Andy Baines
Chief Magnet Fisher And Writer Around Here.
I have been a keen magnet fishing enthusiast for the best part of 6 years now and have picked up a lot of cool tips and ideas along the way. I share them here on Hobby Magnet Fishing to hopefully help and inspire you to take part in the hobby.You can read more about my journey on the About Page.
When you start Hobby Magnet Fishing you will really have a quick learning curve to follow, that’s why I always recommend that your first stop should be my complete magnet fishing guide.
Once you have grasped all of the basics of the hobby you may be wondering if there are any cool or amazing tips for magnet fishing that will help you on your adventures.
Well you have come to the right place, this guide is going to teach you all of the best magnet fishing tips that i have learnt over my several years taking part in this hobby.
So let’s get into this.
The best tips for magnet fishing.
I think the vest way to do this is to list all of the tips below and then after that I will write a little more in depth about each of them.
Here are my favourite magnet fishing tips:
- Use a Neodymium magnet that has enough power.
- Always wear thick gloves.
- Make sure that your rope is strong enough.
- Don’t let your carabiner be the weakest link.
- Make retrieving finds easier with a grappling hook.
- Select the best places to magnet fish.
- Sell your scrap metal for money
- Release a stuck magnet with sideways pressure.
That is my list of the best tips for magnet fishing, now I want to tell you about each of them so that you can utilise them for your own benefit.
Use a Neodymium magnet that has enough power.
If you have already had a little look about to see what magnets are available you might feel a little overwhelmed. There are ferrite pot magnet (do not use these as they are weak and brittle) and there are thousands of different neodymium magnets in different pulling strengths.
With that in mind I always recommend that you get a Neodymium magnet that has a pulling force of around 500-800lb for your first magnet.
Any more than this may be a little to much to handle until you start to learn how to use it. Any less than this amount could mean that you do not have enough power to pull in some heavier finds.
You may think that under 500lb is fine but because most finds have been in the water a while contaminants will have built up on the surface. This can mean that they are slippery so the magnet cannot use its full pulling force.
Always use thick gloves.
I will tell you a story about my first magnet fishing trip.
I bought all the gear that I needed but neglected to think that I should wear a pair of gloves, what could go wrong?
Well to start off I actually trapped my index finger between the magnet and my car trunk base, it started bruising within minutes! Then to tip it off once I was magnet fishing I cut my index finder on a grime covered lump of scrap metal. The next day my finger was quite a mess and was infected.
From that day on I always made sure that I carried a pair of gloves with me ready for when I decided to go magnet fishing.
I highly recommend that you get some that are quite thick, cut resistant and also if possible waterproof. Trust me, you will thank me for this tip as you only get one set of hands.
Make sure your rope is strong enough.
It does not matter if you are using rope or paracord as long as it is strong enough to pull on your finds.
For me personally I prefer to use paracord as I find that it is a lot stronger than rope for its size. This means that I can tie my knot and it will be smaller, reducing the chance of snagging.
Before buying your rope or paracord check the manufacturers specifications and look for it breaking strain. Try to get one that is at least as strong as your magnets pulling force or higher if you can. It will prevent you from losing your magnet setup should you get snagged in the waters below.
Don’t let your carabiner be the weakest link.
I have made this mistake myself but luckily I noticed that my carabiner was weak before I connected it to my magnet and rope.
If you are going to attach your magnet to a carabiner make sure that it is strong enough to take the pulling force of your magnet.
Some of the ones from Ebay and Amazon are no better than a novelty carabiner. They are weak and can easily be bent out if shape.
Check to see how much weight yours can handle.
Use a grapling hook to make retrieving finds easier.
This is an awesome magnet fishing tip and one that made pulling in bigger finds so much easier for me.
Grappling hooks are cheap to buy and you can just connect them to a separate length of rope of paracord. When you have a find that is quite difficult to pull in you can throw out your grappling hook just past the area where the find is.
Once you have done this slowly retrieve the hook until it snags onto the find. You can then use it to pull your find and magnet back to land.
Select the best places to magnet fish.
The first time you go magnet fishing you will more than likely just go to the closest location to have a test.
Once you really get into the hobby though it’s time to start doing some research to find the best places to go.
Think about places where lots of people gather, picnic areas or parks are always worth a try. If you have a downtown river or canal these can be a goldmine for good finds such as cash boxes and safes!
Sell you scrap magnet fishing finds for cash.
This is a great magnet fishing tip!
Quite a lot of the finds you will make in this hobby will be chunks of scrap metal that are good for nothing. It also piles up very quickly waiting for you to dispose of it.
But did you know that you could make a stack of cash from you unwanted scrap finds? Well you can. Most Scrap metal merchants will pay you by the lb for your metal.
Click this link if you would like to see my guide to all the ways that you can make money by magnet fishing.
A top tip for releasing a stuck magnet.
Trust me at some point in this hobby you will need to use this tip. Neodymium fishing magnet are highly powerful, some in excess of 1000lb pulling force.
When that clamps to your car trunk, a steel beam or any other piece of metal accidentally it can be a nightmare to remove.
However the best way to remove a stuck neodymium fishing magnet is to apply sideways pressure and force. The magnet will actually slide off the metals surface with some pressure as you will not be fighting its vertical pulling force.
It may seem to simple to be true but try it, it really does work and had saved me in this situation a couple of times.
Conclusion.
I really hope these magnet fishing tips and tricks will come in handy for you. I have used each of them myself over the years and they have really helped, that’s why I am recommending them.