PALMYRA TOWNSHIP -- For Brian Ersalesi of New Jersey, slipping his wedding ring back on his finger was the final touch after years spent doubting he'd ever have it back.
Three years ago, he and his son Henry were fishing at a pond at Lukan's Farm Resort near Hawley. At the end of their trip, Brian tossed the last fish back into the pond.
Suddenly their vacation took a turn for the worse, when along with the fish, into the pond went the ring.
"Everything went in slow motion. I mean, it probably took a second for the ring to fall in, but in that second I watched it arch across the water and bloop," said Brian Ersalesi.
Brian immediately called the resort's owners to see if they could find a way to get the ring from the pond, but no luck.
"That's why I joked with him. I said, 'If you ever pull out a nice-sized fish and you're filleting it, you may find the ring inside," Brian said.
Brian then had to tell his wife what happened.
"I just said, 'Oh, how are you going to get it back?' He said, 'I don't know. We thought about going all the way in," said Jennifer Ersalesi, Brian's wife.
About a month ago, the resort's owners set out to clean the pond and figured the ring might turn up. Once the pond was drained, a metal detector discovered what was lost that summer day three years ago. After getting the news from the resort, the family made a special trip for the ring.
"That was a big worry in the back of our heads and now it's not," said Henry Ersalesi, Brian's son.
Brian said he will never wear the ring while fishing again.
