I talked to an old friend this week and we reminisced about magnet fishing on High Rock Lake when we were growing up. I ordered 3 "Holding Magnets" from K&J Magnetics and bought bolts and found a piece of scrap aluminun and made a 9" magnet bar. Went out this morning and dragged it around a dock at a public boat landing. Didn't find anything worth keeping but got a lot of beer caps off the bottom. I had forgotten what fun and exercise it was. We found all manner of things growing up: a rusty pistol, tackle boxes, and some fishing rods I still have today. I guess I have re-started an old hobby.
I like to magnet fish and metal detecting do them altogether we hit the River boat ramps and bridges with the magnet and parking lot and banks with the metal detector find all kinds of things
LOL! Never knew it was a sport, just something fun to do! My brothers and I have found many things over the years,and continue on when ever I visit the PNW with
I found a Messerschmidt BF109 in a Norwegian Fjord, they wouldn't let me keep it no matter how hard I tried!
While working on boats I kept a 60# lift magnet on a line handy but far more enjoyable was swimming for lost things, roughly a 60%- 80% recovery rate.
Used a magnet and a rope, found a lot of things and had a lot of fun. It always amazed me at how quickly things went to pot. Biggest thing I ever pulled up was an outboard motor. Froze solid and shot, best things were fishing spoons and small tackle
I have a pretty good selection of these that I use in my commercial diving operations. We first bought them to attach temporary salvage patches on damaged vessels but have since, found many applications, including fishing. They are unbelievably powerful. Underwater Magnets | Miko Marine The most unique thing I ever found was a Remington bolt-action .22 that had the barrel plugged, a gas manifold installed atop it to a .50 barrel that fired animal tranquilizer darts. It was loaded with a round of thorazine, I believe. I contacted the manufacturer and he sent me a catalog of his tranquilizer launchers along with a selection of the different darts he made, especially one designed for home defense that was filled with formic acid. Now that is just plain wicked.
Being a Marine Radar Tech for many years, I was always a popular Guy, because I had a ready Access to Dead Magniton Magnets.... Some of the best came from old Decca 20 & 40 Kw Radars... Those were some of the best, for use in fishing Parts & Tools that feel overboard, of boats...
Put an ant's nest worth of bull ants through a blender, and you'd probably have a home grown DIY version of that baby.
OH MY GOD!!! Shoot a man with that dart gun with formic acid and he will wish that he was dead. Is it murder if you shoot someone with a formic acid dart and he kills himself to end the pain?
I have been thinking on this sport (?) and one could probably find all sorts of stuff after a flood or hurricane.
Better to start with something a little better in my opinion. Cheap detectors either pick up very little or everything, both of which foster frustration. I've been doing it for 40 years and a decent detector makes it a hobby rather than a chore.