Summer is Here: Time to Reconsider Lead Tackle
Sam Grimone stands in his shop, Woods and Waters, in Saranac Lake. Woods and Waters is one of the participating tackle shops where anglers can turn in lead tackle in exchange for a $10 voucher.
Summer is upon us in the North Country, and with it, summer fishing season and the chance to evaluate your tackle box for gear that is unsafe for wildlife.
Specifically, that means looking for ways to replace lead tackle with non-lead alternatives. Lead tackle endangers aquatic birds like the common loon (as well as eagles, herons and other species that prey on fish) when it is unintentionally ingested and then poisons them. Death from lead poisoning can take up to four weeks. As the effects of poisoning progresses, loons will behave abnormally and experience weakness, tremors, gasping and muscle paralysis. By the time symptoms are present, it is rare that a loon can survive.
In 2023, five out of 12 dead loons collected and submitted to DEC’s Wildlife Health Program were found to have died due to lead poisoning, making it the leading cause of death in adult common loons.
The best way to prevent loon deaths from lead tackle is to switch to using non-lead tackle, especially items like lead sinkers that weigh a half ounce or less. Sinkers of this size are easy for wildlife to ingest and have been banned in New York since 2004, though they end up in people’s tackle boxes in other states or because they were purchased before the ban.
To encourage a switch to lead-free tackle, the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation will once again be providing anglers who turn in at least one ounce or more of lead tackle with a $10 voucher to use towards the purchase of non-lead tackle. Lead can be turned in at participating tackle shops or at the Adirondack Loon Center on Main Street in Saranac Lake.
Woods and Waters – “a friendly sport shop” – in Saranac Lake is one of these participating tackle shops.
Sam Grimone, owner of Woods and Waters, said he participates in the program to help the environment because “who wouldn’t? If there’s a chance it can help wildlife, then we need it.”
Grimone has lived in Saranac Lake for 40 years and owned and operated Woods and Waters for the past six years. He stocks his shop with a wide range of non-lead products that work just as well as the lead ones, he said. “It doesn’t take many tin sinkers to do the job of a lead sinker.”
Sam Grimone shows some of the lead-free tackle options he sells at Woods and Waters.
Anglers can turn in at least one ounce of lead and receive a $10 voucher for lead-free tackle.
Apart from supplying participating tackle shops with vouchers, Adirondack Loon Center staff and interns will also conduct surveys with anglers to better understand what people already know about the dangers of lead and how to best increase awareness. With this information, we hope to address the concerns about the effectiveness of lead-free tackle and develop outreach strategies to better connect with both local and visiting anglers, ultimately reducing the amount of lead tackle used on Adirondack lakes and saving the lives of loons.
You can help make a difference by visiting a participating tackle shop and turning in your lead tackle for a $10 voucher. And if you’re an angler and you see Adirondack Loon Center staff and interns in your area conducting surveys, give them a minute or two of your time to share your thoughts on making the switch to lead-free tackle.
For Grimone, small changes that protect loons and other wildlife are key to preserving what he loves about living in this region. “After you’ve been here a while, if you think there are other more beautiful places, it’s because you take this place for granted,” he said. “There are still days when I’m driving home from church and I turn to my wife and say, ‘Can you believe we get to live here?’”
Small actions - like switching to lead-free tackle - can us keep it that way.
Woods and Waters in Saranac Lake: a “friendly sport shop.”
Denise Silfee, ACLC Education & Communications Director