In Crosslake, governor’s fishing opener spotlights lethal impact of lead tackle to Minnesota’s loons
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When Gov. Tim Walz casts a line into the Whitefish Chain of Lakes in north-central Minnesota on Saturday, he'll be pinning his hopes for landing a lunker on a lure that doesn't contain lead.
Walz and an entourage of politicians, business leaders and members of the media will descend on Crosslake this weekend for the Governor’s Fishing Opener, an annual tradition designed to promote the state’s fishing and tourism industries.
Crosslake is also home to the National Loon Center, a nonprofit dedicated to research, education and conservation of Minnesota’s state bird. It plans to break ground on a new $18.5 million facility in June.
Jon Mobeck, the center’s executive director, said the fishing opener is an opportunity to highlight that one of the biggest threats loons face comes from swallowing lead sinkers, lures and jigs.
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“The simple fact is we know with 100 percent certainty that lead is poisonous and lethal to loons,” Mobeck said.
Loons and other birds don’t have teeth, so they swallow small rocks to help digest food. Lead sinkers or small jigs can resemble those rocks.
Once lead enters a loon's bloodstream, it gets disoriented. It can’t swim, dive or care for its chicks. Mobeck called it “heartbreaking.”
"It's a really, really disturbing thing to see, especially for people like us who love loons in Minnesota,” he said.
Ingesting a single split-shot lead sinker can be fatal to loons, which typically die within a few weeks.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimates that about 25 percent of adult loons die from lead poisoning. Lead tackle also can be deadly for swans, geese, ducks and eagles.
To encourage change, the National Loon Center will provide the governor and his entourage with lead-free tackle donated by three Minnesota companies: Northland Tackle, Mission Tackle and VMC, a division of Rapala.
Non-toxic alternatives are available in bait shops and sporting goods stores. But many anglers aren't convinced lead-free weights and lures work as well. So getting them to voluntarily switch to lead-free tackle non-toxic alternatives isn't easy.
“Change is really hard,” said Kelly Amoth of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “It’s just really hard the older you get, and especially when it comes to a hobby, something you really care about.”
Amoth coordinates the state’s Get the Lead Out program, which collects lead tackle and distributes lead-free alternatives through a voluntary exchange. It also offers retailers rebates of up to $3,000 to purchase and offer lead-free fishing tackle. Sixteen stores have applied so far.
Many non-toxic alternatives are made of tungsten, which is popular for winter ice fishing. But tungsten can cost several times more than lead, deterring many anglers from making the switch.
“Just getting people to spend a few extra dollars on lead-free is a bit of a challenge,” Amoth said.
The National Loon Center is asking companies to sign its “Loons & Lakes Legacy Pledge” to phase lead out of their products.
So far, one company has signed on: Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle, which started in Minnesota and is now owned by Arkansas-based PRADCO. Lindy committed to making its entire product line lead-free by 2027.
Jeff Zernov, a longtime creator of products for the fishing industry and owner of a Brainerd company called Dragon Hunter, helped design jigs made of bismuth, which Lindy now sells.
Bismuth jigs are comparable in size to their lead counterparts and less expensive than tungsten, said Ron Kiffmeyer, a Brainerd-area consultant for Lindy. He said anglers aren’t willing to sacrifice performance to ditch lead.
“Here's a better-performing product that's lead free, that doesn't cost as much as tungsten. It costs half the price,” Kiffmeyer said. “That's what really got me excited.”
But Zernov and Kiffmeyer are frustrated that Lindy chose to sell the products under the nondescript name B-Max, rather than emphasizing that the jigs are lead free.
“It could have been so much stronger,” Zernov said.
Convincing more tackle makers to redesign their products has been a challenge.
Fishing personality Chip Leer, a member of the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame, also serves on the board of directors for the National Loon Center. He’s been trying to get the fishing tackle industry and environmental groups to find common ground.
Leer said environmental groups want immediate change. But manufacturers say it takes time to convert all their different products to lead alternatives.
“To change all of that all at one time — it's ridiculously hard to do that, and continue to be profitable,” he said.
What’s helping, Leer said, is that lead-free products have improved, and anglers have become more aware of the problems caused by lead.
"High school tournament fishing is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. You're seeing more and more young anglers get introduced to the sport of fishing,” he said. “They tend to be much more environmentally conscious than older generations."
The rise in popularity of forward-facing sonar among anglers is also helping, because tungsten and bismuth lures tend to show up on a sonar display better than lead, Leer said.
Many loon advocates say the only surefire way to get anglers to change their habits is to ban lead tackle. Several states, including Massachusetts, New York, Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, restrict the use of lead tackle under a certain size.
The American Sportfishing Association has opposed attempts by states to restrict lead tackle, which it says are a significant part of the recreational fishing economy. The group cites studies showing that loon populations nationally are stable or increasing.
“ASA opposes restrictions on lead fishing tackle that are not based on science demonstrating population level impacts to wildlife,” the group stated. It said it supports education and exchange programs that allow anglers to voluntarily transition away from lead tackle.
Efforts to ban lead tackle in the Minnesota Legislature have repeatedly failed.
A 2022 bill authored by state Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, would have prohibited the use of lead tackle in swan breeding areas.
"What sunk it last time, no pun intended, was the cost,” said Hansen, who is the former co-chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee. "Some (legislators) were hearing from constituents who said, 'We don't want to pay for these more expensive alternatives.’”
Hansen said he believes younger people and anglers new to the sport will drive the transition away from lead tackle to safer alternatives, but it will take time.
“I think that eventually, change will come,” he said.
Correction (May 8, 2025): An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Rep. Rick Hansen is the chair of the House environment committee. Rick Hansen is the former chair of the House environment committee. It has been updated.