Man Recovers Ring Lost For 21 Years Inside A Fish
Posted December 4, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This is one of those stories that you wouldn’t believe if you saw it in a movie. But it happened to Joe Richardson, and it took him two decades to realize it.
His story begins when the now 41-year-old was just a naïve graduate at the tender age of 20. The Texas native had just completed courses at a local college and decided to celebrate by going fishing. He was out on Lake Sam Rayburn when disaster struck.
The $200 blue stone class ring his mother bought him and engraved with his name to celebrate the successful end of his education somehow dropped into the drink and disappeared into the murky waters. A chagrined Richardson went home and told his mom he’d lost her gift and she became understandably upset, as the fisherman despaired of ever seeing it again.
And then this week, 21 years after the incident was long forgotten, his phone rang. It was a stranger, calling to tell him he’d found the ring.
Where had it been all these years? The caller told the incredulous owner he’d caught an 8 lbs. bass and found the keepsake inside of it. It was in incredibly good condition after all those years in the fish’s guts – so good, in fact, that the angler who made the catch of the day was able to read the inscription on it.
He told Richardson he’d tracked him to the city of Buna, Texas using the Internet. After getting his address and phone number, the fisherman – who has asked to remain anonymous – contacted the lord of this ring and sent the long lost jewellery back to him.
Richardson was stunned and grateful but perhaps the biggest irony is he has no intention of wearing the no- longer-missing icon. He now earns his living as a mechanic and claims rings get in the way of his work. So he’s tucked the returned memento away – and has no intention of taking it with him on his next fishing expedition.
