Fishing sinker Information & Fishing sinker Links at HealthHaven.com

Three types of small lead sinkers

A fishing sinker or plummet is a weight used to force a lure or bait to increase its rate of sink, anchoring ability, and/or casting distance. Fishing sinkers may be as small as 1/32 of an ounce for applications in shallow water, even smaller for fly fishing applications, or as large as several pounds or considerably more for deep sea fishing. They are formed into nearly innumerable shapes for diverse fishing applications. Environmental concerns surround the usage of most fishing sinker materials.

[edit] Types

In ancient times as well as sometimes today, fishing sinkers consisted of materials found ordinarily in the natural environment, such as stones, rocks, or bone. In the ordinary case today, however, sinkers are made of lead, since the material is inexpensive to produce and mold into a large variety of shapes for specific fishing applications.

For example, pyramid sinkers, shaped as the name implies, are used when it is desirable to anchor on the bottom of water bodies. They are attached to the terminal end of fishing line by loops of brass. Another common type, barrel sinkers, feature a narrow hole through their length. Fishing line is threaded through the hole. Yet another common example of sinkers is split-shots—small round sinkers split half-way through and crimped at some point along the line—which are used for nearly innumerable applications. Sill another, bullet sinkers—bullet-shaped sinkers, as the name indicates—are used widely in Largemouth Bass fishing for rigging plastic worms "Texas-style".

[edit] Materials and environment

Human-originated lead is responsible for increases in lead found in water, which has resulted in the deaths of many waterbirds and other aquatic organisms.^[1] Due to concerns about such lead poisoning, most lead-based fishing sinkers have been outlawed in the U.K., Canada, some U.S. states, and all U.S. National Parks are now 100% lead-free zones.^[1].

Since the disfavor of lead sinkers, steel and brass have been marketed as substitutes, although fishermen have not widely adopted them due to their additional bulk and cost over lead. A material introduced more recently, tungsten, is now in considerable use, especially among Largemouth Bass fishermen. Although several times costlier than lead, fishermen tend to view tungsten as desirable since it is denser than lead and thus provides equivalent weight at around half of the bulk of lead. The environmental effects of tungsten within water bodies, however, are essentially unknown, a concern that has naturally arisen due to the inevitably of loosing sinkers, irrespective of the material, during routine fishing.^[2]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b MPCA Home > Sustainability > Reduce Reuse Recycle > Nontoxic Tackle: Let's get the lead out!
^ Strigul, Nikolay, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Per Arienti, Christos Christodoulatos, Dimitris Dermatas, and Washington Braida. 2005. Effects of tungsten on environmental systems. Chemosphere 61, no. 2 (October): 248-258. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.01.083.

[edit] External links

Do lead fishing sinkers threaten the environment? (from The Straight Dope)
Toxic Tackle (article by Aquarium Monsters Australia)
Let's get the lead out
Stone plummets discovered in Canada

[MPCA-0] MPCA Home > Sustainability > Reduce Reuse Recycle > Nontoxic Tackle: Let's get the lead out!

[1] Strigul, Nikolay, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Per Arienti, Christos Christodoulatos, Dimitris Dermatas, and Washington Braida. 2005. Effects of tungsten on environmental systems. Chemosphere 61, no. 2 (October): 248-258. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.01.083.

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Contents

[edit] Types

[edit] Materials and environment

[edit] References

[edit] External links