Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore

Evan Woodard, from left, provides the line and magnet for Ali
von Paris and Ally Mills to try magnet fishing at Broadway Pier.
 
WYPR, There's a new hobby in Baltimore, fishing hunks of metal out of the Patapsco River with magnets
The concept is simple: tie a high-powered magnet to a rope and chuck it into the water, then slowly pull it back and see what kinds of metal objects come up.

That night, there were a handful of new fishers ranging from elementary school age to individuals in their mid-thirties.

Ally Chalmers, a Baltimore County resident and mother of two, was one of those new fishers. Chalmers tossed her magnet in underhand before she spoke.

“Well, I wanted it to go a little farther,” Chalmers said as she started pulling in the rope. “It's kind of weird as you move it along you can feel that there's a lot of things that it's attracted to down there like I can feel heaviness right now even almost like a fish is on it, which I know it's not.”

The magnets are capable of bringing up large objects considering their size. They are only about the size of a fist, but have the ability to pull thousands of pounds.

The group brought up 15 scooters, lawn chairs, headphones, nails, pipes, pieces of rebar and cans in the last month.

Nick Fischer, who started magnet fishing over the holidays, brought up a gun in early January. Fischer immediately called the police.

“The first thing out of their mouth was ‘You guys probably just solved the cold case,’” Fischer said.

The police haven’t gotten back to him with any follow-up information.

The magnet fishing group is the brainchild of Evan Woodard, who has been living in Baltimore City since 2012.

Woodard bought a magnet in December 2022 – they’re priced between $50 and $280 depending on the quality.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Christina Ricci up on time an under budget at The Other McCain.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment