From metallic objects from long-lost weapons to complete golf carts, almost anything can be pulled from the water with high-powered magnets.
With a touch of luck and mystery, the hobby of magnet fishing is attracting a growing crowd of enthusiasts.
“It’s like fishing, you get a bite and you pull,” Frederick Hardy said.
Starting off as a pandemic pastime, Hardy tossed his first magnet into the waterways two and a half years ago.
Since then he has dived head first into his new passion, improving equipment and running a YouTube channel under the name of Joker Magnet.
“It’s like the lottery: you choose the spot and you don’t know if you are going to win the jackpot,” Hardy said.
Hardy has found a cornucopia of objects, like guns, bikes, car parts, mortar shells and spare change.
The hobby has gained a following in Quebec. Fishers regularly post their finds on a Facebook group that has more than 2,000 followers.
Known around the world, the pastime will have its first provincial event with hundreds expected to turn out this month in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
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With friendly competition between fishers, the most valuable find this year is a complete golf cart found in a lake.
Authorities determined it was stolen and contacted the owners, according to Jean-Benoit Sasseville, who pulled it out.
Weapons and even explosives have been pulled from the water. Hardy has recently retrieved a 1940s Swedish rifle.
Part of the fun of magnet fishing, he says, is the mystery behind the finds.
“Maybe somebody went to the war, brought it back. Someone cut it and maybe did a crime with it, who knows,” Hardy said.
He now keeps the rusted rifle on display in his home.
Other finds, like a mortar shell found in the Lachine Canal, can’t be kept.
“I don’t know if it was an explosive shell or a practice round, I just knew the head was still on it,” Hardy said.
The military and police were called to dispose of the shell, according to Hardy.
The majority of the finds are not keepers. Much of the rusted, twisted metal is scrapped or recycled for change.
Sophie-Geneviève Bournival has been magnet fishing for three years but said she has not found anything of value.
“I haven’t found anything meaningful but it’s fun every time,” Bournival said.
In the end, Bournival says despite the lack of treasure, removing trash from the water is a positive.
It’s a fun way to clean out the rivers and lakes, she said, removing polluting things left unseen in the water.
Parks Canada issued a statement Friday to say magnet fishing is banned in all the historic canals it oversees and removing objects from them requires a permit.
Anyone found magnet fishing in historic canals “could be subject to a fine.”
Parks Canada says that while removing objects “may seem commendable, this practice poses a greater risk to the environment and to visitor safety than simply leaving the objects in place.”
“Stirring up the bottom of the canals can not only disturb aquatic habitats but can also release contaminated sediments in sites that have a significant industrial past. Participants may be exposed to the handling of dangerous objects such as weapons or other sharp objects, as well as potentially contaminated elements,” the organization said.
Magnet fishing can also damage different structures in canals, ranging from bridges to electrical conduits.