I’ve told you about Kyle’s newfound passion for metal detecting, right?  Just last weekend he found several screws and a large bolt, so yeah, he’s pretty awesome at it.  Having mastered metal detecting (and geocaching, and garage sale-ing), Kyle began searching for other ways to dig up cool stuff. At the same time, our ten-year-old, who loves traditional fishing and throwing things into bodies of water, came across a YouTube video about Magnet Fishing. He showed Kyle, Kyle used some of Ten’s birthday money (thanks, Auntie Jenn!) to buy a Magnet Fishing set – and thus, a new hobby was found.

You may be as surprised as I to hear that Magnet Fishing is not 1) fishing with a rod and reel for magnets lost beneath the depths of the sea; nor 2) catching fish using a magnet in lieu of worms or other live bait.  It wasn’t until I was standing on the shore watching Kyle throw a hockey puck-sized metal bobber into the lake that I realized that Magnet Fishing was using a magnet tied to a rope to “catch” any magnetized objects on the lake floor.  On Sunday, Kyle, Ten, and I went Magnet Fishing.

Like most of Grand Forks, we live within walking distance of the Red River.

“What do you think you’re going to catch today?”  I asked Ten as we climbed over the dike.

“Probably some gold,” Ten said.

“Gold isn’t magnetic,” Kyle said.  “But we could find dimes and quarters!”

I feel compelled to note that this was not Kyle and Ten’s first attempt at Magnet Fishing; it was the second.  The first had been at the aforementioned lake.  Kyle and Ten had “fished” from both the dock and the boat and caught nothing but memories, slightly more toned arms, and the burning desire to actually pick something up with the magnet.

We stopped first at a small watering hole just ahead of the river.  The wind had a habit of swirling around the hole and, based on the amount of trash on the outskirts, the chances of fishing out some garbage was high.  Ten swung the rope like a lasso and heaved it into the middle of the hole.  Once it had reached the bottom, he pulled it back in.  Hanging onto the magnet was a small worm.

“Success!”  I said, although the boys were nonplussed.

Ten threw the worm back into the water and then picked up the magnet – rope be damned – and threw that in, too.  He tugged the rope.  It tugged back; stuck.

“Uh oh,” Ten said, thinking he had done wrong.

“You got something!”  Kyle said.  He took hold of the rope, and yanked.  Nothing happened.

For the next few minutes, Kyle and Ten walked the banks of the hole, trying to jigger out whatever gigantic object they had connected to…or at least recover the magnet, which was looking more and more like it was about to become watering hole treasure itself.  Finally, the magnet – but not the object – came loose.  We sighed a sigh of relief, and quacked at two ducks flying overhead.

We moved onto the river; Kyle holding the magnet and Ten holding the rope.  The riverbank was through a small copse of trees, bushes, and other greenery, and as we walked it dawned on me that I didn’t know what poison ivy actually looked like, and also that it was tick season.  As the trees opened up to the water below, I got a mosquito bite.

I was about to say something on the lines of, “Well, that’s enough Magnet Fishing for today,” when Kyle and Ten, due to a miscommunication, both threw their end of the Magnet Fishing set into the water.

“Quick, grab a stick!”  Kyle shouted.  Ten found a substantial branch, wrestled it out of the bramble, and chucked it at Kyle just as the last loop of the rope descended out of sight into the deep.  Kyle shoved the branch where the rope had been, swirled it around a bit, and pulled up the Magnet Fishing set.

“Success!”  I said, although the boys ignored me because they were too busy tying the rope around a tree to keep that from happening again.

Kyle and Ten fished for a while.  I made whistles out of grass and said things like, “Good throw!” and “Boy, it’s hot today,” and “What should we have for dinner?”

After some amount of time, Ten announced he was done and that was the end of that fishing excursion.

“I’m sad that we didn’t catch anything,” Ten said as we walked back home.

“Well, we didn’t catch poison ivy or lyme disease, either, so that was a win,” I said.

“We need to get a more powerful magnet,” Kyle said.

“That’s exactly how Big Magnet ropes you in,” I said, but the boys had moved on to admiring another flock of ducks.

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As you can probably guess, I had a lot of time to take pictures of myself while the boys were Magnet Fishing. The photo above is one of said pictures. As a bonus, here is a photo of Kyle and Ten fishing the Magnet Fishing set out of the river.

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Lynette Nelson, my Nice Person of the Week, as well a new pantry for families transitioning out of homelessness. (Valley News Live)

In “Great for the Kosiors” news, the State Historical Society will be installing flush toilets at all of its staffed sites. (AP News)

The Grand Forks Student Council is a 2025 National Gold Council of Excellence. (Grand Forks Herald)

North Dakota’s Chilaka Ugobi was one of the favorites at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. (Facebook; Found from “Oops Only Good News”)

Local churches have “adopted” Grand Forks Backpack Program and will be providing food to their neighbors this summer. (Facebook)

Fargo’s Japanese Garden is now 55 trees richer thanks to a team of volunteers. (Fargo Forum; Found from “Oops Only Good News”)

I can confidently say that the pastries here are DELICIOUS. (Grand Forks Herald)

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