Bomb found while magnetfishing

Just about everywhere in Doetinchem water flows, he throws out his magnet these days. It doesn’t yield much. In the Oude IJssel, he’d bring out something with every throw.

The bomb

The flane-tiger is a popular spot for several – mostly young – anglers. Ronan could be found there almost every week for a year and a half, even more often in warm weather. Sometimes his friends Meral (12) and Jojakim (14) went with him. The boys brought out all kinds of things. Cycling, even a phone and Ronan’s most beautiful find: the bomb.

The discovery of the war explosion is still clear to him two weeks later. I thought: this thing looks a hell of a lot like a bomb,” says the young Doetinchemmer soberly.

The boys took a picture, but then threw the thing back into the water in terror. Super stupid”, Ronan now looks back on that himself. I certainly wouldn’t do that again. I should have just left it at the magnet and reported it right away”.

I think it’s great that you can all find different things. It’s also good for the environment

“50 percent chance of it going off

While the bomb was already at the bottom of the Oude IJssel, Ronan told the story at home to his mother. The police and the Explosives Clearing Service (EOD) then sounded the alarm bells. Lethal”, an EOD expert responded. If you bring something like this to light, there is a 50 percent chance that it will go off.

Officially there is no ban on  magnet fishing in the Oude IJssel. But the police have told us that it is very unwise,” says mother Rian Tilstra. He is no longer allowed to go there with his magnets. The protagonist – who says he hasn’t been scared for a moment – hears it resignedly. Too bad, but I can understand it.

“Just muck.

Nevertheless, Ronan does not intend to put his hobby away forever. With the two magnets on long ropes in his backpack, he now cycles all over town. He tried it in the different waters on De Huet: “Just muck”. An attempt in the water of the park Overstegen yielded a minor success: a dime, still from the Golden Age.

It doesn’t come close to the finds that Ronan saw magnetic fishermen doing on the internet. The videos on YouTube made him decide to buy two magnets in 2018. “I like the fact that you can find all kinds of different things,” he says. It’s also good for the environment. You clean it in places where the municipality can’t go.”