When James Jonkman went out for his first-ever magnet fishing expedition on Monday, he didn’t think he’d come home with an explosive story.
Then he caught a Second World War-era grenade.
The Langley 10-year-old learned about the activity on YouTube, and was immediately hooked.
“You just get a powerful magnet and then attach it to a rope and throw it off a bridge,” James told Global News.
“There’s little pieces of all kinds of stuff down there. I wasn’t really expecting much, just a bunch of garbage,” added his stepfather, Shawn Willson.
But it wasn’t long before James pulled up his first catch, and it certainly wasn’t your average river trash.
“I seen the little bump things and I was like, ‘Oh is that a grenade?’ And then my stepdad grabs it and he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s a grenade!'” said James.
“They all kind of took off off the bridge, and myself, I didn’t want to touch it, I didn’t want anybody else to touch it,” said Willson.
They decided to leave the grenade hanging from the rope where it was out of reach from anyone and call the Langley RCMP.
Officers responded, confirmed it was real, and called in the bomb squad.
“We’ve confirmed with the explosive demolition unit that it was a grenade, but it was in such poor condition they couldn’t tell if it was inert or inactive, so they’re going to dispose of it,” said Langley RCMP Cpl. Craig van Herk.
While a real grenade may seem like a one-in-a-million find, James’ catch isn’t as unusual as you’d think.
Media reports from the U.S. and Europe indicate that people have pulled up everything from grenades to sub-machine guns to the body of a handcuffed man.
The Guardian reports that critics have dubbed it the “U.K.’s most dangerous hobby,” and the activity is actually banned by Britain’s Canal & River Trust, according to gomagnetfishing.com.
In James’ case, the surprising discovery hasn’t deterred him from getting back to the creek to look for more treasures.
And while he didn’t get to keep his first catch, he made sure he got proof: a video of an RCMP officer confirming he’d snagged the explosive.
His stepdad is a little more circumspect.
“I don’t want him to find another grenade,” he said.