Went down a YouTube rabbit hole this morning watching magnet fishing videos. Any of y'all ever done it? Any cool finds?

Watching this thread.

I live close to Buffalo Bayou and have always pondered seeing how much crap is tossed into the bayou from the bridges.

Just be careful no boats are passing when you cast out your magnet!

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/11/01/i-thought-she-was-dead-woman-seriously-hurt-after-magnet-fishing-near-mont-belvieu/

I've caught myself watching those videos too. If my dad and I lived in the same city, I can see us doing this. Lol. Sure seems interesting

As of Spring 2024, MF is illegal on Army Installations. Yours truly is oversaw the policy implementation.

As you could imagine, lots of UXO pulled from bodies of water on Army Installations. Lots...

But magnet fishing military installations would be a blast!

rilloaggie said:

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I live close to Buffalo Bayou and have always pondered seeing how much crap is tossed into the bayou from the bridges.

Just be careful no boats are passing when you cast out your magnet!

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/11/01/i-thought-she-was-dead-woman-seriously-hurt-after-magnet-fishing-near-mont-belvieu/

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There is a stretch of Buffalo Bayou that could be very interesting magnet fishing. It's where the old confederate arsenal was - after the south surrendered, they threw the munitions into the bayou to prevent the union occupying forces from having them.

So you might pull up an 1860 musket. But you also might pull up a live mine or cannonball that can still go boom. Used to be a crypt (still is there technically) under the Franklin Street bridge that was the burial place of a kid that pulled a mine out of the bayou a few years after the war ended and while messing with it a kaboom happened and killed him.

rilloaggie said:

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I live close to Buffalo Bayou and have always pondered seeing how much crap is tossed into the bayou from the bridges.

Just be careful no boats are passing when you cast out your magnet!

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/11/01/i-thought-she-was-dead-woman-seriously-hurt-after-magnet-fishing-near-mont-belvieu/

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That's just more trash in that river. It's her own fault for throwing it in there while a boat was going by.

I've done it with my boys, after they saw the videos. We've never pulled up anything better than some nice fishing lures.

Aggie Infantry said:

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As of Spring 2024, MF is illegal on Army Installations. Yours truly is oversaw the policy implementation.

As you could imagine, lots of UXO pulled from bodies of water on Army Installations. Lots...

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I'd be careful trying this in the Arkansas River downstream of Pine Bluff Arsenal for sure.

Years ago I dropped my keys along the walkway to the covered fishing house at Cranes Mill in NB. It was winter so no swimming for them. The guy in the bait shop had a magnet, so in the course of about an hour and a half I had a folding knife that was pretty bad and a nice filet knife that was awesome before I finally got the keys. If it was not for the bigger decorative ring on the keys I never would have got them back.

Dude's in those videos get WAY to excited pulling up an old bike or hammer

Several years ago, my son was devastated when he dropped his first pocket knife off the pier in our backyard into Oyster Creek . I grabbed my magnet on a stick, had him show me where he was standing & I was able to fish it out...fun times.

Here's an old article about it.

https://www.cristanwilliams.com/2011/02/26/the-donnellan-crypt-downtown-houston/

There also used to be a red button "art" feature in the area that made the bayou to blow big bubbles. I don't think it works anymore, but haven't lived in Houston in 10 years.

Ayto Siks said:

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There also used to be a red button "art" feature in the area that made the bayou to blow big bubbles. I don't think it works anymore, but haven't lived in Houston in 10 years.

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Yeah it hasn't worked since Harvey. It was a fun but I don't believe there are any plans to fix it any time soon if ever.

https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2024/02/the-big-bubble-broken

My FIL has a magnet fishing rig. It's about 4 inches across maybe and a lot stronger than it looks. We use it off of the dock when we rent a lake house. We've gotten stuff like fishing hooks, lures, a pair of pliers, a deck chair, etc. Nothing really to write home about and it's a tedious process.

It's worth trying to say you've done it, but in my limited experience the stuff you find is generally trash.

I used to have this rake on a rope minus the handle of the rake. It would cut plant life down when dragged back to you after tossing it out. My FIL didn't fish. I got a bunch of different big magnets from the trash and would stick them to it trying to make the rake pick up things like hooks and such. Worked great but would not get heavy stuff like some of these 3inch X 3inch ones that can pick up 20 pounds.

BlueSmoke said:

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Dude's in those videos get WAY to excited pulling up an old bike or hammer

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or they pull up things they threw in the water earlier for content.

I've pulled a trowel and a screwdriver from Research park. Lots of lures from the CSPD pond.

Nothing really exciting but I do feel like a good steward when I pull out a bunch of rusted trash to properly dispose of in the trash can.

I can waste several hours on the weekend all over town.