Magnet fishing

I have been thinking of doing this for awhile living in a city that touches the ohio river which is known as being a dirty river with tons of metal laying around. So has anyone done this? Basically attach a decent magnet to a rope and throw it in the water and see what comes up? Also anyone know the legalities of collecting scrap from a river?

I've done that before, just for the hell of it.

Before you do anything id call your local folks and ask them. I got in good with the Ditch Riders that would always drive by. Once i made friends, they'd tell me where they saw a rim, some siding, and believe it or not a **** refrigerator in the canal.

It's always best to ask first. But don't say anything about making money. That will make them think. You don't want that. EVER. You want them to know that you're there to simply help the environment and that's it.

Good luck man! It is fun, not knowing what you're going to pull up.

Hey Hoss! Good seein ya man. What could anyone say about you dragging a magnet in a river? Unless you're trespassin on their property or something? Aren't waterways open to all, and doesn't ones property stop at the waters edge?

Ditch Riders are always on the lookout for folks mess in with water ways. They don't know what you may or may not be doing. Littering, dumping a body, etc.

Nice to see you again too friend. I pop in and out every now and then.

does "fishin" with a magnet require a license? : D

probly pulled about a zillion lbs out of the susquehanna river here in pa. ....,when i started scrapping it was in waterways and in wooded areas by the rivers ,ironicly ,was from taking my dog swimmin and for walks ,....i noticed scrap in the local river where i lived ,took it in ,made money.....went back ,found more ,made money ....rest is history

best tips
....be a ghost ,.....i've met many peaple and scraped out alot of old propertys from them seeing me walking scrap out of the rivers ,but i've been confronted by hostile and untrusting folks many times too,....i did best when staying away from busy places ,populated places ,or in the public eye places ,....to many hassles from peaple thinking your up to no good ,most times peaple are cool once they find out what your doing ,....but explaining what your doing to every tom ,**** n harry equals no work getting done ,.....that and armed property owners are scary

public access and buissness owned access usually warrents police chasing you away ,they invent a reason most times ,....private accesses are best as long as you meet the property owers before you pull anything big out......best way to meet property owners ,...take the dog for a walk ,seem innocent ,....they'll find you ,lol

downplay making money ,if folks get a wiff of you making decent money ,all the sudden the scrap will become thiers and worth to much to let you just have it ,......usually it will continue it's way to rusting away or becoming earth agian ,mostly cause nobody wants to work that hard to pull it out.....but if it's worth good money ,alot of folks won't wanna give it away .....i always ephisize cleaning up the river but admit making a "meager" wage for doing it

i still find tons of stuff by the rivers and in them ,i do research on old propertys ,and the history of the areas ,......never tried the magnet ,good idea ,btw.... usually i just look in shallow areas and just look for non naturaly made stuff ,....and look for rust ,lol ......be amazed at what you find ,specially in old steel producing states ,....in pa. ,and in ohio probly ,the rail industry ,the boating industry ,...and genrally any industry based on a river ,have left alot of stuff in them

....best finds so far ,2,300 lbs of compressers in one day ,(40s appliance repair shop next to the river )....a downed abandoned in the 40s railroad electrical pole ,300lbs of copper and brass as well as steel ......and an abandoned pump house from the 1900s era for steam locomotives ,bout 150 lbs of brass, a few thousand lbs of steel ......currently i have too many storys to recall ,........the best part ,....is lounging in the water in the summer

There's an old steam engine(maybe a steam boat wreck) in the river not far from me
This thread is bringing back some memories
I recall first coming back here in the early to mid 70s(I had been born here several years earlier ; ) There were two places my Grandfather had left with my Dad and an uncle, the uncles place was split, part of it being right down by the river. I was fresh out of school and still in my weed smokin days. One day I headed down to my uncles river frontage place to scope out the joint, haha, this spot was in the boonies for sure! Drove as far as I could, walked on down a rattlesnake slope to a sandbar, man I was on another planet, specially after I fired up that doobie, cool huh : D Great place, nice view too : )
Then I saw it. Some sort of a graveyard over there along the river bank. So many cars had been pushed off of that sandy river bank that to this day I have no clue how many were there, big cars, big heavy cars, several dozen at least, all side by side, all hidden from the rest of the world.
I decided I didn't wanna hang around there any longer and began the long climb up that long long rattlesnake hill, back to the car, a now old 64 Impala, which seemed new in the company of those older, heavier ones along the river bank.
I later came to realize they hadn't been shoved over the edge after being filled with bodies, but were scrappers, placed there to slow erosion of the riverbank. I'd guess they're all still there, or somewhere downstream, maybe near the old steamboat wreck by now

Originally Posted by Bear

There's an old steam engine(maybe a steam boat wreck) in the river not far from me
This thread is bringing back some memories
I recall first coming back here in the early to mid 70s(I had been born here several years earlier ; ) There were two places my Grandfather had left with my Dad and an uncle, the uncles place was split, part of it being right down by the river. I was fresh out of school and still in my weed smokin days. One day I headed down to my uncles river frontage place to scope out the joint, haha, this spot was in the boonies for sure! Drove as far as I could, walked on down a rattlesnake slope to a sandbar, man I was on another planet, specially after I fired up that doobie, cool huh : D Great place, nice view too : )
Then I saw it. Some sort of a graveyard over there along the river bank. So many cars had been pushed off of that sandy river bank that to this day I have no clue how many were there, big cars, big heavy cars, several dozen at least, all side by side, all hidden from the rest of the world.
I decided I didn't wanna hang around there any longer and began the long climb up that long long rattlesnake hill, back to the car, a now old 64 Impala, which seemed new in the company of those older, heavier ones along the river bank.
I later came to realize they hadn't been shoved over the edge after being filled with bodies, but were scrappers, placed there to slow erosion of the riverbank. I'd guess they're all still there, or somewhere downstream, maybe near the old steamboat wreck by now

that was the same story with all those compressers ,....the oldtimer that originally owned that property actually made himself a sandbar/ island out of old appliances ,topped with old compressers and motors ,.......i only took what had surfaced and left alot there ,....the property changed and had a rented house on it ,the guy wanted them gone on the top ,but didn't want to make the property smaller ,......guess back in the olden days ,folks used to use old appliances and big trash to slow and control erosion ,....i've found simalur stuff on many of old farms

Originally Posted by Bear

Hey Hoss! Good seein ya man. What could anyone say about you dragging a magnet in a river? Unless you're trespassin on their property or something? Aren't waterways open to all, and doesn't ones property stop at the waters edge?

Some states give property rights to the center of the waterway. Wyoming is that way and some other states might be. In Wyoming we can navigate a waterway as long as you do not step on private land. At the same time, the land owner owns the fish and anything else in the water. I do a lot of fly fishing and guides lease certain holes from landowners. If you catch a fish in one of their holes, you can be charged with trespassing and theft. I have made a couple of mistakes, but the guides have been real nice. I think they have seen me cast and figure I could't catch a fish anyway.

I got a creek behind my house and the stuff is too heavy to pull with a magnet but I do plan on getting. There is rims (with and w/o tires), tires, rusted barrels, a car axel, a weird metal box, and who knows what else.

Originally Posted by jord0690

Your kidding right? They own the FISH? Weird laws man. Cant believe they even enforce that. that would never fly (no pun inended) up here in the great white north eh.

I agree Jord, that would never work down here in Florida either. Down hear if your out on your boat and you have problems like the motor quits and you can't get it started you can tie it up to a privet dock and the dock owner can't do anything about it.

Originally Posted by oldtruck

that was the same story with all those compressers ,....the oldtimer that originally owned that property actually made himself a sandbar/ island out of old appliances ,topped with old compressers and motors ,.......i only took what had surfaced and left alot there ,....the property changed and had a rented house on it ,the guy wanted them gone on the top ,but didn't want to make the property smaller ,......guess back in the olden days ,folks used to use old appliances and big trash to slow and control erosion ,....i've found simalur stuff on many of old farms

I guess it 's not practicable but little did any of those people know what a investment they had for there grand kids.

My buddy wants to do this, but on a fishing vessel.. He wants to get an electro magnet capable of holding a couple tons and go out diving/trolling for random stuff.. I guess the boat has a big enough payload to make it worth it..

woodman- I hope he doesn't fish any of those artificial reefs made on purpose with old vehicles, boats and other junk. the authorities and divers wouldn't be pleased. Otherwise sounds like a great idea. And waterways are great places to find old bottles, make sure they arent good ones before passing them up.

Originally Posted by bluemeate

soooo much metal along one of my waterways but it is a mile bikeride between there and my truck aaggghhhhhh

so theres a real life piarateship been washed ashore my hometown's local beach. for a while
some ratty tweaker was going around with a stolen tugboat stealing metal off peirs and what not till he got his boat stuck one day, now in jail, boat just sitting there,lol

We need to expatriate all the rat tweaker pirates