Get the lead out!

5 reasons why Tungsten sinkers are better for YOU!

I remember when I heard that New York State was banning lead sinkers.  At first I thought nothing of it, but I quickly had a heart attack when I saw the price of Tungsten.  I thought it was going to mean the end of my worm fishing days!  I couldn't see a benefit, and I didn't know all the environmental hazards associated with lead that had prompted that legislation.  That 2002, over ten years ago, and since then we've all come to know the harm that lead and lead production can cause.  But do you know the benefits to Tungsten?

1.  Size Matters

Tungsten weights are generally comprised of 70% to 97% tungsten, an element much harder, denser, and heavier than lead.  For the sake of this article, I'm going to be focusing on weights made by Elite Tungsten, a company that produces only 97% weights.  This composition is significant because it allows anglers to use a smaller profile weight, thereby reducing hangups and eliminating costly time spent having to free your line.  When compared to lead, the size of tungsten is much smaller, which will mean having a more realistic presentation of your bait by not having a two inch sinker in front.  While that advantage might seem minimal at best on a farm pond, fish that get pounded on lakes like Hartwell, Douglas, or Smith Mountain can be easily turned off by abnormalities like that.  

2.  A Diamond In The Rough

Elite Tungsten weights are bored with a diamond drill bit, the only company to do so, eliminating the need for inserts that other companies need to prevent chafing of your line.  Being insert-free and smooth allows you to use a lighter line without fear of having it broken by your sinker, translating to fewer rigs breaking off.  The smaller line diameter can frequently lead to increased numbers of fish in your boat, especially in waters that are heavily fished or that have high visibility (very clear water).  Catching more fish is always a good thing.

3.  Sounds Good To Me

Being denser and harder than lead creates more sound.  While there's no clear data to suggest how many strikes are generated as a result of sound alone, it is certainly a contributing factor.  Tungsten can also deliver improved vibration to your hand, allowing you to better determine bottom composition which can be key to finding big fish!  For example, when bass are keying on crawfish, being able to find those rocky areas that are intermixed with grass in deeper water is often done only by being able to feel it in your rod.  My buddy Brian Campbell will often say "God it feels good down there" when referring to a little outcrop of small rocks on the bottom.  It's not enough to be in an area that's 20 yards wide, you need to know where in that area are the smaller 3 foot by 3 foot subsections of rock that are there.  Those are the areas that the fish are holding tight to.

4.  Don't Drink The Water

Lead is bad.  We know that now.  It's bad in our drinking water, it's bad to produce, it's just bad.  While Tungsten is more expensive, it's a small price to pay now to have a better environment later.  Waiting too long could lead to damage that is far greater financially, say nothing of what lead poisoning could do to the fish.  Our lakes and rivers are not dumps, and we have the ability to do better than we did in the past.  Doesn't that obligate us, as anglers?

5.  You'll Catch More Fish

That's the ultimate goal, is it not?  Not just catch fish, but catch A LOT of fish.  If this weight can help you lose fewer baits via snags, retie less often, have your lure in the water MORE often, help you feel more of the bottom and feel more bites, not chafe your line thereby preventing breaks while fighting fish or snags, AND do a little bit to help protect the future of the sport we love so much, why wouldn't you try it?  

My Segment On The Weather Channel

Check out the Weather Underground production featuring me and my friends from B.A.S.S. that was filmed by The Weather Channel!

What Douglas Lake and my quest for the Elite Series in 2015 have in common.

What do The First B.A.S.S. Northern Open at Douglas Lake and my quest for the Elite Series in 2015 have in common?  They're over.  That's right.  What began with me catching a six pounder on my first day of practice, ended when I checked in on day one Thursday with my first zero I've ever had.  When I first arrived in Dandridge I was told "You're either gonna love this lake, or you're gonna hate it" and I can honestly say I felt both.

At the end of the day Tuesday I was nervously feeling over confident.  I had a huge school of big fish, I knew where they were hanging out, what time they ate, and how to catch them.  I only briefly checked on them Wednesday morning to make sure they were still there before taking my boat out at 11 am.  I say nervously because I had tournaments in the past where my great practices turned into horrible events and I had a lot riding on this one.  It was my first Open as a boater, and The Weather Channel was coming to film me at the weigh-in on Thursday, interview me after, and follow me all day Friday.

No pressure at all.

Day 1.

I have a really late boat draw, near 160 out of nearly 190.  From the very beginning I'm conflicted.  My big school is at the far back end of Muddy Creek.  I know other anglers saw me catch a 5 pounder there on Sunday, and while I know those fish won't eat until 9 or 9:30 am, I'm afraid that if I don't go there first thing, I will find someone else on it.  I might find someone on it anyhow.  I have other areas, but they're smaller fish, nothing I found in practice is like this area: caught two big ones, and saw one near 10 pounds not 40 yards away.  So I go there first, and I'm the only one there.

By noon we have nothing.  I can't find a fish on my graph.  It's a ghost town, both in terms of my fish and my confidence.  The one thing that has always been my strength, my perseverance, is but a memory, and I'm left with nothing but a growing fear that my worst nightmare will come true.  I run the lake, hitting almost every waypoint I have, and between the two of us we only catch two keeper largemouth.  And mine is on the edge.  I measure it 8 times, and 6 times it's short.  With an awful pain in my stomach I throw it back.  I go on a tear, and catch 8 fish on 9 casts, all of them four pounders, all of them smallmouth.

None of them big enough to keep.

True heartbreak has now taken over.

At the end of the day, I limp back to the dock with my first zero.  The Elite Series dream left another year away, yet again.  I know I'm better than that, and that I can compete at that level.  I was staying with Chris and Woo Daves while I was down there.  Chris said "You're gonna be real nervous when they film you.  My first ever Classic I rolled up to my first spot, camera on me, I dropped the trolling motor, turned around, and stepped right off the boat!"

So did I, in a sense.

When I looked back at the data from my personal weather station later that night I saw spike in temperature of about 7 degrees.  What I didn't expect was for that small increase to drive my fish out towards the main lake.  I learned a hard lesson, and knew that moving forward I would have to commit to fish that were already out of the creeks.  Those fish were already in their summer homes and would be less impacted by small increases like that.

Day 2.

I'm more relaxed than I've ever been.  I have nothing to lose.  I can only improve from Day 1.  I skip the big fish, and go run my points and secondary points.  My co-angler for the day is in good shape and I want him to do well.  Those memories of being in his shoes are still too fresh for me.  I spend more time talking to the camera than I do fishing, putting him in good position to hit points, docks, pontoons.  He has a decent limit and is culling fish by 9, an added bonus to being boat 59.  I decide to go check on my big fish, just because it's close to their lunch time if they in fact return, and if they do, they have the kind of weight that can change your tournament in a hurry.

And sure enough, they're there.

But so are thousands of gizzard shad.  Big gizzard shad, some of them look like they would almost keep.  The water is boiling all around us, and I have never seen anything like it.  I've seen smallmouth on Oneida crush shad at the surface, but those are small, tiny in comparison.  These shad are huge, and the fish busting them are giants.  I manage a straggler off a point that's 2 pounds.  Nothing else touches anything we throw at them.  That's the pain of shad that big and in that size school:  bass have more than enough food and will rarely eat your lures.  The cameraman, producer, and boat operator are in awe, it's an amazing sight to behold, and it brings me a strange peace to know that I was right all along, and had found winning fish.

We run to a few more spots, all produce mediocre fish, and decide to finish the day near Shady Grove, where I lose one of my biggest fish of the week on my last cast, two feet from the boat.

I remember watching that fish slowly fade into the darkness, as if even she couldn't believe that she'd gotten away, and thinking to myself This whole week will end just like that:  where I was on the verge of accomplishing my life's dream, but had to watch it slowly slip away.

Just one more year.  I can handle that.  Until then, I'll be swinging for the fences at the next two opens.  With water that's much more my style, where brownfish that weigh 4 pounds cash checks, and where I'll better understand the data from my weather station.

Reel Weather: Douglas Lake, Dandridge TN

My last day of practice at Douglas Lake in Dandridge, TN.  I detail where I was fishing and why.