(CNN) Sam Nichols III was out in the fields in Auburn, Alabama, when his wife told him he got a call from the sheriff's office in Greene County, Georgia.

A couple that had gone fishing on Lake Oconee, caught a bag containing two guns and gold fraternity and sorority pins and turned them in. After some sleuthing, authorities had good reason to believe the pins belonged to Nichols' parents, stolen during a burglary in 1993.

"We're pretty amazed the pins were found after 26 years. Everybody had forgotten about it," Nichols told CNN.

The detectives tracked him down after looking at the engraving on one of the pins which carried his dad's name, Samuel Nichols Jr, who died in 1982. They sent the items to Nichols.

"We will probably never know why the burglar tossed the bag a state away, but it's great to be able to get these items back to the family after 26 years in the lake," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.

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