Magnet Fishing

Searching outdoor waterways for ferromagnetic objects by lowering a powerful neodymium magnet, tied to a rope typically fifteen to thirty meters long, into a canal, river or lake and dragging it along the bottom. Hobbyists, sometimes called magnetfishers or magneteers, recover anything from discarded bicycles and coins to old safes, and occasionally hazardous items such as firearms or unexploded ordnance, which they are expected to report rather than keep; the hobby took off in Europe in the early 2000s and has since spread internationally, drawn as much by the satisfaction of clearing metal debris from waterways as by the chance of a valuable or historic find.