I don't think a loon would swallow a lead jig with a hook... However, I do believe they would swallow the same lead AFTER the hook rots away. The lead will just sit there forever. Why add more lead to water that we swim in and/or get drinking water from? I can definitely see a slow enactment of this law. Hopefully one that allows stores to find and produce non-lead jigs that compare to the leaded ones we now have. Why not? Loons aside... I like the idea of less toxics in our water bodies for the welfare of the people using those waters in the future.

I agree that the less lead the better for all species. I thought that NH law now calls for no sale of lead products less than 1 oz. and 1 in. Go into most stores you'll find plenty of stuff that doesn't meet the rule. Is any one charged with enforceing this rule? Do most retailers even know about it?

As worded in the rule book... lead jigs of less than one inch along their longest axis are illegal. I believe that includes the hook at this point. The new law would take into consideration that the hook will eventually rot away and leave a hunk of lead small enough to go into the gizzard (?) of a bird. Therefore the measure of ONLY the lead.
Also, when it comes to lead sinkers... anything one ounce or less is currently illegal.
These items are illegal to use or sell. I have been checked while ice fishing, but never during the summer. I wonder, too, if anyone checks the stores? I have not happened to see any "illegal" lead in stores myself though.

There is no question lead can be an environmental hazard, chldren eating lead paint, lead leaching from plin=mbing fixtures into the potable water... but..Open a Cabelas or Bass Pro catalog and you will find pages of jigs sized from micro to macro; all painted and ready to go. How is a fisherman to know whether these jigs are made with lead? It doesn't state it in the product description. How is the angler to know if it is made out of lead? If the angler doesn't know what the jig is made out of and they get checked will F & G give them a citation?

Why not focus on cleaning up the lead in the lake sediment around the gas docks that pumped leaded gas for all those years. Or how about focusing on mercury emissions from the mid-west power plants that have so contaminated our fish that there are health advisories in every NE State. How do we as a society find this acceptable? The legislature's concern is lead poisoning of loons, what about mercury poisioning of loons, eagles, herons, otters etc. after all if it is unsafe for us to each more that a few meals a month of freshwatwer fish imagine the damage done to species that their main food soucre is freashwater fish!

If a magnet sticks to it--it's not lead.

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Replying to:

There is no question lead can be an environmental hazard, chldren eating lead paint, lead leaching from plin=mbing fixtures into the potable water... but..Open a Cabelas or Bass Pro catalog and you will find pages of jigs sized from micro to macro; all painted and ready to go. How is a fisherman to know whether these jigs are made with lead? It doesn't state it in the product description. How is the angler to know if it is made out of lead? If the angler doesn't know what the jig is made out of and they get checked will F & G give them a citation?

Why not focus on cleaning up the lead in the lake sediment around the gas docks that pumped leaded gas for all those years. Or how about focusing on mercury emissions from the mid-west power plants that have so contaminated our fish that there are health advisories in every NE State. How do we as a society find this acceptable? The legislature's concern is lead poisoning of loons, what about mercury poisioning of loons, eagles, herons, otters etc. after all if it is unsafe for us to each more that a few meals a month of freshwatwer fish imagine the damage done to species that their main food soucre is freashwater fish!

i wonder how many jigs are actually lost by the bass guys that know what they are doing, i see them using that 50 pound line for jig fishing. now the lead core line is another matter, i like the line, but pick up piles of the stuff of the bottom when fishing for lakers. my boat floor gets covered with the stuff every time i drag bottom. its only a matter of time before lead line gets banned in my opinion.

I've gone with the no-lead "leadcore" for that reason Fishless. I figure its a matter of time and for the right reasons.

As to NW powerplants, global mercury emissions etc...wouldn't it be nice if we fisherman could make an impact on those issues. What we can do is voluntary ween off lead sinkers, jigs etc. and have an immediate impact where we fish.