Explosive Catch

This is no fish story: Two fishermen pulled a live military rocket out of a Pennsylvania river.

It was probably the most impressive catch either had ever fished out of the Schuylkill River.

So it wasn't surprising that they posed for photographs with the live military rocket they found in shallow water on Sunday before taking it to police.

Michael Nagy and Jeremy Lloyd found the rusted, two- foot-long rocket in a shallow area of the river in Berks County and dragged it to shore, police said. There, the men posed to take photographs with the explosive before driving it to police.

"It was confirmed as an active military device, an RPG Rocket," said West Pottsgrove police officer Steven Ziegler. "It had the firing pin still in it. That's how we knew it was live."

The military issue surface-to-air missile was designed to be launched out of a weapon, such as a bazooka, Ziegler said. The Montgomery County Sheriff Bomb Disposal Unit detonated the device at a remote location in Amity.

It's unclear how the missile ended up in the river. A similar explosive device was found in the Schuylkill River about six months ago, police said. That device had been discarded.

"It's not recommended that people who find devices like this transport them anywhere," said Dave Eichelberger, an Amity police officer.

Monocacy Station is about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia.