SOUTH CAROLINA (KETK/NBC) – A 6-year-old boy in South Carolina helped uncover a mystery that’s older than he is.

Finding buried treasure is every kid’s dream. While fishing, Knox Brewer ended up reeling in something he never expected.

He took up magnet fishing a few weeks ago because his parents Jonathan and Catherine hoped it would be a healthy hobby.

“We got it to help pass the time during the virus,” said Catherine.

They never thought he would reel in a stolen safe from the bottom of the lake.

“My favorite part about doing this is when we get something up like how big or small it is, that’s my favorite part of doing this,” said Knox.

With the help of a neighbor, they fished out a locked metal safe, pried it open, and jackpot.

“Jewelry, a notebook, and a checkbook,” said Knox.

From there Jonathan called police for help to find out who the safe belonged to. Turns out it was the property of a neighbor who said the safe was stolen from her home eight years ago.

“The first thing that she did was just kneel down, hug Knox, and thanked him and thanked him for bringing that closure to her,” said Jonathan.

“She got some missing charm bracelet pieces that were still left in there, she said all the expensive stuff was gone but at least she got closure and some of her pieces back,” said Catherine.

Fishing for fun turned out to be a life lesson and a chance for Knox to play detective.

“He himself wants to one day become a police officer and so he got a lot of fun out of them coming out and investigating, asking questions and trying get to the source,” said Jonathan.

The family hopes to make fishing a tradition.

“Should we throw the magnet back into the water and see if we catch anything else,” said Knox.