Wedding Rings Found! – Big Cedar Lake, West Bend, Wisconsin
Big Cedar Lake, near West Bend, Wisconsin, covers 937 acres. By comparison Graftton, Wisconsin, resident Danielle Danbrea’s wedding rings, soldered together, covered less than a square inch. The prospects of finding her ring in such a large body of water were daunting. 
Danielle and her husband, Ryan, were celebrating the 4th of July with friends on the lake while anchored at a popular sand bar. That’s when the unthinkable happened! Unbeknown to her, Danielle’s rings quietly slipped of her hand into the murky water.
The following day, Saturday, I received a text message from Ryan advising of the unfortunate circumstances. Could I help?
As it turned out, the weather turned to rain and overcast skies on Sunday. This meant fewer boats and swimmers in the area, ideal for setting out buoy markers and conducting a grid search. After a 45-minute drive, I arrived at the lake and hiked a third of a mile through the woods to the shore pulling a large wagonload of equipment. Armed with photos taken from the boat on the day Danielle’s rings went missing, I was able to position my buoy markers close to where they had been anchored.
Using a large XP Deus search coil, I systematically scanned the lake bottom for the next three hours. The usual pull tabs, bottle caps and shotgun-shell casings (leftovers from duck hunters) filled my pouch. By this time, I was outside the search zone. Returning to the start point, I began searching in the opposite direction when a promising signal invited investigation. Sure enough, Danielle’s beautiful rings soon lay gleaming in my scoop!
Despite the many challenges of finding a small ring in such a large lake and under these circumstances, the obstacles were no match for state-of-the-art metal-detecting technology, forensics and experience. If you or someone you know has lost ring, don’t let its story end. Contact me. Who knows, we just might be able to put a smile on someone else’s face. 















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.