'Holy grail of all finds': Ottawa boy finds gun while magnet fishing in creek

A 12-year-old Ottawa boy is sharing his story after a magnet fishing trip turned up an unexpected find.

For Nathan Sirois, magnet fishing is a favourite pastime. Tie a strong magnet to the end of a rope and away you go, looking for a big catch.

Cans, washers and other small items are among some of his most common finds. But last week at the Green’s Creek Bridge, Nathan found something he never had before.

"As we pulled it up, it seemed like a riffle or a gun or something," he said.

"For any magnet fisher it's absolutely the holy grail of all finds," added Nathan’s mom, Melanie Baron.

The gun is their biggest find yet.

"I was so excited, my heart was beating so fast," said Nathan.

But like at times with a fish, this catch didn’t make it ashore.

"Maybe about right here, I tried to help my mom, but it fell back in the water, it's really unfortunate," Nathan said.

However, Nathan and his mom knew what to do and called police. The Ottawa Police dive team returned days later to search for the weapon.

"For me, this was a first, where a member of the public called it in, our dive team has searched for other weapons and pieces of evidence, but this is definitely a first where someone was magnet fishing and come across something," said Const. Caroline Gallant of the Ottawa Police Service Marine, Dive and Trails unit.

Const. Gallant was the one who recovered the gun after about 20 minutes in the water and said she’s thankful Nathan and his mom called it in.

"You can't see anything in there, I couldn't even see my hand. So we definitely don't want anyone going in there recovering the things they find," she said.

While Nathan and his mom may feel they lost their biggest catch yet, they assisted police in an important recovery.

"You want to teach your children and teach everybody if you do see something like that, take the time to report it,” said Baron.

Magnet Fishers and Police Dive Team Recover Gun in Green’s Creek

Nathan Sirois, 12, was magnet fishing with his mom, Melanie, on May 13 when their line caught something unexpected.https://t.co/CMIlX657gZ pic.twitter.com/O2zvttujv6

— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) May 19, 2022