Magnet fishing is one of the more unique hobbies that people got into during the pandemic and it has remained popular even in its aftermath. The idea is simple: anglers drop a heavy magnet into a waterway and see what they can pull up.
It’s pretty common for people to find guns, knives, fishing tackle, scrap metal and even the occasional bicycle. The hobby is popular on YouTube, where there are hundreds of thousands of videos related to the topic.
The hobby is fun for those who get a kick out of finding buried treasure, but it’s also great for the environment. Anglers with magnets that can pull anywhere from 400 to 2,000 pounds have done a great job of removing dangerous waterway debris.
A couple who got into magnet fishing during the pandemic made an incredible catch in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on Friday, May 31, that earned them a spot on the New York 1 News. James Kane and Barbie Agostini threw a rope with a magnet into a river and pulled up a safe with an estimated $100,000 inside.
An American couple has managed to hook a safe filled with nearly AU$150,000 while magnet fishing in a New York lake.
James Kane & Barbie Agostini join us to tell us about the valuable find. pic.twitter.com/VqJTKa0qnM
— The Project (@theprojecttv) June 3, 2024
“We pulled it out and it was big stacks of freaking hundreds,” Kane told New York 1. “These are thick stacks—they’re soaking wet, they’re pretty much destroyed.”
Agostini thought Kane was joking when he said there were stacks of money in the safe. “He showed me and once I saw the actual dollars and the security ribbons I lost it,” she said.
To avoid legal trouble, the couple contacted the police to ensure that the safe wasn’t connected to any crimes. “There were no IDs, no way to find the original person, in the safe. [The police] were like: ‘Well, congratulations!'” Agostini said.
The police said they had never seen a discovery like it before.
Kane told New York 1 that they got into the hobby during lockdown. “We were bored during COVID lockdown and I’ve always had this itch to become a treasure hunter … so we discovered something called magnet fishing,” Kane said. He calls the hobby “the poor man’s treasure hunting.”
A couple in Queens were stunned to find $100,000 in cash inside an old safe they dredged up while magnet fishing in a NYC lake.
The two anglers, James Kane and Barbie Agostini, used a strong magnet to fish in the water on Friday afternoon. They felt something bulky on the end… pic.twitter.com/JczNL2ngq6
— Evoclique (@Evoclique_) June 2, 2024
Even though the money was soaked and covered in mud, the couple may be able to spend it. They sent it to Washington, D.C., to be cleaned and inspected. “To clean it up takes 6 months to 3 years,” Kane told The Project. But we believe this one’s not gonna be that long.”
One wonders why a safe with so much money wound up in a river. Was it stolen by thieves who ditched it because it couldn’t be opened? Did a jilted lover steal the safe from someone and throw it into the lake so it would be lost forever? Unfortunately, no one knows.
The couple also recently found 6 or 7 vintage guns in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn and a few grenades from World War II.
Do you have a treasure hunter deep inside you who wants to try magnet fishing? Clay Copeland, founder and president of Brute Magnetics, a magnet fishing equipment company in North Georgia, says it’s a relatively affordable hobby.
“Even our highest [priced] Brute Box is $200. There are not many hobbies you can get into and get top-of-the-line equipment for a couple of hundred bucks,” he told Mapquest. “That was intentional on our part to open this up to a wide variety of people because it is such an interesting and fun hobby that you just never know what you’re going to find.”
Copeland says magnet fishing is a lot of fun for families with kids. He magnet fishes with his 5 and 7-year-olds regularly.
“When we throw the magnet out and bring it back … just seeing that joy in their face when something is coming up, it’s the greatest thing ever,” he said.