Anyone ever do any magnet fishing?

[Kernopelli]

Don't know how I ran across magnet fishing on YouTube but after watching a few videos I got hooked on the idea. I bought two 250lbs pull rare earth magnets off Amazon, welded up a double bracket for them so I could cover more area and made my first outing today. I hit the local fishing docks, boat ramps and a couple of bridges over a small river. I caught a lot of crappie jigs, magnetic rocks, some rebar and even some 4" schedule 80 pipe....no safes or civil war weapons though . My best find was while casting under a bridge, I noticed a 500lbs pull magnet stuck to a beam with a short piece of frayed rope still attached to it. It took some doing but in the end it came home with me and I'm tickled to death about it!!

Anyone else into this and got any pointers?

 

[tomplum]

Yes. In cooking your catch....
Sounds like a lot of fun. I'm always intrigued about stuff they find when the water is low. Keep the thread going with pics of the "daily catch".

 

[dragoneggs]

Does seem a little bit intriguing. I don't know anything about it but I wonder how someone 'releases' a heavy object if they grab on to the wrong thing. Must need a heck of a line and puller if your magnet is strong. :confused3:

 

[Kernopelli]

I don't know anything about it but I wonder how someone 'releases' a heavy object if they grab on to the wrong thing. Must need a heck of a line and puller if your magnet is strong. :confused3:

The magnets are strong for sure but usually easier to release than you would expect. I built my 2 magnet bracket in an inverted "V" shape about 6" high and it allows me to push the magnets sideways and they are MUCH easier to release that way.....as long as you can get the object to the bank. I got hung on several objects but found that as long as I could move down the bank and pull from a different angle, I could get it to release. The 500lbs magnet I found had a short piece of broken rope that I strongly suspect had been attached to a car in an attempt to pull it off. The rope appeared to be the same 300lbs working load rope I am using, so I suspect it would actually hold at least double that but they could not get a good angle from the road. I was able to hang off the bridge decking on my belly and grab the rope with one hand and slowly get the magnet to slide towards me far enough that I could eventually get both hands on the rope, pulling at 90* to the base of the magnet and finally got enough leverage to break it loose.

I can definitely see that the prospect of loosing your magnet is not an issue of IF but when....it's going to happen eventually. I got hung on objects 4-5 times that I was becoming certain I could not break loose but eventually persistance overcame. It is good exercise and very physical, I'll say that! I am in reasonably good shape, I run a min. of 5 miles every other day and weight train every other day. My curl workout currently maxes at 135lbs for 10 reps and my biceps are more SORE this morning from throwing and retrieving that thing yesterday than they ever get from the gym.

I am definitely looking forward to getting back out and giving it another go! I live relatively close to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and have many public access lakes in the area to "fish" so I wont run out of places to go any time soon.

 

[MossRoad]

Make sure those magnetic rocks aren't meteorites before you toss them back. They can be worth a little cash.

Meteorite Home Tests

Nice find on the big magnet. Go fishing with little magnets and come home with bigger magnets.... sounds just like fishing with minnows for bait. :laughing:

 

[Sigarms]

I won't lie...after reading the title, I was trying to figure out in my brain how you'd use a magnet to catch a fish!

 

[bcp]

I won't lie...after reading the title, I was trying to figure out in my brain how you'd use a magnet to catch a fish!

Might work with steelhead.

Bruce

 

[Kernopelli]

Make sure those magnetic rocks aren't meteorites before you toss them back. They can be worth a little cash.

Meteorite Home Tests

Excellent suggestion!! Didn't even occur to me and I've even found a rather large meteorite in Kansas when I was a kid. Always been fascinated by the fact they are somewhat common and yes, valuable!!

I won't lie...after reading the title, I was trying to figure out in my brain how you'd use a magnet to catch a fish!

I agree, I should have used quotes on the word "fishing". To me, the phrase "magnet fishing" sounds like it is the act of trying to catch magnets. It seems to be the universal term for this activity though.

 

[dnw64]

Might work with steelhead.

Bruce

Good one!

 

[bunyip]

Could be in trouble here if you get close to any ironbark trees.