Lead and release for salmon?

Help a newbie to salmon out here...  I'm trying to read up on salmon fishing and prepare for next year's season...

I read the article on this site about salmon and it mentioned lead and a release.  I'm wondering, is this a device that just drops the lead sinker once the bait is struck?  What happens to the lead in that case?  Isn't that kind of environmentally unfriendly to drop large amounts of elemental lead in your fishing grounds?

I think I have the "plane" rig figured out, gonna buy a pink lady when I have the chance.  But this lead thing is just plain confusing.

I'm wondering, is this a device that just drops the lead sinker once the bait is struck?

Yes it is.

I don't use this device myself. I've used the divers (pink lady & deep six)last year at Linda Mar and it works - but you get a lot of drag with this option. This year, I just trolled an apex (and a few times with a coyote spoon) behind an 8 ounce banana weight sinker. I hooked a few shakers using this method and it was a lot easier paddling with this simple rig.

...just my 2 cents...

I used releases all season. I only dropped a few since usually if the salmon is not big enough to keep it is not big enough to pull the release. My dad landed a 24" without the release pulling as well. My bigger fish (24lb) released right away.

I am not sure but I would think the likelihood of losing a salmon would increase without the release. The combo of 8ozs of weight and a barbless hook are not so great. But hey Mooch did it so it can be done.

The combo of 8ozs of weight and a barbless hook are not so great. But hey Mooch did it so it can be done.

Sean got his first salmon with this set-up too    

I got my first HMB salmon with an 8 oz banana weight and a holographic apex on the troll.
Pat

So what about dropping elemental lead into the fishery?  Does anyone have information about impact on heavy metal buildup?  It seems to me that it must have SOME impact on the environment, although perhaps the solid lead doesn't leech into the H2O that quickly.

Joel (Big Red),

I know of 2 types of sinker releases.  One is a spring loaded device, the that releases and drops the weight.

The other is a simple device, which works off of angles.  If the fish pulls, the angle changes and the weight is released.

Either will work, but I've only used the spring loaded ones.  IMO, both of these are better than either hard tying a sinker or using a heavy planer IN A KAYAK.  In a boat, its less of an issue.  Here's why.

In a boat, you're always in gear moving forward, say at 2 MPH.  In a kayak, you've stopped paddling and are battling your fish.  In a boat, thats a BIG advantage, as the trolling speed is helping to keep pressure on the fish.  
So, if you've stopped paddling to pick up a rod with say a 1 or 2lb ball hard tied to your line, your at a big disadvantage.  Imaging if you are reeling in a 2lb ball with a fish and then this fish decides to swim towards you?  There is a very good chance that you'll be "fighting" your sinker and while there is no resistence on the fish.  That's not good, and with barbless hooks, thats a nightmare in the making.

OK, so it sounds like most guys don't use 2lbs, but replace that with an 8 oz - 1lb sinker or a heavy planer.  Either way, the more resistence IN BETWEEN you and a fish is not going to help.


Stuart

From what I've read, solid elemental lead isn't much of an issue as an aquatic toxin per se.  It doesn't "leach" or become bioavailable to aquatic organisms to any great extent.

The main issue with lead sinkers seems to be with small sinkers such as split shots that can be picked up by aquatic birds, particularly waterfowl who like to pick them up for use as grit in their gizzards.  Upon ingestion they can cause some toxicity to birds.  

Also, lead doesn't appear to be bioaccumulative like other substances such as mercury or pcb's.  

I'm sure there's lots more on the subject... maybe the marine biologists will chime in with more.

Erik

Hm.  I'm thinking I might just drill some holes in some 12-oz pebbles and rig them as sinkers.

Some people use old spark-plugs for lighter weights. I've also heard of people filling sections of pipe with cement or something similar. I imagine you can drill a hole in a section of pipe and put in a split ring then fill her up. I've seen pictures of heavy jigs made this way, they filled them with lead but that defeats your purpose. I would imagine cement would work. Personally I wouldn't worry about it. The big deal with lead is it's use as shot for waterfowl. The shells I use for duck hunting now have tungsten in them, the stuff that light bulb filaments are made of. It's also used to make carbide drill bits. 10 shells with 1.5 oz. of tungsten shot cost about $20. I would not advise using tungsten as weight. IT's bad enough when you miss with three shots in a row. Having a shaker pull off a $20 weight would hurt pretty bad. At any rate the reason they switched from lead was that ducks would pick up shot that had settled in the marsh. As Eric said when it got in their gizzards they would grind it up and ingest little pieces of lead. I don't think there are any dabbling ducks that are going to be diving 40 feet deep in the ocean to pick up a 2 lb. ball. More toxic material comes out of the city sewers and ag runoffs than you could even shake a fist at.

I have scrape CoreCell foam and left-over epoxy from a recent wood S&G SOT kayak project that I'm going to use to make banana, triangle sinkers. You start by cutting/sanding the foam to desired shape, even bend on a modest curve, drill holes to needs, such as for installing eyelets/swivels. Mix some two-part fast curing epoxy with a color tint of your choice, I'll be using forest green. Then soak the foam real good because you want weight, it acts like a sponge! Let it cure for several hours. Then paint a few fish eyes and stripes in high contrast colors.
It won't weigh as much as lead, but good enough for intended purpose for sure.
You will find CoreCell foam scraps at custom boat manufacturers that use infusion bonding process. Call around.

That  corecel/epoxy sounds interesting. How heavy/bouyant would it be?  There's other stuff you'd probably be able to make, flashers/dodgers, those fish laser sinker releases, trolling spoons. Possibilities are endless.

Keep in mind that lead is mined from rocks where it occurs naturally.  There's probably a few billion tonns of lead ore laying on the bottom of the ocean.  Compared to that, any amount of lead sinkers is neglidgeable.  Lead will also sink in the sand/gravel over time until it hits bedrock.  Panning for gold I found considerable amounts of lead shot in the very bottom of rock cracks once all the sand above had been removed.  Not much gold though.    Anyway, since the lead sinks to the bottom of the ocean soil, it's fairly contained under all the sand and rock above it.

Sean got his first salmon with this set-up too

True...Dave also caught his first yak salmon using the same set-up.  Stu's points seem valid though.  Our salmon basically swam to the boat and into the net so there wasn't much of a test of any theories. Boring fight, but great on the grill!