Fishing magnets, one 32mm magnet is sold as 9kg, 16kg and 32kg
The short answer
Prices in GBPUSDEUReach row carries the day it was read
Nineteen magnets from one search and the order export, none of them handled here. A disc of neodymium in a steel cup with a ring on top, which you tie to a rope and lower into the water to see what metal comes up.
Thirteen give a pull figure, and for the same size of magnet the figures do not agree. The diameter is the number to buy on.
Which you are buying
| What the photographs show | Listings |
|---|---|
| Single sided pot magnet with a ring, two of them sold as kits with rope | 16 |
| Double sided, with the ring on the rim | 1 |
| Not a fishing magnet: push pins and cupboard magnets | 2 |
The pot magnet is the standard tool: the steel cup focuses all the pull onto the face, and one listing’s panel marks the back of the cup as having no magnetism at all. You lower it straight down and lift it straight up. The double sided one is for throwing out and dragging back across the bottom, so whichever face lands on the bed is the one that works.
The figure on the title
| What four listings say a 32mm magnet holds | |
|---|---|
| A photograph on one listing | 9kg |
| One size table | 16kg |
| Another size table | 32kg |
| A third table, in a column with no unit | 36 |
At 48mm the three tables say 68, 75 and 85kg, and a fourth listing puts a 500 lbs badge, about 227kg, on its 48mm magnet. One listing prints a table giving its 90mm magnet 340kg, then a photograph of a test rig reading 850 lbs for the same magnet, about 386kg.
All of these figures, high and low, are measured the same way: the magnet flat against a thick, clean steel plate, pulled straight off. One listing prints a panel that says so, and adds that thinner steel and any angle in the pull cut the hold sharply. What lies at the bottom of a canal or a river is rusty, thin, curved and half buried, and you are pulling at an angle through mud. Expect a fraction of any figure here, and buy the diameter you can afford and carry.
Where, and what comes up
The Canal & River Trust says on its own website that magnet fishing is not allowed on its waterways. Rivers, lakes and harbours belong to someone too, so the first question is whose water it is and whether they mind.
In these listings’ own photographs most of what comes up is tools, nails, coins and scrap. Some of it is not. One listing’s photographs include a gun lifted from the water, and old ammunition turns up in British rivers and canals. Police advice is to leave a weapon, or anything that might be explosive, where it is and call 999.
What was left out, and why
The push pin magnets and the cupboard magnets are good at their own jobs. The 90mm magnet at more than ten times the price of most of the page is a serious tool with an honest panel about angles, and a beginner does not need it. The listing with an open hook is left out for the hook. The 48mm magnet with a 500 lbs badge is left out for the badge, and so is the listing whose title says 300kg, whose table says 340kg and whose test photograph says 850 lbs.
Side by side
Prices in GBPUSDEUR. Each row carries the date its price was read.
| Product | Price | Why it is here | Where to buyLink |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall, with a table for every size D16~D42mm Super Strong Neodymium Fishing Hook N52 | £3.05$4.07€3.59checked 18 Oct 2026 | A pot magnet with a 304 stainless steel eyebolt and a nickel, copper and nickel coating, with a full table of sizes, weights and pull: 20mm for 9kg, 32mm for 32kg, 48mm for 75kg, 60mm for 115kg, up to 90mm for 340kg. Its title lists sizes from 16mm to 42mm; at 42mm the table says 61kg. Its own panel says the strongest hold is against clean, flat surfaces, which is the honest version of every figure on this page | Check opens in a new tab |
| The cheapest kit, rope included Super Powerful Magnet Neodymium Fishing Magnets | £3.20$4.27€3.78checked 18 Oct 2026 | A 60mm magnet with a 20 metre, 6mm nylon rope and a locking carabiner, which is everything needed to start. Its own size panel says 500 lbs, about 227kg, for the 60mm magnet; the three tables on this page put a 60mm magnet at 110 to 140kg, so read the 500 as hopeful. Shown with tools and tackle pulled from a river | Check opens in a new tab |
| Double sided, for dragging along the bottom Double Side Magnet Fishing | £15.89$20.48€18.70checked 18 Oct 2026 | A 60mm magnet with a face on both sides and the eyebolt on the rim, so it can be thrown out and pulled back along a river bed with either face down. Its table gives combined figures for both faces, 150kg for the 60mm, from 95kg at 48mm to 330kg at 94mm. It costs more than a single sided magnet of the same size. One of its photographs is the gun pulled from the water, which is the reason for the warning above | Check opens in a new tab |
What you can settle before you buy
- Choose by diameter, and expect less than the table. The tables here put a 32mm magnet at 16 to 36, a 48mm at 68 to 85kg and a 60mm at 110 to 140kg. Those are measured with the magnet flat against thick, clean steel and pulled straight off. A rusty bike frame in mud is none of those things.
- Single sided or double sided. Sixteen of these are a single magnet face in a steel cup with a ring on top, for dropping from a bridge or a wall and lifting straight up. One is double sided, with the ring on the rim, for throwing out and dragging back along the bottom.
- Get a closed ring, screwed fully home. Most come with a stainless steel eyebolt that screws into the cup. One sells an open hook that a rope can slip off. Check the thread is tight before every trip, because the magnet is the part you lose if it isn't.
- The rope matters as much as the magnet. Two listings say plainly that a rope and a carabiner come in the box; most of the rest are the magnet alone. A long, strong rope and gloves are part of the price of starting.
What to read twice
- Where you may do it. The Canal & River Trust says on its own website that magnet fishing is not allowed on its waterways. Anywhere else, the water belongs to someone, so ask the landowner first.
- What you might pull up. One listing's own photographs include a gun lifted out of the water. Police advice is to leave a weapon, or anything that might be explosive, exactly where it is and call 999.
- The pull figures disagree. A 32mm magnet is 9kg on one listing and 32kg on another's table. A 48mm magnet is 75kg in one table and 500 lbs, about 227kg, on another listing's badge. One listing prints a table giving its 90mm magnet 340kg and a photograph of a test rig reading 850 lbs, about 386kg.
- Two are not fishing magnets. One is a box of push pin magnets for a fridge or a whiteboard and one is a set of cupboard magnets with screws. Both say fishing in the title.
- These are strong enough to hurt. Two of them, or one and a steel railing, snap together hard enough to trap skin. Keep them apart, away from children, and away from bank cards and anyone with a pacemaker.