Inside Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mainly on the run, his office in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
Wet, dirty and smiling, four metal fishermen from Montreal, equipped with super-powerful magnets, extract a panoply of rusty junk from the Lachine Canal.
Passers-by stop, amazed by the curiosities lined up on the bank: two car doors, two steel plates, a child’s spoon, three padlocks, a concrete bit, an antique tricycle, a crowbar, etc.
The ubiquitous zebra mussel covers most of these objects.
“Wow!” exclaims a passer-by at the sight of the doors.
“The question we never stop asking ourselves when we fish something up is: ‘Come on, what’s that doing there?!'” says Sophie-Geneviève Bournival.
This fan of magnet fishing for three years has already removed a gigantic chain tens of feet long near the Verdun marina.
Is there a sunken car in the canal?
“It’s possible. For now, we have a front door and a rear door, probably an old Volkswagen model,” says Frederick Hardy, who is the star Instagrammer of magnet fishing in Quebec.
His Joker’s Magnet account attracts mostly Americans.
“This is my fourth time fishing the same spot on the canal and I catch big catches almost every time!”
Fish out a Bixi…
At the sight of my BIXI, a fisherman exclaims: “I pulled one out of the water last week!”
A BIXI in the canal?
“Yes, and I went to hand it over to a station,” says Pierre Brisebois.
The next user must have gotten his butt wet…
“Bring your magnets, I’m holding something heavy,” shouts Cyprien Barrière.
Mme Bournival and Messrs. Brisebois and Hardy rush to help their colleague.
They are careful to avoid their magnets touching and locking in a magnetic embrace.
“We call it the magnet’s kiss, when a magnet with 3500 pounds of power sticks to another magnet of equivalent power,” Mr. Hardy explains to me.
Cyprien also has a bruised finger that got stuck between two magnets… ouch!
Oh! hoist! The four fishermen force together and pull out of the water an imposing metal plate probably from an old construction scaffolding.
Courtesy Pierre Brisebois
Messy, but satisfying
Blackish splatters smudge my face after a few magnet throws.
I tried to reassemble a bicycle frame, which however got stuck at the bottom.
“You don’t dress fancy to do that!” exclaims Mr. Hardy.
“You really smell the harbor when you leave here!” joke Mr. Brisebois.
What to do with all that ferrous junk? Scrap, of course.
“I have an account at the scrap dealer, but it pays little, we do it for the pleasure of having surprises and for the satisfaction of cleaning up,” says Mr. Hardy.
Sometimes luck is there:
“I recently found a magnificent bull statue not far from the Atwater Market walkway. It’s the water lottery!
For the first time in Quebec, a magnet fishing convention will take place on July 15, 2023 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. If you are interested in this hobby, check out the “Pêche à l’aimant Québec” Facebook group.
Louis-Philippe Messier
Louis-Philippe Messier
Louis-Philippe Messier