April 27, 2023 at 11:29 a.m.
The Lake Where You Live
Going non-toxic
By Ted Rulseh-
The obvious answer for anglers is to use non-toxic tackle instead of lead - but it can be hard to find. In recent years I was partial to Nature Jigs from Northland Tackle, made from a tin and bismuth alloy - but apparently they are no longer available.
It can be hard to find non-toxic items in bait and tackle stores, and the typical reason is lack of demand. The shop owners aren't opposed to lead alternatives. They're in business to sell product, and who can blame them if they don't want to stock items that no one buys?
I've had trouble locating non-toxic tackle online, and that's surprising because quite a number of companies offer it. The Loon Watch program at Northland College in Ashland publishes a list of manufacturers and retailers of lead alternatives. It runs to four pages and includes 82 suppliers.
So those of us who want to go lead-free have no real excuse for failing to do so. The products are out there, and here are a few examples.
• Eco Pro Tungsten. This could be my replacement for the Nature Jigs. The company offers ball jigs in various colors and sizes. The company says that because of tungsten's higher density, these jigs transmit changes in bottom composition and subtle bites better than lead.
• The Gapen Company. If you're partial to crappies, this company offers Crappie Vixen tin jigs decorated with hair in a configuration that causes the jig to pulsate even when it comes to a complete.
• Yakima Bait Company. The Hildebrandt spinner and spinnerbait line uses tin, bismuth and other benign metals for a variety of fish species and presentation techniques.
• Hook Headz. Bismuth and tin jigheads in multiple sizes and colors are a staple for this company, which also offers a wide selection of lead-free and weedless skirted bass jigs.
Of course, if we want to protect loons by going non-toxic, we need to be willing to pay more for our sinkers, split shot, and jigs of various kinds. As for shopping locally for lead alternatives, we need to create the demand that enables retailers to offer the supply.
You can get the Loon Watch list of non-toxic tackle providers by searching "Northland College Loon Watch Protect Loons." (The list is not fully up to date, and I found a few suppliers that no longer offer lead-free items.)
Anyway, if enough of us ask the owners of tackle stores to carry items in tin, bismuth, tungsten and other materials, and then put our money where our mouths are, they will surely respond.
Fishing with and occasionally losing lead tackle means slowly accumulating toxic items on our lake bottoms. And for a loon, ingesting even a small lead item is a death sentence. So whether we shop online or locally, non-toxic items should be in our tackle inventory.
Ted Rulseh is a writer, author and lake advocate who lives on Birch Lake in Oneida County. His new book, "Ripple Effects," has been released by UW Press. You can learn about it by visiting his website at https://thelakeguy.net.
Comments:
You must login to comment.