Magnet fishing is getting very popular

Armed with a very strong magnet on a rope they wander over quays and banks. Especially young men go out regularly. With a big swing the magnet is thrown into a canal or river and then slowly pulled in. All in the hope that a treasure will come up with it.

Full vault

Magnetic fish are rapidly gaining popularity. And that’s not at all strange when you hear what’s surfacing. Like last week in Assen. Magnetic fisher Joachim Scheffer from Leek used a strong magnet on a rope to pull a safe out of the water on the Groene Dijk Zuidzijde. That safe turned out to contain a considerable treasure trove of jewelry, among other things. It was already the fourth vault in a month he picked up. The bag he picked up that same afternoon was full of stolen items.

Yet there is a certain image attached to the hobby and there are risks. “You must always keep an eye on your own safety while magnetic fishing,” says police spokesman Anne Kok. “Sometimes it’s quite dangerous what people take out of the water, such as explosives. So don’t trust it, keep your distance and warn us”.

Last week, for the fourth time in a month, a full vault in Assen was fished out:

Risky

Stefan* has been fishing with magnet fishing magnets for years and is very active in the world. He partly agrees with the words of the police, but doesn’t think it should be exaggerated. “It can indeed be a risky hobby. But that also applies to sports like motocross or karting. And yet, you never hear that something goes wrong during magnetic fishing and in these sports it does”.

But getting ammunition, a bomb or a grenade out of the water with your magnet is certainly exciting. “After all these years I know what to do. But for someone who hasn’t been fishing for long it would be good if there were some clearer rules. What should you do in such a case? Maybe there should be a simple course, or a page with the basic rules. That would help.