This Month in Magnet Fishing: February 2026 Edition

Welcome back to the monthly roundup, where I dig up the best magnet fishing stories from the past few weeks so you don't have to. February was a quiet month outside... and a completely unhinged one underwater. A college campus got shut down. A father and son pulled WWII-era ordnance out of a river in England. And somewhere out there, a magnet fisher is having a very good story to tell at parties for the rest of their life. Let's get into it.

Okay, so technically this one involves a bomb squad, but hear me out — the _find_ itself is the haul of the month.

On February 19th, a father-son team was magnet fishing on the River Stour near Canford Magna in Wimborne, England, when they pulled up what turned out to be a 60mm mortar. A _World War II-era mortar_. Just sitting there in the riverbed, presumably since sometime around 1944, waiting for two guys with a magnet and some rope to show up.

To their credit, they did exactly what you're supposed to do — they called it in immediately. Dorset Police responded, the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team was called, and the mortar was safely moved and detonated. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the whole thing. No one got hurt. Dad and kid got a story that'll outlive them both.

This is honestly what magnet fishing is about. You're not just pulling up rusty bolts and bottle caps. Sometimes you're genuinely contributing to public safety. This duo accidentally did what historians and cleanup crews have been trying to do for 80 years — get that thing out of the water.

If you're in the UK or even just curious about what to do when you find something like this, the same rules apply everywhere: don't touch it more than you have to, back away, and call the authorities. We've got a full guide to what to do if you find a gun while magnet fishing — most of those principles apply to any dangerous find.

Two explosive finds in one month? Yep. February was that kind of month.

On February 5th, a magnet fisher was out at the University Lakes at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California — which, genuinely, is not a place you'd expect to be a treasure hotspot — and pulled up what appeared to be an explosive device from the northwest section of the lake.

The fisher did everything right. They stopped, backed off, and immediately contacted university police. Campus officers cleared the area, called in the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department bomb squad, and a detective took the device offsite to render it safe. SSU Police Chief Nader Oweis confirmed that at no point was the campus community in imminent danger.

Nobody knows yet how it got there. Investigators are still piecing it together.

The thing is, this is February — not exactly prime magnet fishing season for most people. But someone was out there anyway, and because they were, something potentially dangerous got removed from a public lake on a college campus. That's not nothing.

As always: if you pull something out of the water and it doesn't look like a bike tire or a rusted bolt, put it down gently, step back, and call 911. Our guide to finding guns while magnet fishing walks you through the mindset for any scary find. The same rules apply — don't be a hero, just be the person who made the call.

Here's the thing about magnet fishing in February — it's cold. Like, genuinely uncomfortable in most of the country. And yet people are still out there doing it.

That's kind of the wholesome story of the month. Not one viral moment, but the broader picture: the hobby doesn't stop. Families bundled up in layers, kids begging parents to "do one more cast," people out on frozen-edged riverbanks because the pull of what might be down there is stronger than the pull of staying on the couch.

The father-son duo from the River Stour haul is actually a perfect example. Nobody hears "let's go magnet fishing in mid-February in England" and thinks _yes, obviously._ It's cold, it's damp, and England in February is... England in February. But they went anyway, and that shared experience — the goofy hobby, the afternoon together, the completely unexpected WWII find — is the kind of thing that becomes family legend.

That's why I keep coming back to this hobby. The finds are wild, sure. But it's the time spent outside together, the stories that come from it, that actually sticks. If you've been thinking about bringing your kids out this spring, check out our magnet fishing with kids guide — spring is right around the corner and now's the time to start planning.

While we're on the subject of spring planning — if you're in Northern California and you have kids between 5 and 13, mark your calendar right now.

The Cosumnes CSD and the Kiwanis Club of Laguna-Elk Grove are hosting their annual Youth Magnet Fishing Derby at Elk Grove Park Lake on Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. It's free, equipment is provided, and every participant gets a certificate. The event is specifically designed as a cooperative waterway cleanup — kids fish together to pull hazardous debris out of the lake, not competing against each other.

I love this. It's exactly what magnet fishing should be at the community level — something that gets kids outside, gets them curious about what's under the surface, and frames the whole thing as contributing to their local environment. Not just treasure hunting. Service.

Registration is required (no walk-ups), so if you're local to Elk Grove, get signed up soon. Advanced registration is available through the Cosumnes CSD website.

If your city doesn't have an event like this yet — honestly, this is the kind of thing our community could absolutely organize. The city magnet fishing spots hub is a good place to start connecting with who's fishing where near you.

After two explosive finds in one month, I'm thinking about safety gear a little differently.

Specifically: gloves. If February taught us anything, it's that you don't always know what you're about to grab. Cold-weather fishing also means wet, numb hands, which makes a good pair of cut-resistant gloves even more important than usual.

The NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves are consistently one of the highest-rated options on Amazon (4.8 stars, thousands of reviews) and they've saved my hands from rusty surprises more than once. They're flexible enough to actually handle rope and gear, they work when wet, and they're cheap enough that you can keep a spare pair in your bag without feeling bad about it.

As we head into late winter/early spring — when water levels start moving things around and older finds start coming loose from riverbeds — it's a genuinely good time to make sure your gloves are in good shape. Check out the full magnet fishing accessories page for more gear that actually holds up.

That's a wrap on February. Two explosive finds, a great community derby coming up in April, and a solid reminder that this hobby doesn't care what month it is.

Got a find from February I missed? Send it my way — I'm always looking for stories for next month's roundup. And if you want to make sure you never miss one, sign up for the email list below.

See you in March. 🧲