Get The Lead Out

[VTflyfishing]

I don't want to spark a huge debate, but I just want to say a few things about using lead. I would like to try to get everyone that reads this to STOP tying with lead. I'm not a tree hugging hippie. I'm an avid outdoorsman. I do not only fish I also hunt. I'm very concerned with the things we do to our environment. There are alternatives to lead such as lead free wire. I want you to think about how many flies you lost last year that were tied with lead. Any one of those flies you lost could be eaten by a mammal or bird and we know that lead kills animals. I'm adding a link with more info on lead. Please lets Get The Lead Out!
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/reduce/sinkers.cfm

[Nymphmeister]

I strongly suspect it's just a matter of time until all lead is banned everywhere in the USA for use as sinkers or fly weight. Bet by 2020 it will be a reality. Definitely will make the Euro style weighted fly fishing tougher in some instances. I've yet to see a practical wire substitute for lead that actually is heavy- tin is something like 60-70% as heavy- I think. Tungsten beads certainly help a lot, and combined with tine wire are usually more than enough to get the job done. You can always oversize your bead if you need a really heavy fly.

[alanb_ct]

Tin density = 7.3g/cm^3
Lead density = 11.4g/cm^3

Euro-nymphing with no lead flies will emphasize the need for slender flies and lighter leaders. I think with a few small adjustments, we could all make it work.

[Nymphmeister]

Wow, I was actually about right! Thanks Alain.

[VTflyfishing]

I also forgot to add that we should use nontoxic split shot.

[nutman]

this is one of the reasons i like sinking tips ,mine have tungston in them ,It is a better way to fish and I dont have to carry lead with me .This is a different style of fishing then on most eastcoast streams .It takes some getting use to .I also have been reading alot about the natural drift .
It seems to me you guys are catching fish on the tungsten beads .
The biggest problem is that most of the alternatives dont work like lead .I did see some thing interesting the other day stones with holes in them for weight .It was different ,but it got me thinking .

[Davyfly]

Wrote a long post here, somehow it got lost.

So far as as l am aware the use of lead when it is part of a tied fly is not illegal in the UK.
When l lived there the use of lead weights and shot came into effect.
I used other alternatives so far as pinch on shot there really was little difference in my opinion.
We are dealing with micro small grms issues here.

I would go so far as to say this. Fly fishing activity by and large is not the reasons why wildlife is subjected to lead infestation.
It is other angling methods. Here for example on the White river and our lakes. The loss of long length of mono filament does cause mortality for birds, often we find birds snagged up or dead due to mono tangled around the feet and in some cases the wings.

Lead issues so far as moving waters are a very different deal to those found on lakes and stillwaters.
I know from the research that was done in the UK the species that suffered more were Swans.
Due to the manner in which they feed off the bottom on lakes and ponds.

I have a friend who works for the NRA back home in UK, l will ask him if there was any further data or issues so far as fishing flies and lead use.

I know for a fact that the use of non toxic shot results in more wildfowl being wounded and not harvested only to die at some later point in time.
It is a crazy scenario when you can hunt other species with lead and not wildfowl, granted in many cases they would be hunted over water.

Either way l do advocate for issues that benefit wildlife, my work with the USFW is very much related to that.

Davy.

[nutman]

I know the difference you speak of in huntind Davy ,the water fowl issue is real ,though i havent had one get awat with steel shot ;D I have seen the difference in shooting deer though copper coated buck shot stinks ,it doesnt expand .I have read an article though on the dispersal of lead through the meat .A scientist did a study on a deer that was shot and he was horrified ,which scared me .
I think one way or the other lead in our water isnt good weather it is standing or moving it ends up somewhere weather it is tiny or not .
I dont like seeing mono on the sides of streams or lakes ,as fly fishermen we use alot tinyer amount of it .For the life of me i have never understood why people litter .The other end of that is snagging and losing a large amount of mono which at some point is set free on the birds .To tangle them to a bad death .I always pick up mono when i see it .Heck i even cut up those plastic can holders so birds wount get tanglede in them .
I think the biggest part is not being lazy ,and being aware of the affects these things can have in nature ,every action has an equal and opposite reaction . That is a very true statement !

[kyle]

VT,

U'r a hunter you say? Well I also hunt, and I have a question, do you use lead bullets in your rifles and lead shot in your shotguns? Because we all know when you shoot a duck, pheasant, or deer not all of the LEAD bb's hit the target (and in most cases the lead bullet goes straight through the deer and keep going). Where do these bb's go? the ground where birds or animals can ingest them just like flies. I don't mean any offense by this post and I hope that none is taken. But the fact is that lead is a very useful material, be it for bullets, bb's, split shot, or lead wire. I do agree with you to a certain degree but the fact is that until some scientist invents a material with the same properties as lead that doesn't contain lead we are going to continue to use lead.

-kyle

[BlackLabel]

I agree lead is very useful and cheap but I think we should all do our part to use alternatives where we can. Just because our split shot isn't as bad as a hunters bird shot doesn't mean it isn't bad. If you ask me the problem is every company that makes an environmentally friendly anything charges entirely to much money for it because its the "in" thing to be environmentally friendly.