Magnet fishers are hunting for sunken treasures in Quebec’s waterways | 24CA News
Frédérick Hardy reaches again together with his left arm, clutching a climbing rope with a heavy magnet on the top.
He throws, hucking the load so far as he can out into Montreal’s Lachine Canal close to the Atwater Market.
“It’s like playing the lottery. You throw, you don’t know what you’re going to find,” stated Hardy.
He’s discovered the whole lot from iron railway spikes to mortar shells. And he is discovered loads of free change, too.
“People are making wishes,” he stated. “Sometimes the wishes come back to my magnet. Sorry.”
Magnet fishing is a rising pattern world wide. And based mostly on engagement seen in on-line magnet fishing communities, web page directors estimate hundreds are collaborating within the passion throughout Quebec.
People often take it up with hope of discovering attention-grabbing, and even priceless, objects whereas cleansing up waterways.
Not at all times ‘finders keepers’
Serge Côté, who lives in Quebec’s Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean area, has written two books on the topic, together with a magnet fishing information for the province.
In his Facebook group, Pêche à l’aimant Québec, which has some 2,600 members, hobbyists submit discoveries like rusted bikes and avenue indicators. There are previous springs, bottle caps, instruments, washing machines and screws, but in addition previous cash or wagon wheels.
In one current submit to the group, somebody pulled out a whole golf cart. The writer wrote that police had been known as and it was decided to be a stolen cart from a close-by campground marina.
Sometimes the magnets discover weapons, ammunition, telephones, watches, safes or luggage of cash. But, Côté defined, it isn’t all finders keepers.
He stated it is essential to contact the police when a gun, or something which will have been stolen, is discovered.
When Hardy discovered a rifle final month, he known as the police. He stated they advised him it was unusable, and he was allowed to maintain it. So he cleaned it up and has it on show.
“It’s an old Swedish gun,” he stated, estimating it dates again to someday between 1942 and 1960.
The passion is getting so common that the province’s first-ever Global Magnet Fishing Day occasion is deliberate for July 15 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., about 40 kilometres south of Montreal.
It will likely be a full day of magnet fishing within the Chambly Canal, the place organizers like Côté and Hardy anticipate there will likely be some notably attention-grabbing treasures.
“From word of mouth, we’ve heard it’s a place worth exploring,” stated Côté, describing the occasion as a chance to introduce extra Quebecers to the exercise.
“A bunch of magnet fishers will magnet fish together, showing how it’s an ecological way of cleaning the water.”
Hardy stated cleansing the water is without doubt one of the most important functions of magnet fishing, and that Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu welcomes the initiative.
“We hope that this event will contribute to sensitizing the population to the importance of taking care of our waterways,” stated municipal spokesperson Marie-Pier Gagnon, noting the canal is managed by Parks Canada.
Aside from needing to bear in mind that you would be able to’t simply hold something suspicious, Côté stated there are few laws surrounding magnet fishing. You simply should steer clear of non-public property if you do not have permission, and keep away from archeological websites.
In his 12 years of magnet fishing, Côté stated certainly one of his extra memorable finds was an previous Volkswagen that got here out of the water in two items.
“I had to get people to help me,” he stated. “It was too heavy.”
A passion for all ages
Anyone can get into magnet fishing, Hardy stated. Magnet and cord kits might be discovered on-line, but it surely’s essential folks discover a magnet that fits their energy. A highly effective magnet may lock onto one thing too heavy to retrieve.
“You can remove cars and old boats, if you want,” he stated. “But you need to be careful or you’re going to lose your magnet. It’s happened to me.”
Hardy has a YouTube channel, Joker’s Magnet, the place he posts movies of his adventures in Quebec and the United States.
As for all of the steel he hauls out of locations just like the Lachine Canal, Hardy stated he typically scraps it for pocket cash. But it is probably not the additional money that retains him . It’s the fun of discovering surprises, but in addition serving to to scrub the setting, he stated.
Some, like Montreal resident Pierre Brise-Bois, hope to uncover proof that would assist police crack a legal case.
“I wish to find a gun or something like that to help the police with an investigation,” he stated.
Recently, Brise-Bois pulled a Bixi out of the Lachine Canal, he stated. He’s discovered greater than 15 bikes, he stated, and one full automobile door.
“It’s like a big bag of surprises,” he stated. “You never know what you’re going to get.”
