Lead Free

[rexford]

I have seen a few posts about lead bans in fishing but I am
still sort of on the fence. I work in the Electrical Engineering
field and we have spent the last several years trying to remove
lead from PCBs. Costly and time consuming endeavor for sure.

I consider people here pretty much ambassadors of our sport.
What are your feelings about this? We know it will cost more
for our favorite baits and some may not make the transition
at all.....

Can we have a discussion on this?

[Andy Giannini]

I can add one thought, many of the hard bait molds will have to reworked or scrapped as steel takes up more space than lead for ballast weights. A round steel bearing won't have the weight as the lead one it was designed for. That would change the lure performance considerably.

It would take away some fun pouring jigs or whatever.

But I am not yet convinced lead is as hazardous as it is being made out to be.

.02 A.G.

[mark poulson]

If they can exempt lead shot, which falls down among the water plants that birds feed on, then why are they picking on lead fishing weights and lures, that are typically lost when they get stuck in the cracks of rocks, and are broken off down there, not in a flooded rice paddie?

[Phil Burgess]

ITS THE CONDORS......... HAVENT YOU SEEN THE THE FLOCKS AT YOUR LOCAL LAKES....... THEY ARE TAKING OVER ONCE AGAIN.......WHAT EVER THE ENVIRO PEOPLE CAN DO THEY WILL.......

[lunker punker]

Lead is relatively inexpensive,easy to work with,and readily available. The only alternatives I have seen is Tungsten,bismuth,or steel. These are much more expensive and difficult to work with. I wish these enviro's would focus on somthing important like the dumping in the river. How many meth labs,sunken cars and boats do we need out there? I think those are a lot more hazardous than lead. Without lead ,all lures will easily double in price. Nobody can afford that in this economy.

[Marc]

Lead is not nearly as toxic as it is made out to be. Removal from the environment will have negligible positive affect, yet removal from fishing and hunting products will have a significant affect on outdoorsman satisfaction and willingness to spend dollars that pay for fisheries and wildlife biologists.

Remember, lead is a natural element.

Sure, it can be toxic when dissolved with acid and can then enter the blood stream and affect the nervous system; but that rarely happens regardless of the hype being reported. Who do you know that is suffering from lead toxicosis? Table salt is toxic, contributes to high blood pressure and human deaths every day; do you see these same people banning table salt?

See this for what it really is; this hype is a means to a goal. The proponents of a lead ban want to end your right to fish and hunt; period. They will use the Endangered Species Act and the power of the EPA to accomplish this if we let them.

If they are successful with lead, then they will use the same argument as precedence to ban dangerous fish hooks and fishing line (these easily cause more deaths than lead).

That is my discussion on this subject.

ciao,
Marc