General Chat

I read sometime last week an article about a man who takes his son with him to go Magnet Fishing. He said, he has been catching all sorts including, knives, weapons, a gun etc. Of course, he went to his local police station and handed everything in.

After I think a few visits with his catch, the local police were not happy and although said, he wasn't breaking the law, maybe he should leave well alone as they didn't have the time or resources to deal with all his catch.

Then today, they were discussing this on the radio although I didn't hear the whole discussion.

So you have a rod but instead of bait, you have a magnet to attract wherever is lurking in the river.

I was thinking that maybe when a crime has been committed and they think the weapon involved is in a river or lake, maybe they should try this magnet fishing, it may help to recover whatever they are looking for.

I'm not sure if its a new thing as had never heard about it until I read the online article somewhere.

Is it a good idea or not?

Florence in the hebrides

It's only legal on private property I think, with owner's permission. Not allowed canals/rivers.

When OH is sailing he always has a large powerful magnet with him to rescue all the things people drop overboard. The most common is spectacles, which usually have some metal in them, and are frequently dropped when alongside, so the water isn't very deep and they can be rescued. People are first surprised, then usually very grateful. :-)

Shelia, this chap was fishing in a river, not private property and the police said it was not illegal but im sure there must be rules somewhere.

I managed to find the article on the BBC website.

The chap is from Glasgow and they set up a Glasgow Magnet Fishing club during 2019. They fish off the Dalmarnoch bridge in Glasgow.

The group meets every Saturday and trawl rivers and waterways in Scotland. The police said it wasn't illegal but fishing off the bridge was considered unsafe and they should not continue doing it.

Maybe the laws are different in England to Scotland?

In the town where I used to live we have a river which is not very deep. A local family used to regularly magnet fish. They brought up all sorts of interesting old objects which they would take home and research. No knives or guns though

There's a magnet fishing club in Winchester.
A few years back, they were fishing in the Itchen, when they pullled up an unexploded anti-tank grenade.
This was duly taken away and disposed of.

They still magnet fish there. They also did the place a favour.
This anti-tank grenade was found in a shallow part of the river near houses,
and where children used to (before sewage was regularly dumped in our rivers) paddle.

A Viking sword was found last year by a magnet fisherman in the River Cherwell.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it as its cleaning the rivers etc of all things metal that have been dumped!

Also some of the finds are very interesting from an historical point of view, like an old sword. Names the Viking sword must have been an amazing find.

Yes maggie, getting rid of that grenade did the community a favour so that was a good thing.

According to Google the Canal and Rivers Trust have banned it (in England and Wales) for safety reasons. Some of the things found are sharp, some are dangerous, and some require specialist equipment to get them out.

And you might fall in!!! :-0 :-0

That's interesting Andysmum.
I have seen a sign to that effect on a bridge in a nearby town.
I think I'd rather know if there was something dangerous under the water :-S

Canals are occasionally drained and cleared out - not so easy with a river ;-)

Andysmum, that explains why the chappie in Glasgow can carry on with his hobby as obviously not illegal here in Scotland.

I always wanted to go Panning for gold in a river but wouldn't know where to start. Saw lots of programmes on Tv about it and some people made quite a few pennies but I don't think it was in the UK.

It's at Upper Tyndrum, Florence, but I'm not sure if you can still go there as an individual, now that it's a proper gold mine.

EDIT I have just done some more googling and the mine went into administration in November. It is now a visitor attraction.

You can pan for gold in Tyndrum Community Woodlands, but you have to get a permit first.

Magnet fishing in canals in Scotland requires permits:

https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/visit/things-to-do/fishing-magnet-fishing/magnet-fishing