Lead Recovery

[Johnw...ski]

I've been saying I was going to recover some fishing sinkers and I finally got in the water and got some today. They were in about 20' of water and interestingly I recovered all the ones in the pictures in a creavace that was about one foot wide by 4 feet long. I am guessing that I got close to 150 lbs. Not bad for a 45 minute dive. There must be tons down there.

For anyone interested I got these at Beavertail Point, Jamestown, R.I.

John


http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk166/JohnWski/Lead6-9-08001.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk166/JohnWski/Lead6-9-08002.jpg

[jleneave]

That is cool. I do some bass fishing and I always wonder how much lead is laying on the bottom of the lake. You have your very own lead source that not many people have access to and you can pretty much go stock up anytime you want for free and on top of that you are "helping the enviroment". Well almost free, minus the cost of fuel and expenses associated with diving. I am envious!!!

Jody

[dwtim]

Absolutely brilliant.

Now if turns out you broke even or profited, then you've provided and example of market forces superiority over the onerous restrictions of "environmental" law. You'd think with all the hand-waving from the EPA that the RI DEM would have already removed all of that lead at taxpayer expense. I'd recommend approaching them and asking to be reimbursed for your time and expenses, but you'd probably be arrested and fined for releasing more than ten pounds of lead into The Environment, seeing as the law is ultimately a transfer restriction.

Seriously though, that is one of the most amusing scrounging methods I've ever seen. I'm impressed. :)

The equivalent for me would be melting out 60/40 solder from old PCBs.

:idea:

Hmmm...

[richbug]

Do you wear a helmet in case someone decides to cast one of those 5 ouncers when you are down?

[Johnw...ski]

Funny you should mention that, I used to. Here's a picture of when I used to dive commercially.

John

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk166/JohnWski/Super-Lite.jpg


Do you wear a helmet in case someone decides to cast one of those 5 ouncers when you are down?

[imashooter2]

Innovative source! Do you use some sort of tools to get them out? I'd imagine there's a big mess of line and hooks...

You might be able to sell those as fishing weights and get enough cash for twice that in WW.

[randyrat]

You found the "Honey Hole".... Way to go.. I would like to dive Lake Superior some day, i'll bet there are honey holes with Tons and Tons of lead bank sinkers, drop sinkers and down rigger sinkers (5-15 lbs each).

[targetshootr]

Nice pics. In the lakes around here you couldn't see a hand over your face at 20 feet but the fishing is good. At the very least you've got lead to make weights for diving.

:castmine:

[Johnw...ski]

Melted a few of the sinkers today and cast them into ingots. Later checked them for hardness with my Lee hardness tester, the indent measured around .095
bigger than the lowest hardness on the chart (8 Bn) so I guess they are nearly pure lead. What a great source of lead.

John

[oneokie]

An indent of .095" equates to a BHN of 5.5.

[John Boy]

Environment Canada (1999) estimates that 500 tonnes of lead sinkers and jigs are lost in Canadian lakes, streams, and rivers every year!

[miestro_jerry]

Well there are how many decades of people fishing these water ways? I generally fly fish, so I haven't used a sinker in a long time.

But this a great source for lead and it is being recycled to boot!

Next you can dive at the golf courses and recover golf balls along with a few clubs. But I think that is already being done.

Great find!

Jerry

[selmerfan]

How do you find that many weights in one spot? Do that many people lose them to snags or what? Interesting source, good for you!
Selmerfan

[DLCTEX]

It's not hard to lose weights where the bottom is rocky, and good fishing spots are littered with weights and hooks. Below dams when water discharge has been stopped is one such place. We used old spark plugs below Lake Livingston Dam (SE Texas), we tied it on a dropper of lighter line and let it drift with the current until the weight caught on the rocks . You let it sit until a fish picked up the bait, then break off the weight as you set the hook. DALE

[MT Gianni]

Environment Canada (1999) estimates that 500 tonnes of lead sinkers and jigs are lost in Canadian lakes, streams, and rivers every year!

They ought to tie a string to them or something.

[PatMarlin]

I hope we do that well each day with our gold dredge operation this year.. :mrgreen:

[selmerfan]

I fish a lot, but I don't lose nearly that many weights! I must be doing something wrong...
Selmerfan

[Shotgun Luckey]

by the looks of the equipment used for diving, it may be a little expensive to learn to dive and invest in the gear to salvage lead.....but then again, I didn't buy my Harley to save on gas either....

WAY to GO

[Johnw...ski]

Yah, I shoot fish when I dive sometimes, probably makes the fish worth about $500 a pound.

John