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I searched online for lead free weighted hooks. I only found three sites with such hooks. Two were bismuth/tin alloy weighted hooks. One from Walmart at https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arkie-Bismut ... /157979670 has no bait keeper. The other at Tacklesmith at http://www.tacklesmith.com/Product.aspax?ProductID=320 has a bait keeper on the shank. One site at Rocky Ledge Tackle at http://www.rockyledgetackle.com/collect ... bait-hooks has a pewter weighted hook. It has a screw lock bait holder with a centering pin. Lead free weights could be added to other hooks by winding wire around the shank. I tried this with brass wire on an Owner TwistLock hook. I used .88mm (20 gauge) wire. This was the biggest wire that was locally available that was easy to bend around the hook. To add more weight I put on two windings. I will provide a photo when I find out how to do it.

Cobra2020* wrote:I searched online for lead free weighted hooks. I only found three sites with such hooks. Two were bismuth/tin alloy weighted hooks. One from Walmart at https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arkie-Bismut ... /157979670 has no bait keeper. The other at Tacklesmith at http://www.tacklesmith.com/Product.aspax?ProductID=320 has a bait keeper on the shank. One site at Rocky Ledge Tackle at http://www.rockyledgetackle.com/collect ... bait-hooks has a pewter weighted hook. It has a screw lock bait holder with a centering pin. Lead free weights could be added to other hooks by winding wire around the shank. I tried this with brass wire on an Owner TwistLock hook. I used .88mm (20 gauge) wire. This was the biggest wire that was locally available that was easy to bend around the hook. To add more weight I put on two windings. I will provide a photo when I find out how to do it.

I'm curious what your reason is with going lead free?

To avoid putting lead into the natural environment.

Cobra2020* wrote:To avoid putting lead into the natural environment.

Gotcha. I didn't realize there were other options other than Tungsten. Good to know.

Cobra2020* wrote:To avoid putting lead into the natural environment.

I like the idea not just for this, but because you've found a good way to customize hook weights too.

Now one thing to look out for, I'm not sure if it matters, but having 2 dissimilar metals in salt water will corrode faster. Lead + metal seems stable enough though. Brass is pretty corrosion resistant but who knows what it would do with our metal hooks.

This is probably a great question for RonMC our metallurgist on site

Chubs wrote:

Cobra2020* wrote:Brass is pretty corrosion resistant but who knows what it would do with our metal hooks.

This is probably a great question for RonMC our metallurgist on site

Brass + steel definitely sacrifices steel (though the galvanic difference with stainless steel is not enough to matter - nickel)

https://www.manictackleproject.com/flyf ... sinrivers/

Tungsten countersunk and slotted beads, dumbbells, scud weights, thread and powder are available. I use various tungsten weights instead of lead on many flies I tie. Ultimately, I’m looking to shed weight as excess weight on a fly is often counterproductive to fun fly fishing. Of course, many flies I use have no added weight other than the feathers and fibers, most of which have neutral or positive buoyancy. But if I wish to have a fly with a strong negative buoyancy with minimal weighting, I use tungsten instead of lead or brass.

No reason the sinking power of tungsten couldn’t be employed in spin or baitcasting reel fishing. In fact, I believe Buggs Lures uses tungsten scud weights on some of their offerings designed for use with conventional tackle. Spinning reels and set ups do a little better with handling lighter weights than baitcasting setups. The tungsten slotted bead come in sizes that I feel would be adequate to use with spin tackle.

If one compares an equal weight of lead and tungsten, the tungsten will sink in water over twice as fast as the lead. Check out the link shared for the data.

I don't know, I still have lead from the '80s, still use it, and still bring it home.
As long as no one ingests it, it's pretty inert. (there are still lead water pipes in service in Europe from hundreds of years ago)

There's a concern with birds ingesting lead split shot, though I doubt if they've eaten any of mine - all new split shot is tin.
But the real lead concern was waste lead-acid car batteries, which they also don't make any more, lead waste from smelting and foundries, lead pigment in flaking paint, anything on an industrial scale...

Feel good Green marketing is riding an environmental coat-tail. If you want a real environmental concern, the US imports 10 million aluminum bicycles every year made from fossil power in Asia without acid-gas scrubbing, which is killing the Great Barrier Reef along with our west-coast oysters. Or the next drought will finally kill our Texas rivers and bays because we take all our water from the ground instead of desalination - Wake Up CCA - the Sierra Club is duping you.

Copper, you can get it for pennies

actually, pennies are zinc - they're only clad with a thin layer of copper
there haven't been copper pennies since 1982