Fishing toy- magnet alternatives?

[MamaWolfe]

I want to make my boys a fishing pole to catch some fake fish (felt, probably). I have a 2 year old that is inventive and eats everything so I won't even bring a magnet into the house. Is there something else I can use to get the fish to stick to the pole? I was thinking velcro, but I just don't think that would work well enough. Thanks!

[rere]

What about a cup hook and a big sturdy wire loop on the fish?

[zebra15]

I would go take a look at the craft store but I would try velcro.

[littlemizflava]

on the fish i would use metal washers and they work perfectly. they can be put inside if you have a strong magnet or outside as lips for them. on the fishing pole you can get a big magnet one there is ones shaped like a horseshoe style. http://www.amazon.com/http-ecx-images-amazon-com-images-610xL17ZAVL-731009/dp/B001CT83XY/ref=sr_1_10?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1293864051&sr=1-10 

[sapphire_chan]

My two year old only plays the fishing game with me, so I'm not really worried about her managing to suddenly decide to chew the well-wrapped magnet off the end of the string.

I used the magnet from inside a computer hard drive. It's strong enough to pick up a paper clip through about 8 layers of tape and a paper fish. It's about 3mm by 2mm.

If your fish weren't felt, you could tape paper clips on them to pick up with a hook.