• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Magnet Fishing!

J

JohnO

master brummie
I’ve recently watched several ‘youtube’ videos of Brummie’s ‘treasure hunting’ with a magnet and line, in the canals and waterways in and around Birmingham. I’ve been inspired to give this relatively new craze a go. I’ve just bought a powerful magnet from Amazon (they have a wide selection) and hope to trawl nearby streams and ponds, in the hope of interesting ‘finds’ - alas, little chance of finding precious metals and jewels, unless encased in a ferric container; but who-knows-what might turn up! I shall let you know of any successes.

Does anyone on the Forum fish with magnets?
 
JohnO said:
I’ve recently watched several ‘youtube’ videos of Brummie’s ‘treasure hunting’ with a magnet and line, in the canals and waterways in and around Birmingham. I’ve been inspired to give this relatively new craze a go. I’ve just bought a powerful magnet from Amazon (they have a wide selection) and hope to trawl nearby streams and ponds, in the hope of interesting ‘finds’ - alas, little chance of finding precious metals and jewels, unless encased in a ferric container; but who-knows-what might turn up! I shall let you know of any successes.

Does anyone on the Forum fish with magnets?
Click to expand...

Hi JohnO, My daughter told me a few months ago that my eldest grandson (23) went fishing with a magnet... he caught a bike ...:rolleyes: I am not sure what he was hoping for but he had a bit of fun.
Wendy
 
"What will you do with all those trolleys? I doubt the stores will want them back."

They might if they can be cleaned up, I don't know what they cost now but way back in 1986 when I enquired they were £126.00 each.
 
Radiorails said:
What will you do with all those trolleys? I doubt the stores will want them back. :laughing:
Click to expand...

I could do with a shopping-trolley for use in the garden, but I doubt there are many, here in the depth of the forest, in Northumberland. I’d more likely turn up bits of old tractor, and other discarded farm machinery. I’ll just have settle for the odd Viking sword, or two.
 
mw0njm. said:
with a bit of luck you will catch a whale. with or with out spokes.
or a water otter. or as we call them kettles.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, my daughter found an old kettle, lying in the village stream. I nailed it, spout down, to the back of my shed, and a variety of birds have since nested in it. No real otters as yet; despite laying box-traps, there are too many mink about the place - nasty wee vicious buggers that they are!
 
Last edited:
Morturn said:
Just be careful, unexploded bombs do turn up, occasionally
Click to expand...

That’s always a possibility, as we are an outlying part of the Otterburn military training area. I’ve found loads of stuff over the years, just whilst out for a walk: ammunition, knives, spent mortar rounds, sleeping bags, water bottles, backpacks (one containing a full radio kit - which I grudgingly handed-in) and all manner of other stuff. I sometimes think that young Squaddies must do their level best to lose as much equipment as they can.
 
It is a big thing at the moment magnet fishing, looks quite good fun aswel, there's a video on YouTube where a guy pulls a stolen motorbike plus numourous other items, how do you know what type of magnet to order and how much are they? And I wonder how long it will be before the council or the waterways clock onto it and tell you that you need a magnet fishing license :):)
 
In actual fact the Health and Safety boys are already issuing warnings about magnet fishing and yes the Canal authorities and some local councils are talking about sanctions, even banning it. I understand that any returned trolley, used to, I don't know about now be worth £5.00. Anyway how many magnets have you caught?

Bob
 
  • Appreciate
Reactions: ade
ade said:
It is a big thing at the moment magnet fishing, looks quite good fun aswel, there's a video on YouTube where a guy pulls a stolen motorbike plus numourous other items, how do you know what type of magnet to order and how much are they? And I wonder how long it will be before the council or the waterways clock onto it and tell you that you need a magnet fishing license :):)


Check out Amazon, they have a wide range of sizes of the two basic magnet types - single, and double faced. You’ll get a fair idea of which to choose, by reading through comments left by purchasers. The price range for practicable magnets, is from just a few pounds to well over a hundred. Mine, together with 60 feet of rope, cost £20. However, I reckon I could have got away with half the strength, at half the cost. Mine has a 330lb pull; which for me, is somewhat over the top, as I don’t want to be pulling up anything that heavy; or rupturing myself in the process! Another problem being, if you hit an object flat on, it is difficult to pull off again - they really are powerful things!

You may be right about the licence thingy - seemingly the waterways people initially welcomed the sport, as it helped keep the waterways clear of debris. However, as it has grown more popular, it has begun to attract the usual set of numpties, who just leave scrap metal lying about on the towpath, rather than taking it away with them.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Bob Davis said:
In actual fact the Health and Safety boys are already issuing warnings about magnet fishing and yes the Canal authorities and some local councils are talking about sanctions, even banning it. I understand that any returned trolley, used to, I don't know about now be worth £5.00. Anyway how many magnets have you caught?

Bob
Click to expand...

I saw a YouTube video of someone actually catching someone’s lost magnet - they were ace pleased! I tried mine out for the first time, this afternoon, just for half an hour, in the village stream. I am now the proud owner of a kiddie’s matchbox-type car: an early 1970’s model Toyota Jeep-type thing, by ‘Majorette’ of France; three and a half feet of hefty chain; a door sneck, and a vague ‘mush’ of small bits of iron that might once have been nails. I might have to up my game!
 
This all reminds me of Foggy Dewhirsts belief that they had found antique candlesticks in a beneath a canal bridge. Wesley Pegden soon put him right, the article was from a lavatory ballcock I believe
 
I know where to find a bonnet off a MK 2 Ford Cortina, should be real easy to find with a magnet just by the bridge south of Bart Green, got dropped off 74ish on the right hand side of the bridge coming from Bart Green,
 
JohnO said:
Oddly enough, my daughter found an old kettle, lying in the village stream. I nailed it, spout down, to the back of my shed, and a variety of birds have since nested in it. No real otters as yet; despite laying box-traps, there are too many mink about the place - nasty wee vicious buggers that they are!
Click to expand...
i cought one in the river by my house,it kept killing the ducks. i never used a magnet though
 
Morturn said:
The canal that ran alongside the BSA may be worth a look too
Click to expand...
na mort that was drained. not long back.nothing any good was found. we used a grapple to drag rivers and cuts, dead pig phooooo wata smell. old motor bikes. gun,
 
Last edited:
I walk along the Brum canals quiet a lot and see a few people doing this. I see their finds more often though. They leave it next to the tow path mostly around bridges. Safes, shopping trolleys, bikes, car parts, metal fencing, signs, general metal parts.
Don't see the point myself. Metal detecting in water where poeple swim I can, because you find gold rings. But canals?
 
See them with their metal detectors on the beach were we live.They are always putting things in their pockets.
 
You will not pick up gold rings, or silver for that matter , as they are not attracted to magnets
 
You can buy a metal detector that will detect gold, you can also buy one that works in water, so instead of a magnet a gold seeking water proficient metal detector.....I feel a new TV programme coming on.

Bob
 
mikejee said:
But would that sort of non-magnetic metal detector work submerged in water?
Click to expand...
Well this is where I have to admit that I do watch television and the choice was Love Island (a travelogue I believe) or Aussie Gold Hunters. I thought long and hard, and after asking the wife she decided on Aussie Gold Hunters, she thought the scenery of Love Island might be to much for my heart. However to the theme and the point, this grizzled old Aussie Gold Hunter sat on the side of a creek watching for crocodiles, dipping his metal detector into the water, while his daughter snorkled and found gold, but I never knew you could get a metal detector that could be immersed in water. They found some small nuggets and there were no 'crocs'.

Bob
 
Check You Tube for 'metal detecting in water' some good channels, mostly in America. Gold rings, mobile phones being found and returned to their owners and stuff, old guns and police called, really good viewing.

Maurice, maybe proceeds of robberies, water is a good place to hide evidence. So I'm told.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top