On his way out of office Obama put a ban on lead in all fishing lures and tackle with a complaint date of 2022. It looks to effect  a large chunk of everything we use. My question isn't so much how it'll effect the angler as far as having to replace our lures and tackle but how it effects the little manufacturers. Will they be able to make a switch over without going belly up? Or will we all be stuck throwing a select few companies products?

9 minutes ago, TheJman said:

On his way out of office Obama put a ban on lead in all fishing lures and tackle with a complaint date of 2022. It looks to effect  a large chunk of everything we use. My question isn't so much how it'll effect the angler as far as having to replace our lures and tackle but how it effects the little manufacturers. Will they be able to make a switch over without going belly up? Or will we all be stuck throwing a select few companies products?

 

The ban only applies if your are on Federal land.  I work on a Military installation and the only ban I have heard of so far is lead ammo can no longer be used.  They try to cite environmental impacts as to the reason why.  If the ban on lead lures applies to federal land only then it should not have any affect on small manufacturers unless their demographic is the federal pond jumpers.
 

The second this turns into a politics discussion, I will lock it up, and suspensions will be issued.  That means limit the discussion to how you think this affects anglers and tackle manufacturers.

 

I don't think it amounts to much, though an all out ban on lead seems imminent, and not out of the question.

Because that's not to be confusing as sh**.  I checked a local map and it looks like San Luis Reservoir/Forebay are the only local waters I really ever fish, but I can see some other parts of the country where there's going to be a lot of "didn't know this was federal land" fines being handed out.

Not looking to debate this one way or the other ~ Just FYI

 

"Fortunately, action was taken by the new administration the day after the rule was issued that could hinder its effectiveness. A memorandum issued from the White House to departments and agencies announced a freeze on implementing new regulations, pending review. Still, individual jurisdictions within FWS might choose to enforce the rule."

 

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/story/1485302084ts5bc9g0n19

 

A-Jay

15 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I don't think it amounts to much, though an all out ban on lead seems imminent, and not out of the question.

 

That seems likely down the road at some point.  A lead ban on ammo when hunting for waterfowl and upland bird species on public land has been the rule in Minnesota for as long as I've been hunting (20 years).

I guess I didn't phrase my question like I should of. I didn't fully understand the jest of the ban either. I thought it was a public ban, I didn't catch The federal part of it until someone mentioned it about. I guess I should've asked in the tackle making section I was trying to stay out of the political part of it and wanted to find out how costly it would be on the smaller guys to make a switch over to a different materiel if they had too? I guess I should of just asked that question without bringing up the ban. Thanks for all the replys so far. 

It's all good, @TheJman....I was just trying to figure out how to keep the thread cooking, as to inform, have discussion, and educate without getting into politics.

 

Something to ponder: where is tungsten tackle made?  Will there be tariffs added to it in the future?

3 minutes ago, J Francho said:

It's all good, @TheJman....I was just trying to figure out how to keep the thread cooking, as to inform, have discussion, and educate without getting into politics.

 

Something to ponder: where is tungsten tackle made?  Will there be tariffs added to it in the future?

Good question. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff. It just striked the curiosity in me so figured I would ask here. I would think most of the company's have a plan in place or at least studied it. 

I do a lot of fishing on/from federal waters/lands.  It will be interesting to see how this is implemented.  I assume it will apply to National Parks and Forests, as well as military bases. 

I found it interesting to see how much of federal land there actually is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_lands

22 minutes ago, TheJman said:

I would think most of the company's have a plan in place or at least studied it.

 

I know at least one of our sponsors, Siebert Outdoors - a small company - has been working with alternative materials for a while now.

Lead metals at about 620 F. Tungsten, over 6000 F. 

 

Dont think we will be seeing any independent tackle makers molding their own tungsten products anytime soon.

 

Bismuth melts at a slightly lower temp than lead. Is this where we're going?

Massachusetts banned lead of any kind under 1 oz. for fishing years ago.  

New York banned the sale of sinkers under an ounce a few years ago.

May want to buy some bullet lead ingots now!

Tom

I've been using the steel sinkers for a while now. They're bigger, but I use them in situations where size isn't critical.  

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

May want to buy some bullet lead ingots now!

Tom

I would be stocking up on lead right now just in case, but luckily someone gave me about ten pounds of it last year, so i'm set for the next twenty years.

There go all my jigs

If I have to give up all my jigs I won't be happy. 

8 minutes ago, Fun4Me said:

I've been using the steel sinkers for a while now.

 

I actually like to use steel bullet weights when using a big plastc, and very little weight.  1/8 oz. tungsten in front of a big 12" worm is dumb.

I wouldn't worry about it all that much.  Between capitalism (read: alternative materials) and selective enforcement, nobody's going stop fishing their jigs, spinner baits, et al....

34 minutes ago, WRB said:

May want to buy some bullet lead ingots now!

Tom

Playing the odds that any future bans will be on 'sale' of lead fishing weights; vice 'use' of lead fishing weights?

Enforcing the law might be difficult.

The MA lead law was instituted primarily to try and mitigate the death of Loons who accidentally were swallowing things like lead split shot weights. (There's a minuscule to non-existent native population of Loons in most parts of the state to begin with so the actual cost/benefit of the law still has many scratching their heads). 

 

1 hour ago, .ghoti. said:

Lead metals at about 620 F. Tungsten, over 6000 F. 

 

Dont think we will be seeing any independent tackle makers molding their own tungsten products anytime soon.

 

Bismuth melts at a slightly lower temp than lead. Is this where we're going?

Bismuth is considerably more expensive than lead is the issue. Still not as much as tungsten but if we're looking for a material to mass produce affordable fishing lures and tackle, probably going to have to look elsewhere. 

What am I supposed to do with the 200+ pounds of Rat-L-Traps I have...