Magnet Fishing…
Where do i begin; well i suppose we need something to attach the iron too, so i had better get a new magnet, as i lost my sea magnet which i purchased in the early nineteen ninety’s from a treasure hunting shop in North Essex, to this day i have no idea where the magnet went, typical i suppose, anyway i have now gone & bought some new equipment for the princely sum of £ 29.99p which came with its own length of rope, and what appears to be a secure attachment on one end of the rope where a carabiner or karabiner is attached ready to be clipped onto the magnet’s eye… When the magnet arrived it came in two pieces, the eye and the magnet, so you have to screw the pole with the eye on top into the magnet’s outer holder, now this is something i am pleased that i had to do, as it showed me, that this could be a possible weak point, if you did not keep up with checking the tightness of the eye, you could very easily end up losing the magnet to the watery depths, so out came the good old lock-tight, which can be purchased cheaply enough and would have no adverse affect on what we are doing, i actually purchased my new magnet from a company called online magnets, although they sell them from there website mine was actually purchased through there ebay shop…
As you can see the magnet, itself came well 
packed with bubble wrap and in a strong sturdy box, which was confirmed whilst i was unpacking the box to check the contents was all there, everything inside the box was well protected with plenty of bubble wrap, the magnet itself is quite heavy, so thinking back to what else i used in the past, got me think that i had better get some more rope, due to losing a couple of magnets where they became detached from the rope, this time i decided to put two ropes on the magnet, so if one fails, hopefully the other will be enough to keep the magnet attached, now what sort of rope was required… i think a man-made rope, maybe some rope made from polypropylene, so it is water proof and will not rot, the cheapest place for this was B&M’s, other places were treble the price for shorter lengths, the rope is thin enough to tie to the eye of the magnet & at a hundred feet long, that should leave enough rope on the bank for other hands or to put you feet on…
What else-Ah i used to use a small boat “grappling hook” not the greatest thing, brilliant for the job, but it weighed in about 10lb, terrible to keep throwing into the water, far to 
heavy, so i jumped onto Amazon, & there was a little man running around, climbing trees, amongst other things with this grappling hook, as for is it any good, i have no idea yet, but at four pounds with free postage, its something well worth trying out…
I have located several new places, to try my new magnet out, plus all of the old sites i had tried or visited before, so now no ifs, buts or maybes i just need to get my finger out…
As an after thought, one thing i learned from my earlier expeditions many years ago, is that when magnet fishing, your equipment carry bag needs to be relatively waterproof, I’ve seen people with carry bags from well known supermarkets, stuffed to the brim with equipment, i suppose that is ok [- for a while -] my answer is to use a hard case from a drill, circular saw or my own box is from a sabre-saw, of which the tool had long expired, so the box got a new lease of life, the benefits of a hard case box; include, secure clips to close the box, and a decent handle to pick it up & go, whilst everything including the kitchen sink can fit inside, a good example is that when the rope is wet, there is a minimal risk of getting a wet leg, when carrying the equipment away at the end of your hunt… Your gloves can be stored inside a supermarket bag then popped inside the box, this keeps them with your equipment but out of the way sufficiently to stop stale and smelly water ingression, I’ve learnt that horrible smelly water seems to find its way into your gloves without any trouble, so it does not require you help it… Looking after the magnet itself, ropes, gloves & the grappling hook all tucked away in one place not only keeps it together, but stored away safely, your unlikely to go and forget something or mislaying any of the equipment…
Northeast Detectorist 