‘Bored’ With Baiting Fish, Man Takes Up Magnet Fishing to Collect Scrap Metal and Sell It to Benefit Kids With Autism
By
McKinley Corbley
Oct 3, 2019
Despite spending years of his life as a fisherman, Paul Swanson has found a new purpose in casting his line for a different kind of catch.
The fisherman from Spokane, Washington is the founder of the H2O Magnet Fortunes club: a magnet fishing group dedicated to collecting rusty scrap metal from the Spokane River.
When asked why he started the organization, Swanson simply told
KXLY: “I got bored.”
"Doctor pretty much said ‘you need to change your game plan of life,’” he continued. “Couldn’t fish no more, hardly. It was hard to do, tying on the lines and stuff, so I decided to create a little magnet fishing love here in Spokane.”
Since the club began hoarding all of their scrap in mid-June, they collectively salvaged 11,100 pounds of metal, all of which they sold to a recycling company this week so they could donate the proceeds to SOAR, a caregiving organization for children with autism.
Ordinarily, processed iron sells for $80 per ton—but the staffers at Pacific Steel and Recycling were so touched by the group’s mission, they doubled the price of their original offer to help with the donation.
Swanson is now attempting to contact Guinness World Records about setting the world record for the most amount of scrap metal collected by a magnet fishing club.
They are so adorable. All we are is a Midas or Amara in search of one another. Ha ha.