1st Reported By TwinCities.com: Back in 2003, Brad Yaritz of White Bear Lake read a magazine article about loons dying after eating lead. From fishing tackle. “That really stuck with me, for years,” said Yaritz, who at the time had rekindled his boyhood passion for walleye fishing. He didn’t know it at the time, but he had been converted to a lead-free fisherman.
Today, Yaritz makes lead-free jigs in the basement of his home under the brand Eco-Jig. From his website, CatchItTackle.com, he sells nontoxic tackle made by him and a few other local lure makers.
Lead-free fishing tackle, especially jigs and weights, can seem as rare in the aisles of many Minnesota bait shops as lead paint in hardware stores.Once seen as a model for the nation, Minnesota’s state-sponsored campaign to reduce lead in fishing tackle essentially has been dead for years, and there is no chatter of a ban at the Legislature.
But the issue is resurfacing.
Lead fishing tackle — and the related topic of lead firearms ammunition — will take center stage early next month at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of the Wildlife Society. More than 200 wildlife biologists from throughout the state are expected to attend the gathering in Bemidji, where a half-day “plenary session” will be devoted to six speakers offering perspectives, followed by a panel discussion.
Meanwhile, nontoxic lures and sinkers are creeping into tackle boxes. Travel to any fishing show, and you likely will bump into lure makers — some local, some from as far away as Europe — hawking tin or tungsten lures, especially for ice fishing.
National tackle manufacturers such as White Bear Lake-based Water Gremlin have ramped up production of steel and tin split-shot sinkers to accommodate anglers in the small but growing number of states with bans on lead. Read on….
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