Biodegradable line is next step in green fishing
By RAY SASSER
The Dallas Morning News
Environmentally sensitive fishing products are showing up at tackle shops with increased regularity. Wright McGill, the Colorado company that makes an assortment of tackle under the Eagle Claw brand, even has a biodegradable fishing line.
Why is that important? Because monofilament, the dominant line used for nearly 70 years, stays around a long time. Fishing line is tangled in brush beneath the water's surface and in trees along the river bank. It's a hazard to boat propellers, birds and other animals.
The country's 30 million anglers age 16 and older spend an average of 17 days per year fishing. They use thousands of miles of fishing line each year and leave a lot of it in the landscape, where scientists say it may take 600 years to break down.
Bioline, the Eagle Claw product that's primarily pitched for crappie fishing, is engineered to retain its strength for 10 to 12 months of use, then begin a five-year degrading process whether it's left on the land or in the water.
Crappie anglers in particular benefit from biodegradable fishing line, according to Eagle Claw, because they spend the majority of their fishing time in and around cover, mostly submerged wood. Hang-ups are common, and the light line that crappie anglers favor breaks easily.
At $10 to $12 per spool, Bioline costs about the same as other premium fishing lines.
That's not true of many "green" fishing products, like worm weights. Bass anglers buy them by the dozens, if not hundreds. Each time a snagged line is broken, the terminal tackle is lost, and that includes the hook and weight. The hooks eventually rust but the weights are permanent.
Until recently, virtually all worm weights were made of lead, and that's still the cheapest option. Fifteen quarter-ounce lead worm weights cost just over $3. Weights made from less objectionable tungsten or brass may cost five times as much.
Bass anglers likeDavid O'Keeffe are willing to pay premium prices for tungsten weights, but it's not because of the green bandwagon.
"I catch more fish using tungsten sinkers," O'Keeffe said. "Tungsten is denser than lead, so you get a smaller profile. When a bass tries to eat a soft plastic bait, the fish gets the whole bait, sinker and all, in its mouth. The hook set is a lot more effective when you're jerking a small, hard sinker out of the fish's mouth rather than a larger, soft lead sinker."
O'Keeffe said the tungsten sinkers teamed with fluorocarbon fishing line also increase his feel for the cover his lure is moving through.
"The term 'green fishing product' turns me off," O'Keeffe said, "but fishermen are leaving a lot of stuff in the water. When the water levels are low, I see a lot of fishing line tangled in trees and brush. I remove as much as I can, store it in my boat and take it back to town for the garbage."
Bass fishermen may object to the term "green fishing product," but fly fishermen do not, according to Rick Pope, president and founder of Temple Fork Outfitters, a Dallas-based fly-fishing company.
"Fly fishers are extremely sensitive to the environment," Pope said. "There are some green products for fly-fishing, but the sensitivity is mostly about being good stewards and not leaving fishing leaders, plastic packaging or anything else in the streams, rivers or lakes where fly-fishing is done."
Fly fishers pioneered the use of barbless hooks so fish could be released with less stress. Though designed for commercial fishing, circle hooks are also considered "green." When fished correctly, the circle hook almost always hooks the fish in the corner of the mouth where little damage is done, and the fish can be released with an expectation of survival.
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