Magnet fishing

Tyler McAllister tosses a magnet out on Clyde Avenue in Duluth. Submitted photo

Magnet fishing is about treasure and trash collecting

BY TRAVIS GRIMLER

What's one part treasure hunting and two, maybe three parts trash collecting?

If you answered magnet fishing, you hit the nail right on the head. Just make sure to take it with you when you leave, OK?

I took up magnet fishing last year, as soon as the snow melted. I had spent the last month or more of winter reaching out to private businesses with popular docks, asking for permission to throw my magnet into the waters there looking for whatever lay on the depths.

By the time the ice was gone, I had a magnet with 900 pounds of pull and a list of places to toss it, not to mention lots of competition.

Magnet fishing is a growing hobby with more and more people sharing magnet fishing videos online, posting their finds to magnet fishing Facebook groups and secretly collecting the good stuff before anyone else can.

The hobby is particularly popular in more populous areas. Tyler McAllister, formerly of Backus, brought the hobby with him when he went to school in Duluth.

He first read about magnet fishing on Reddit, a social media platform with topics on everything under the sun. He quickly learned that it's best to start with the strongest magnet you can afford. "I was kind of naive back then. I got like a 50-pound magnet at a hardware store and tried going with that," McAllister said. "I caught maybe a lure, but nothing else."

I learned the same lesson when I started with a 160-pound magnet when the water was only open at the dam in Pine River. I did manage to catch a jig head, and since then I consider a trip out successful so long as I find even one jig head.

Tips to get started

1. It is best to get permission if you have any doubt regarding property ownership. Usually the owner will be curious and ask to see any of your cool finds. Once I was offered a cash reward for finding an item accidentally dropped off a boat. I have never been told no, but that will change if magnet fishing becomes a problem.

2. Never leave behind a mess. In most places people are welcoming and curious when it comes to magnet fishing. If you leave behind your junk finds, that will almost certainly change. Try to find joy in the fact that you are cleaning up a body of water. People will constantly thank you for doing so.

3. Keep aquatic invasive species in mind. I have found many folding camp chairs. These can be covered in zebra mussels, and if they can’t be cleaned off before you leave, find some way to legally dispose of them on site. Remember that hollow items might also have aquatic hitchhikers, and never transport water from one lake to another. You might consider using a different rope or waiting a week before moving from a body of water that you know to have invasive species to another body of water.

4. Choose a magnet that has at least 600 pounds of strength for a single-sided magnet or 1,200 pounds for a double-sided magnet (each side is 600 pounds).

5. Follow all laws pertaining to “no fishing” areas or pertaining to the items you find. Guns, for example, will likely need to be turned into the authorities if found, and railroad spikes generally are considered to be railroad property even after being discarded.

6. Be considerate of anglers. If someone is fishing nearby before you arrive, do not crowd them. Give them fair warning if they show up after you do.

7. Be friendly. If you act enthusiastic and talk to people about what you are doing you will not only entertain them and have company for a short while, you will also leave them with a positive impression of the hobby. They may also know of other places to fish, or they may tell you where they have personally lost items.

8. Have patience. One of the first places I fished has at least 12 different docks and I spent four hours fishing half of them, and four hours fishing the other half the next weekend.

9. Restoring the items you find might lead you to learn new skills or hobbies. I learned how to remove rust with electrolysis and how to electroplate items in nickel because of magnet fishing. I also gained four folding camp chairs when I realized I could use a pressure washer with detergent to clean them.

10.Be willing to return the items you find if there is some way to find the owners. That’s just being responsible.

11.Consider marking your magnet fishing gear. My first 900-pound magnet and my 1,300-pound magnets both went missing before the end of my first year. If I had my name on them, there would be a chance I could have gotten them back.

12.Safety first. Gloves and solid shoes are absolutely necessary when dealing with heavy or potentially sharp items. You should never tie your magnet to your body if there is any chance that it will catch on something that could pull you into the water.