Magnet Fishing Laws – Is it legal in the United States?

Is magnet fishing illegal?

You may find a variety of answers online when you search for laws regarding magnet fishing. The simplest answer is—it depends. While there are not any federal or state laws restricting the sport (yes I called it a sport – my wife might disagree) in the United States, different rules may apply elsewhere.

We found that state parks and lakes are very particular about what you can do there. For example, at Smith Mountain Lake (in the state of Virginia) you can only magnet fish after 6:30PM. We went to the lake (without calling first) around 2PM and we were told we could not magnet fish until 6:30. However, they were not concerned about what we might pull out from the water. On the contrary, First Landing State Park didn’t have any time restrictions on magnet fishing there. They were actually very curious to see what we would find. Similarly, York State Park had no restrictions either (the only requirement was that you have a regular fishing license).

If you have questions regarding the license for magnet fishing, please check out our blog "Magnet Fishing License Requirements".