enviro friendly sinkers

[roz]

I was shopping in Big W recently and came across these sinkers, now I do realise a lot of you out there already knew about this product, but I didn't.

So for those who didn't, here is something I think is very worth while.

They were developed and made in Australia, are completely biodegradable and are almost identical in weight to a similar sized lead sinker.

I check the enviroweight 30gm bean sinker against the same size in lead and found the latter to be around 4gms heavier. Not much to worry about IMO.

Priced at around $5.00 for 12.

Hope some of you find this useful.

cheers roz.

[rockfisho]

Looks good, quite expensive though.

Good to see that they are Australian made!

rockfisho

[carpel]

lead is illegal in some country , England for example..

[ffejsmada]

I bought some last week and have had one soaking in water now for 9 days.

It is still hard, but has formed ferrous like filaments and rusty coloured staining of the water. Interesting.

Just want to see how long it takes to break down and how it actually does break down.

Jeff

[bayfisher]

I have noticed lately that many of the tt jig heads now come in 'lead free' as well. Defiantly a move in the right direction

Cheers Chris

[Fafnir]

I was talking to one of their reps recently. Seems like a top idea, especially as carpel pointed out, lead is illegal in some countries, and there is now an increasing push to ban it in some US lakes. Interesting that is a move which is getting a fair bit of support from anglers who believe that lead levels in some US lakes are reaching dangerous levels.

Apparently it's compressed metal shavings, or something to that effect. It's meant to simply rust away over time. Takes a fair while as Jeff seems to be finding out. Which is good, as you know that by drying them off after each trip they shouldn't just disolve away in the bottom of the tackle box. They are a bit expensive at the moment, but I am sure other manufacturer will get on board and that will drive down prices. Good to see the Aussies coming up with another winner.

[tunaticer]

Ive often wondered why zinc isn't used as a lead replacement, it is cheap and it is heavy and breaks down relatively quickly.

If these envirosinkers are iron based that would lead towards a damaging residue even though it is less toxic than lead it will suppress marine growth for a time until it completely breaks down.

Jack.

[oldboot]

I noticed their apperaance too.

there was a crowd trying to sell compressed iron sinkers on one of the TV shows a year or two back.

there is someone else on ebay selling natural rock sinkers...:speechless: . they are a rock that has a hole drilled in it and a swivel glued in.

I recon non lead sinkers are a good idea.... but waht about the cost and availability.

I notice these enviro sinkers are only in larger sizes.

cheers

[aussiefool]

I looked at them aswell and compaired the prices with "normal"lead singers and thought that the price was ok. But dosen't lead break down aswell over time?

[Davemclean]

lead is illegal in some country , England for example..


yup, not alowed lead for freshwater fishing, usually a mixture of metals...or tugsten, bloody exspensive

[dogsbody]

Yeah there needs to be an alternative there's a lot of lead out there on the sea floor.

Hey Jeff about your experiment do you change the water? Would the amount of oxygen in the water make a difference?


Dave.

[Poodroo]

Sounds good to me Roz. Thanks for sharing it with us. I have often wondered just how much lead we leave down there so the fact that these break down is a good thing. I think that the price is fair so long as they don't start breaking down too fast in the tackle box.

Poodroo

[myde]

I agree that sooner or later we will have to stop putting lead into our waterways, especially in closed waters. Lead is reasonably stable but it does break down and will end up in some sort of soluble form in the water.

Lead is actually around 40% more dense than iron. By making the iron sinker just slightly larger, you don't notice the difference so much , especially in the larger sizes.

For example, a 20mm diameter sinker made from lead weighs around 47g. By making the iron sinker just over 22mm diameter, you will achieve the same weight in an iron sinker.

[finga]

I've been thinking about this a bit and thought to myself how many sinkers I would loose a year.
Wasn't many really. Loose a fair few hooks but not that many sinkers.
So how many sinkers in reality would you loose a year??
Might as well say size as well.
Personally I'd be more concerned about the other junk coming out of the outboard and the plastic bags etc floating around the oceans then some lost sinkers.
If these enviro sinkers are press iron how do they get on with modern skinny lines and braid??
Do they chafe lines because of the hardness??
Cheers then
Scott :)

[oldboot]

yeh lead does break down BUT unlike iron it is persistent in animal bodies.

so lead falls to the bottom.... one way or another something eats it along with its normal food.... something eats that...........lead poison up the food chain.

In the US the issue is lead shot from shotguns in the lakes....
they were finding the waterbirds were ending up with quite large amounts of shot in their guts.


iron on the other hand is a normal part of the bottom in many places & is a normal part of the metabolism of most animals.

I think the reason we ahve used lead all these years is that it was very cheap and redilay available and extreeeeeemly easy to mould.
Well within the reach of anybody with a reasonable heat source and a steel container

Compressed iron on the other hand requires substantial equipment.

For the small sinkers I think we are stuck with buying shelf product,
but if we deliberately think of things other than lead, there are many things that come to hand that we could use for the heavier stuff.

for example
steel off cuts instead of snapper leads
hey you could even drill holes in rocks.

Perhaps one problem we have is that the vast majority of us are off the shelf anglers....and we want to just buy what ever off the shelf and go fishing.....so used driven inovation is not so strong.

cheers

[oldboot]

I think you have a point finga.

some of us would not loose much gear at all.... in particular sinkers.

I dont think fishing would be anywhere near the problem that shooting is particularly in the states.
Consider that 99% of the lead a shooter loads ends up in the environmet, it wouldnt be unreasonable for some shooters to insert 1/2 a kilo of lead into the environment in a trip.......shooter dont expect to get their lead back.......well they can get a bit "concerned" if their lead comes back.:o


we on the other hand don't like loosing gear.
But Consider though the fellas who buy handfulls of snapper leads and fit breakaways on their rigs because the expect to get hung up on the bottom and those who fish rocks and snags...... those guys would loose a bit of lead.


I have to agree that there are some forms of angler generated polution that are a much bigger problem.
Bait bags:furious2: :furious2: :furious2: one of the most disgusting and damaging angler droppings i can think of.........thera are a couple of places I've been to and they are littered with bait bags and mixer drink cans.......disgusting filthy @#$%&.
TAKE YOUR RUBISH HOME YOU FILTHY $%#@S you ruin it for the rest of us

I think with the advent of unleaded fuel, the increase in 4 stroke outboards and emmision standards for outboards....... the outboard isnt as bad as it was.

I don't know what you do about busted off fishing line though.

cheers (except for the #@$^& who leave their rubish arround)

[adriang]

the thing in the UK wasn't the lead being left to break down, it was wildlife (swans) eating it, and getting lead poisoning. The result was that lead 'split shot', the stuff you pinch on your line, was banned between certain sizes. From memory it was size 6 through to AAA sizes. The sizes are related to shotgun shot sizes'.

I remember everybody was up in arms about the ban when it came in. The substitute stuff was a tiny bit harder and a tiny bit larger in size, when I left the UK to live in Europe, the first thing I did was to buy real led shot, and I remember thinking 'big deal', the replacement stuff is just as good.

Personally I'd pay a couple of extra bucks to get enviro frieldly stuff providing it is still usable. I'll be giving those sinkers a try.

[ffejsmada]

Hey Jeff about your experiment do you change the water?
Dave.

No Dave, water has not been changed. Sinker is still as hard as brand new. It is a 5 gram sinker, about the size of a big pea.

The first photo is from above, the second from the side and the third is after I've stirred the water.

Sinker has now been soaking for 10 days.

At this speed of decline, I reckon it'll take months to break down.

I might add that this test is being done in freshwater, not saltwater.

Cheers Jeff

[Dan5]

Some of the hunting reserves around Darwin are all ready lead shot free and have been for quiet a while.Dan.......

[roz]

Firstly, I would rather spend a little more on a product that won't adversely affect the food chain.

When I'm bottom fishing, it's rare for me NOT to lose a rig or three, I would hate to think how many kilos of the old Pb I've left on the ocean floor.

Another thing, I used to gather all the lead I needed snorkeling along the rock wall near the mouth of the Tweed, close to the Cotton trees if anyone is interested.

There are literally hundreds of sinkers and hooks around the rocks there, including the odd reel and rod, usually the top half of a two piece.

and back to the enviro sinkers...... having a look on the pack shows they also produce round sinkers in 9 sizes, bean in 11, snapper lead style in 11 and something they call Worm, in 6 different sizes.

Again, I hope this helps.

cheers roz.

[oldboot]

as usual it seem there is more to the product range than the chain stores want to stock......I wonder if any of the tacle shops are stocking the full range?


on the matter of recovered tackle.
I met a bloke in townsville who goes scuba diving specificaly to gather gear.... well partly as a clean up activity and partly to get free gear.
He also fishes the same areas so it gives him a chance to see what the fishes see.

cheers

[NAGG]

I was shopping in Big W recently and came across these sinkers, now I do realise a lot of you out there already knew about this product, but I didn't.

So for those who didn't, here is something I think is very worth while.

They were developed and made in Australia, are completely biodegradable and are almost identical in weight to a similar sized lead sinker.

I check the enviroweight 30gm bean sinker against the same size in lead and found the latter to be around 4gms heavier. Not much to worry about IMO.

Priced at around $5.00 for 12.

Hope some of you find this useful.

cheers roz.
Roz .. I went & checked them out today ..... Good concept & seems reasonably priced ....... However BigW only had one size / type ........ I think a snapper type would be great in NSW with all the leatherjackets currently biting off every ones leads ( 1 guy i know lost all (15) of his 0.5lb leads in a morning session :'( ... nearly 3.5kgs of lead:o ..... Nagg

[finga]

Roz .. I went & checked them out today ..... Good concept & seems reasonably priced ....... However BigW only had one size / type ........ I think a snapper type would be great in NSW with all the leatherjackets currently biting off every ones leads ( 1 guy i know lost all (15) of his 0.5lb leads in a morning session :'( ... nearly 3.5kgs of lead:o ..... Nagg
In that instance I can fully appreciate the need for them :o

[roz]

as usual it seem there is more to the product range than the chain stores want to stock......I wonder if any of the tacle shops are stocking the full range?


on the matter of recovered tackle.
I met a bloke in townsville who goes scuba diving specificaly to gather gear.... well partly as a clean up activity and partly to get free gear.
He also fishes the same areas so it gives him a chance to see what the fishes see.

cheers

there is a fax and phone number of the lable, if anyone want them just drop me a PM, on the other hand, Big W will most likely order in the size sinker you want if you ask them...nicely::)

roz.

[oldboot]

I had a look in K mart capalaba today.
they had quit a range of sizes and a couple of shapes
the heaviest was 70g ( i think) and the smallest look to be about the size of a #2.

for those who throw a bit of weight thats all fine & beaut.

but not much for the lightweights.


one other advantage is the small reduction in personal risk.
there is a real risk of elivated blood lead levels if you handle a lot of lead.
raw unaloyed lead does come off on the hands quite redily.

they also look smoother and nicer to handle..... the shapes are smoother and crisper.... hell they might even fly better.

I recon if the price comes down a little and the range of sizes commonly available gets better I would swing over.

cheers