know just the guy to help you get your ring back! » So the following day—Valentines Day–I made arrangements to meet Tina and have her show me where she lost her ring. The original information I received was that the ring was lost only a few days ago so when I arrived and got set up–I concentrated my search efforts in the water from the shore out to about three feet deep. After a thorough search in the water and coming up empty handed I called Tina to come out and explain to me again what all happened the day she lost her ring. Come to find out she actually lost it a few days after Christmas, so that turned out to be 6 weeks ago and we have had very little rain and the water level had dropped a good two feet or so since then. I realized just where she would have been standing and the drop zone area would be up the bank further. And sure enough after a few sweeps of my coil over the dry ground–there was Tina’s lost ring just under a thin layer of dirt and mud! Tina could not believe I had found her lost ring and was thrilled to get it back on her finger!
and that lead her to theringfinders.com web site. She contacted me and we made arrangements to meet at the park. I tried to reassure Tanae that I would do my best to find her lost ring. I loaded up my van with my wetsuit, Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector, scoop, towels and other gear and headed to the park. Thankfully it was a very warm, sunny day and even though the water was cold I was prepared to get wet. I arrived at the park and checked out the dock and water as I waited for Tanae. Not knowing which end of the small dock to search under I decided to check the depth with my pvc pole and realized that the bottom dropped off very quickly.