Diver recovers woman's lost wedding ring from bottom of Bass Lake

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A family trip to Bass Lake turned into a major disappointment for a Bakersfield woman after she lost her wedding ring in the water.

Michael Pelley, known on social media as Merman Mike, found the diamond ring at the bottom of the lake over the weekend.

Pelley loves to scuba dive and look for lost treasures.

The ring owner, a woman named Jennie reached out to him on social media and he agreed to drive three and a half hours from Northern California to help her find it.

He says this search was one of his most challenging because Bass Lake is deep and the water at the bottom is very cold and murky.

"I kind of started prodding my hand every time I swiped with the metal detector, and I came up with a lot of cans, I came up with a couple of sticks. then I thought it was going to be another bottle top or a can pull tab, I find a lot of those, but I was looking at a diamond. I can't describe the emotions that went through my head," said Pelley.

Jennie was ecstatic when Merman Mike came to the surface with her ring in hand.

He takes a lot of safety precautions, so Mike says it took a couple of dives and at least a couple of hours to find Jennie's ring.

After finding the ring, he went back in the water for a clean-up dive, because he says removing trash from our waterways is as important as finding the treasures.

He doesn't charge anyone for finding their valuables.

You can find him on social media as Merman Mike and follow his treasure hunts or make a donation.