Ever since the shift from lead to steel (and other materials) in waterfowl bird shot, I've experimented with steel shot for making slinkies.

It's not as heavy, at least the stuff I have, and it will eventually rust through the parachute cord, but that doesn't seem to cause any problems except aesthetic ones.

It works well for small weights in small streams, but hasn't worked out all that well for swifter, deeper water, yet.

CFM, how many tons of lead do you think are on the bottom of the river at Blue Creek? Maybe it would be more accurate to ask how many tons do you think are deposited each and every season there, as I'm sure there's that much lost?

The reasoning behind banning it for duck/goose hunting was not that lead was contaminating the water, per se, but that the accumulation of lead shot on the bottom of the wetlands was being actually consumed by ducks, which were then being consumed by eagles, who were the ones actually suffering the damage.

That reasoning wouldn't hold true for most of our fishing areas, but who knows? As smaller and smaller impacts, piled on top of the huge impacts of the past and present, start to push fish closer to the brink, restrictions are part of the territory.

Perhaps we'll see bans on using lead for fishing weights in our lifetimes. We'd probably be wise to start looking for viable alternatives now rather than being left high and dry (literally) when and if such a ban ever comes.

Fish on...

Todd.