How To Make Fishing Weights Without Lead

Fishing and lead divers have been together for as long as I can remember. In fact, I’m officially old enough to remember a time when finding good lead suckers was a problem. When I was a young angler, I sometimes used small metal nuts as a weight because it was very difficult to make a split. In our late teens and early 20s, my father and I spent hours smelting lead and grinding the molten stuff into shapes to create sunken eggs. These specialty submersibles were an important part of our steelhead fishing back then. However, the potential health problems associated with lead handling played a role in ending that tradition.Egg whisk. | GORD ELLISLead is a well known toxin. On top of that, ongoing research has shown that lead shooting and sinking can have adverse effects on aquatic birds such as loons and eagles. Accidental ingestion of lead sink and being shot by birds is potentially lethal. So, for those who don’t want to use lead – or have been legislated to do so – what are the alternatives? I’ve had the opportunity to try almost all of them, with varying degrees of success. Here are a few thoughts on what’s available and why they may—or may not—be right for you. there are many pluses. Steel is relatively heavy and has no negative health effects of lead. Steel is also relatively cheap compared to some other lead alternatives. Back in 1995, a company called Bulletweights went ahead with the transition from lead and introduced the Ultra Steel reel. They quickly gained a foothold thanks to the early acceptance of the product by the bass market. The company also manufactures walleye jigs and sinkers which have been well received. Several other companies have followed suit. Steel is a good choice for any sinker that doesn’t need to be bent on a line, so a slide sink has a pre-fabricated hole in the weight or dropper that you can tie in. Steel has no effect on split shots or any weight that needs to be clamped. Another non-toxic option is tin. Tin is lighter than steel, but also softer. Tin makes a good separation material due to its relative softness. Both tin and steel also make for a nice jig head, although they also tend to be on a larger face than lead. Tin tends to be brighter than both lead and steel, which some anglers feel is a drawback. Tungsten is compared favorably to lead when it comes to relative weight and density. In fact, most tungsten weights are smaller and more compact than lead weights of similar weight (this varies depending on the manufacturer). In my experience, tungsten weights appear to be slightly more brittle than lead, and this could mean that the split shot breaks when clamped. The purity of the tungsten product can be part of the problem, as it can be mixed with other alloys, including nickel. Tungsten is also more expensive than lead, sometimes it is. In places where lead weights are still legal to use, this has proven discouraging to consumers. Overall, tungsten is the best overall lead substitute. Bismuth Bismuth is another non-toxic substitute commonly found in shot form. Footage is sometimes included inside the parachute cord and made into what is popularly known as “slinky”. This slinky plate is attached to the main chain by a small steel pivot and pin. This type of weight is popular among fly anglers and steelhead fishermen who use slinky to drift on the bottom. There are other bismuth fishing scales around, including jigs, but they seem to be limited, at least in Canada. Like tungsten, bismuth weight is more expensive than lead. Bass anglers have been using copper dumbbells for a while, as it is a large metal, especially when combined with brass rattles. Bass anglers use brass weights in rigs in Texas, and allow multiple weights to hit each other. This sound is said to pull the fish out of the thick weeds. Brass is used for some jigs and is also used for some heavier weights, such as bottom pushers and countersunk pushers. However, the cost of brass and its hardness make it a poor lead substitute for any product requiring bending. mostly with limited success. I remember being at a sports show a few years ago and hearing a very enthusiastic pitch from someone selling homemade clay sinks. Needless to say, they are much larger in size than those made of lead or tungsten. I couldn’t see the drift of steelheads with marble-sized sinks. The clay sinker must also be made of something to tie on, since there are no folds. Some clay balancers are marketed as eco-friendly as they will break down over time when dropped to the bottom. However, knowledge is power, and knowing there are options out there is not a bad thing.