The original of this trick, in which a selected card is magically fished from a hat or bag on a piece of ribbon or rope, is Stuart Robson's “The Card Angler” in The Jinx, No. 35, Aug. 1937, p. 233. In Germany, Werry Geissler put out a version called “Schlangenseil” in 1954. While Robson used tape to attach the card, Werry had the card already tied to a piece of rope in the hat which was then attached to the bigger rope with a magnet, so for the spectators the rope knotted itself around the card and doesn't just stick to it.