Lead threads

[Corker]

You may have noticed the new discussion forum relating to the use of lead in fishing tackle. This forum is temporary but will remain as long as the EPA is considering a ban on lead fishing tackle, including jigs, split shot, sinkers, and other tackle items. The purpose of the forum is to collect our thoughts and fight this proposal.

Originally, EPA included both ammo and fishing tackle within the scope of a possible regulation. NRA moved quickly and forced EPA to drop the idea of banning lead ammo. NRA did not drop the proposal to ban lead-based fishing tackle, however.

Please come join our discussions of this important topic. Without lead jigs, crappie fishing will become much more expensive. Now's the time to register our objections to this proposal.

[Chuck Haley]

You may have noticed the new discussion forum relating to the use of lead in fishing tackle. This forum is temporary but will remain as long as the EPA is considering a ban on lead fishing tackle, including jigs, split shot, sinkers, and other tackle items. The purpose of the forum is to collect our thoughts and fight this proposal.

Originally, EPA included both ammo and fishing tackle within the scope of a possible regulation. NRA moved quickly and forced EPA to drop the idea of banning lead ammo. NRA did not drop the proposal to ban lead-based fishing tackle, however.

Please come join our discussions of this important topic. Without lead jigs, crappie fishing will become much more expensive. Now's the time to register our objections to this proposal.

THE GOVERMENT IS DISTROYING THE REMODELING AND PAINTING INDUSTRY.......

with lead paint restrictions. In this economy, how many more problems do we have more important than lead in paint 35 years ago and NOW the concern about lead in our fishing lures. How about jobs, home foreclosures and a cure for Cancer. But NO. Our goverment is concerned with lead. Just wanting to vent a little. Thanks for listening.

[1MoreCrappie]

I can't imagine the cost to enforce this let alone the cost to most of us fisherman.
I typically order my different weight jigs heads by the 1000's and purchase my Blakemore Roadrunners and Charlie Brewer Sliders in large bulk amounts. Never mind the small reusable and 3/4 ounce tightline weights, and I'm sure I have missed a bunch of items I'm not even thinking about yet like lure retrievers, the weight in my color selector, the weight in my underwater video camera, etc.
All in all I probably own over 6000 items made with some lead content. Is the Government planning to reimbursing us for all the items we purchased while they were legal to purchase, own and use?

Then there is all the tackle shops both big and small how will they recover their losses.

I have many friends that will go out and shoot a few hundred rounds in an open field or at trees just to get out and make some noise. Thousands of children shooting pellet guns at who knows what. And it's something that is repeated over again many times each year.
But in all the years that I have fished I have never once run across a fisherman that has lost 200 jigs in a few hours time. How are the fishermen contributing more to this then the hunter is?
Somehow the reason for banning lead has blinded the Politicians reasoning!
If it needs to be done then a date and year needs to be established when all lead used in fishing lure production will be banned then there needs to be another date and year for it to be banned from use by fishermen in order for the existing lures containing lead to have been replaced in a reasonable and fair amount of time for everone.

Of course this is just my opinion!

Kim

[Corker]

I can't imagine the cost to enforce this let alone the cost to most of us fisherman.
I typically order my different weight jigs heads by the 1000's and purchase my Blakemore Roadrunners and Charlie Brewer Sliders in large bulk amounts. Never mind the small reusable and 3/4 ounce tightline weights, and I'm sure I have missed a bunch of items I'm not even thinking about yet like lure retrievers, the weight in my color selector, the weight in my underwater video camera, etc.
All in all I probably own over 6000 items made with some lead content. Is the Government planning to reimbursing us for all the items we purchased while they were legal to purchase, own and use?

Then there is all the tackle shops both big and small how will they recover their losses.

I have many friends that will go out and shoot a few hundred rounds in an open field or at trees just to get out and make some noise. Thousands of children shooting pellet guns at who knows what. And it's something that is repeated over again many times each year.
But in all the years that I have fished I have never once run across a fisherman that has lost 200 jigs in a few hours time. How are the fishermen contributing more to this then the hunter is?
Somehow the reason for banning lead has blinded the Politicians reasoning!
If it needs to be done then a date and year needs to be established when all lead used in fishing lure production will be banned then there needs to be another date and year for it to be banned from use by fishermen in order for the existing lures containing lead to have been replaced in a reasonable and fair amount of time for everone.

Of course this is just my opinion!

Kim

Kim- These are all valid concerns. The tree huggers (and EPA) seem to believe that the volume of lead tackle sold equals the volume of lead dumped into the environment. It hasn't crossed their minds that fishermen collect substantial stockpiles of jigs and other tackle that will never be used. It's up to us to explain our habits.

We were an afterthought. They were really after the hunters.

[1MoreCrappie]

I honestly don't think most fishermen would mind a ban on lead in order to protect the enviroment and all that is harmed by it, but in order to curtail it's use the government needs to start by stopping the production of lead for commercial consumer use at it's source. If it can't be mined it can't be used.
How harmful is that jighead that was lost last weekend in 16' of water, when the Chinese manufacturers are using it to make childrens jewelery and painting toys with it?
The EPA is also not taking into account the amount of lead all fisherman recover each year snagging old hooks and line when we go fishing. I personally have a plastic container at home that I keep all my "found treasures" in.

It's that male collecting and gathering thing I think!

Bottom line would be that this is something that should be phased in slowly and how it's done should include input from both fishing and hunting organizations. After all look how long it is taking the Government to start looking for renewable resources and how long they have been fighting against agreeing with the Kyoto Accord against greenhouse gases, after all fair is fair.

Kim

[Kellog]

Everybody needs to visit keepamericafishing.org and send the form letter they have to their elected representatives. This web-site explains the ban that is trying to be forced upon us in detail. If we don't take action now the special interest groups will put and end to lead in everything but Chinese imports, and that is because big bussiness already has the politicians paid off.

[Corker]

I honestly don't think most fishermen would mind a ban on lead in order to protect the enviroment and all that is harmed by it,

I mind a ban on lead. I use very little of it and rarely leave it behind where I fish (#2 aberdeen hooks are another matter). Nevertheless, I don't want to lose my right to use whatever kind of tackle I please.

I see no scientific evidence that the tree huggers' ban on lead tackle would make any measurable improvement to the environment. They probably had a strong case against bullets and shot, but thanks to the Second Amendment, that case won't be heard.

You're exactly right about the jigs lost in 16' of water. Wading birds may be able to rip lost jigs out of shallow brush, but not out of deep structure. Anecdotal evidence and speculation don't cut it for me.

[crowderj]

by all means ban it. but only under the condition that the epa and the federal government set up a subsidy program to offset the cost of my new stainless steel jig heads Each fisherman will be alloted $10000 a year to go towards buying non polluting fishing tackle. Just like with the farmers,whatever we dont use, the government can pay us to simply throw away or dispose of and we start over the next year. then and only then can they ban lead fishing tackle.

[crataegus]

Show me the impact of lead sinkers. Show me the evidence that there is a measurable difference in the ecosystem as a result of getting snagged. Show me the evidence that in areas where lead sinkers have been banned there has been any improvement in the ecosystem or purity of the fish or water. There are many natural lakes to measure study the presence and impact of lead sinkers over more than a century-where can I access studies in these bodies of water?


I find it interesting that as soon as the current administration took office, the EPA's water quality regulation authority was extended to every body of water--including puddles in farm fields and intermittent streams at Plant Delights Nursery as we have come to learn all too well. To me, this is a predictable next step. Look to California's, then Canada's, then Europe's water regs for the following stage of Gov't control.

Does any potential anti-lead legislation represent the fishermen's votes?
Does any of this anti-lead legislation represent environmental anti-use groups' votes?

Who will this legislation affect the most?

Personally, I believe lead will become obsolete to tungsten in time, but let the supply from the manufacturers naturally meet the growing demand of the fisherman--naturally driving the cost down. This "hand off" approach accomplishes the same objective that the EPA races towards, and unless they can prove that lead is destroying our eco-system right now, there is no real difference between a leftist approach right now and a free market approach eventually.

The easiest solution to this is to vote those who would support this out of office in a few weeks. But until this legislation is permanently snagged, stock up on lead.

[Corker]

Folks- The only surefire way to be heard is to use the official government comment form at regulations.gov. I've taken the pain out of the process and boiled it down to two clicks, type your name, and whatever comment you want to make. It's easy, fast, and guaranteed to place your comments in the EPA's public record on this proposal. Go to my "Two click comments" thread, here, and you're two clicks away from being heard.