GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On an overgrown bank of the Grand River, Xan Dulyea-Lowing dropped the city’s heaviest lure (according to an unofficial FOX 17 estimate) into shallow water. He fished out the living, but also the dead, collecting pieces of scrap metal. steel and history as he drags the heavy magnet across the muddy riverbed.
“You can spend thirty seconds pulling it or two minutes,” Dulyea-Lowing said. “The slower you are, the better your chances. “
On Friday, I went magnet fishing with Dulyea-Lowing and her father, Cal Lowing, as they shared great (and true) stories about this engaging form of fishing, and they added how they recovered a stolen motorcycle from the Grand River.
“The excitement,” Lowing said. You never know what’s going to happen to you. “
In 2023, Dulyea-Lowing and a friend returned to an old forgotten position near Leonard Street and held on to “something heavy. “
“We tried to pull and pull,” Dulyea-Lowing said, describing how his magnet ripped off parts — a brake lever, a rearview mirror — but failed to lift the frame off the bike.
Exhausted and, in most cases, empty-handed, they quit their jobs.
Two months later, they returned with reinforcements: a team of divers, a vehicle and magnetic fishermen, plus Dulyea-Lowing’s father.
In November, in “cold and snowy” weather, he was released from his flooded prison, dragged with the vehicle on dry ground.
“A Honda CL175,” Dulyea-Lowing said. My first motorcycle. I was excited. “
Upon examining the rusty vehicle (and the other mopeds and laptops they discovered that day), they discovered that it had been stolen and turned it over to the city police.
In addition to the motorcycle, the father-son duo has pulled up more than 200 electric scooters from the Red Cedar River on the Michigan State University campus, reclaimed historic firearms and artillery, and made thousands in selling scrap metal.
“You need this piece to tell the story of what it’s all about,” Dulyea-Lowing said, describing her favorite finds, which come with a real World War II bazooka rocket and an 1829 Jukar Spain pistol.
In such cases, the father and son say they contact the police to see if they can stop the gun. The rocket had to be removed by a bomb crew in a nearby gravel pit.
“You call it, we figure it out,” Dulyea-Lowing said. If [you] swim in it, [you] probably won’t cut yourself with those rebar. “
This hobby has few restrictions and undeniable equipment: magnets, ropes and hooks, for the most part. If those who practice this hobby have the right knowledge, magnet fishing can seem like a public service.
“We’re basically stealing from Mother Nature,” Lowing said. “We take everything that is thrown into the water, collect it and recycle it. “
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