A Michigan fisherman went out to Wolf Lake last Wednesday looking for his next catch. What his sonar pulled up instead was a little more than he bargained for: a full-size pickup truck sitting 25 feet underwater, apparently unbothered about the whole situation.
The fisherman contacted the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office after his Garmin LiveScope sonar system showed an unmistakable vehicle-shaped silhouette chilling on the lake bed in Almena Township. He shared the images with deputies, and sure enough, the shape was far too boxy and far too large to be any fish native to Michigan.
The Truck Had Gone Full Aquarium by the Time Divers Showed Up
The Van Buren County Dive Team hit the water on Thursday and confirmed what the sonar had teased: a Dodge Ram pickup, reported stolen out of Kalamazoo County back in October, had been living rent-free at the bottom of Wolf Lake for months. At that point, it wasn’t just a stolen truck anymore. It was an ecosystem. Fish and other aquatic life had fully colonized the cab, apparently deciding that a submerged Ram was the next hot neighborhood in Wolf Lake real estate.
To their credit, the dive team “took care to safely return fish and other wildlife back into Wolf Lake” before hauling the truck out, according to a release from the sheriff’s office. Relocating the tenants before demolishing the building. Very professional.
Deputies are now investigating how exactly a Dodge Ram ended up at the bottom of a lake, which is one of those questions that probably has a pretty short list of innocent explanations.
As for the fisherman, he didn’t catch any fish that day. But he did find a truck, help solve a theft case, and give every Garmin LiveScope owner a new reason to brag at the boat ramp. Not a bad Wednesday.