After One Hour of Magnet Fishing, He Had to Call the Bomb Squad

Written by Sharon Parry
Updated: October 22, 2023
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Some fishing trips don’t turn out the way you planned and things can get caught on the end of your line. This can be frustrating and annoying.

When you are magnet fishing, however, that is exactly what you want to happen. It’s a completely different type of fishing that doesn’t involve fish at all!

Watch to See What Made This Fisherman Call the Bomb Squad

These fishers had to get the bomb squad involved!

What is Magnet Fishing?

Magnet, Fishing, Fish, Catching, Color Image
Metal fishing is all about, well, fishing for metal!

©iStock.com/Alexander Scharafin

Magnet fishing gives you many of the perks of regular fishing -– you get to hang out in some lovely peaceful and picturesque waterside locations. Unlike regular fishing, however, you need very little in the way of equipment or expertise. All you really need is a rope, a strong magnet, and a suitable location.

Instead of hauling out a trout or a bass, you could retrieve some metal objects from the bottom of the water. Any ferromagnetic objects will be attracted to the magnet and you can pull most of them out of the water. It is not a new hobby but it has increased in popularity over the last couple of years. This is largely down to people sharing their findings on YouTube, which has encouraged other people to give it a go.

What Can Magnet Fishers Find?

Fishing, Magnet, Adventure, Agricultural Field, Business
There are plenty of super interesting things you can find in the water by metal fishing.

©iStock.com/DERO2084

In this video, the magnet fishers have an interesting haul. They have retrieved bullets, a gun, and a cannon ball from the civil war -– followed by a selection of rifles! They alerted the police who alerted the bomb squad.

This demonstrates how things can go wrong! Some things that you retrieve from lakes and rivers are potentially dangerous. It turns out that there is a lot of military equipment underwater.

Scooters, bicycles, and grocery carts are other popular finds. If they have serial numbers on them, it may be worth informing law enforcement because they are likely to be stolen.

Magnet Fishing Tips

Fishing, Magnet, Adult, Day, Dry
You may find some things you don’t expect, like the fishers in this video!

©iStock.com/[email protected] kevin

As well as needing to select a strong rope and a strong magnet, there are a few things that you can do to make your fishing trip more successful. Don’t forget that you need permission from the landowner.

Never tie the end of the rope to yourself – you could end up being at the bottom of the water yourself. Also, wear a life jacket because you are near open water which may not be safe if you fall in. Whatever you haul out will probably be rusty and could have very sharp edges, so wear strong protective gloves.

Finally, if you decide to magnet fish off a boat, be very careful. If the magnet attracts something very heavy, you could easily be dragged off the side!

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/danica dragon jacimovic


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About the Author

Dr Sharon Parry is a writer at A-Z animals where her primary focus is on dogs, animal behavior, and research. Sharon holds a PhD from Leeds University, UK which she earned in 1998 and has been working as a science writer for the last 15 years. A resident of Wales, UK, Sharon loves taking care of her spaniel named Dexter and hiking around coastlines and mountains.

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