CROSSLAKE, Minn. — Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle has become the first major U.S. fishing tackle manufacturer to pledge to get the lead out of its products within three years, signing an agreement with the National Loon Center to become lead-free and loon-friendly.

A Lindy nontoxic jig made of tungsten in an undated courtesy photo, circa May 2024. The company announced it is releasing a new line of lead-free jigs after agreeing to remove lead from its tackle by 2027. (Courtesy of Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle)

As the first tackle company to sign the Loon Center’s “Loons & Lakes Legacy Pledge,” Lindy is launching a new line of products under the name “Lindy-Lead Free,” providing four styles of lead-free fishing jigs available in 144 variations.

Under the pledge, Lindy commits to making its entire product line lead-free and loon-friendly by 2027.

Lindy officials say they have developed a unique blend of nontoxic materials, including bismuth, that will look, feel and fish like lead. The development “is a true game changer in the fishing tackle industry,” said Ron Kiffmeyer, Lindy sales manager. “We have made the commitment to go 100% lead-free because we can, and it is the right thing to do, period.”

Jon Mobeck, executive director of the Crosslake, Minn.-based National Loon Center, praised Lindy for leading the way for the tackle industry and said he hopes more companies follow.

“We are determined to get the word out that fishing lead-free is possible, affordable and the absolute right thing to do to protect our state’s precious resources,’’ Mobeck said in announcing the news.

“As another fishing opener approaches, we are thrilled to support Lindy’s commitment to designing lead-free tackle that guides Minnesota’s storied angling tradition toward a more responsible future,” Mobeck said. “Removing lead from our lakes improves our valuable freshwater resource and protects loons from an unnecessary and lethal toxin.”

Lindy, originally founded in 1968 by Brainerd-based national fishing gurus Al and Ron Linder, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham, Alabama-based Pradco Outdoor Brands and its privately held parent company, EBSCO Industries.

The new tackle was designed for Lindy by Minnesotan Jeff Zernov, a fishing innovator who was inducted into the Minnesota Fishing Museum Hall of Fame in 2004. He’s developed a formula that makes tackle that behaves like lead tackle, with similar sizes, shapes, colors and weights, but is safe for humans and animals. The new jigs will cost only slightly more than lead.

“This is a very big moment for the fishing industry,” Zernov said in a statement. “With this product, there is no need to use lead tackle again. Our goal is to spread the word and get people to change their ways before it is too late.”

While many tackle manufacturers have offered lead-free alternatives to weights, sinkers and jigs for several years, including Minnesota-based companies like Clam and Northland, they have continued to sell far more leaded products. Lead has been the perfect material for fishing weighted tackle for a century because it’s cheap, readily available and easy to mold into many shapes and sizes. Lead alternatives, however, like tungsten, tin and bismuth, tend to be more expensive.

The split-shot fishing sinkers on the right are made of tin and are shinier than the lead sinkers on the left, and they are also non-toxic to loons and other birds. The lead-free sinkers are also slightly larger than the lead sinkers of comparable weight. (Forum News Service)

But lead is also a potent neurotoxin, especially for children and developing fetuses, but also for adults and wildlife. That’s why lead has been banned from paint, gasoline and other consumer products for decades and why governments are spending billions of dollars nationwide to remove lead water pipes from homes.

A tiny piece of lead can kill an adult loon or other bird within days. Loons and swans pick up the lead tackle pieces while looking for pebbles needed for their digestive system. Eagles and other predators pick up lead fragments from the gut piles or bodies of dead, hunter-shot animals they scavenge.

Some Minnesota lawmakers have for decades tried to pass laws to ban small lead fishing tackle, generally under an ounce in weight or inch in diameter, to protect loons. Those efforts have been thwarted, however, by a pushback from Minnesota tackle makers and national fishing tackle trade groups, including the American Sportfishing Association and the National Marine Manufacturers Association, that say any lead ban for even small tackle would cost anglers too much money.

While they agree some loons may be dying from lead tackle, they note that there is little proof that lead tackle is impacting loons at a population-wide level.

Similar efforts to further restrict lead ammunition also have been met with industry pushback. While lead ammunition has been banned for waterfowl hunting for decades due to lead poisoning in birds that eat dead fowl, efforts to require lead bullets for deer hunting or expand the lead shotgun shell ban for upland bird hunting or trap shooting, have been defeated, also due to concerns over price.

Minnesota has a stable population of about 12,000 loons, the official state bird.

Across Minnesota lakes, tons of lead lost each year

Minnesota anglers don’t lose much tackle on any given fishing trip, but collectively, tons of lead sinkers and jigs are ending up on lake bottoms each year. That was the conclusion of a 2006 study by Paul Radomsky, a fisheries biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The study looked at five popular walleye fishing lakes — Rainy, Namakan, Leech, Mille Lacs and Lake of the Woods — using survey interviews to find out how much fishing tackle anglers lost.

On each trip, each angler lost remarkably little tackle, the study found. For example, on average, one lead head jig was lost every 40 hours of fishing. But when multiplied by millions of anglers over millions of hours fished, year after year, the lead is piling up.

During summer 2004, anglers in the five lakes surveyed lost an estimated 215,000 pieces of tackle to snags and broken lines. Of that, about 100,000 pieces were made of lead, totaling more than 1 ton of lead lost in the lakes. And that was just five lakes over one summer.

Over 20 years, using DNR survey data, the study estimates anglers left more than 1 million pieces of lead in Lake Mille Lacs alone. That adds up to more than 9 tons of lead in one lake.

A slow death

Lead dissolves into a bird’s bloodstream quickly. The lead in a 1/8-ounce split-shot sinker is enough to kill a loon, while a fragment of lead bullet can kill an eagle. According to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources biologists, lead at levels as low as 0.02 parts per million are fatal to birds.

A loon or eagle with lead poisoning may fly poorly, have crash landings or stagger onto the ground. Lead-poisoned loons often gasp and tremble and their wings droop as lead moves through the bloodstream. Eventually, the loon stops eating and seeks seclusion, becoming emaciated and often dying within two or three weeks.

It’s believed most poisoned loons are never recovered. But, of the dead loons in the wild that are recovered, lead is the leading cause of death. Research from six New England states found that, of adult dead loons found, 26% died from lead poisoning. Some popular fishing lakes saw lead as the cause of over 50% of loon deaths.

In Michigan, another 15-year study examined 186 dead loons and revealed that lead poisoning was the leading cause of loon deaths. A study conducted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found that lead caused 12% of dead adult loons found intact.

Find lead-free tackle now

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offers a searchable list of lead-free tackle options at pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/where-to-buy-lead-free-tackle.

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