Lead Fishing Weight Discussion..

[WAYNO]

I was an addicted sturgeon fisher for decades. Back in the day, it was not uncommon to use 32oz or 48oz cannonballs on the Columbia.
I have a lot of sinkers, from small to gigantic, and I no longer fish as I used to.

Sturgeon fishing is a gift of the past that we can no longer participate. For this reason, and because newer fishing lines with far less diameter require far less weight to stay on the bottom, big cannonball sinkers are dinosaurs.

I know lead is needed by bullet casters, but that lead is bought and sold for melt value. My big sinkers were purchased at quite a premium over melt value.

So now, before i sell my fishing weights for melt, is there any market for large fishing weights?

@Caveman Jim , are you reading this?

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[jbett98]

Halibut Fishing maybe?

 

[drakeslayer]

People are still buying larger cannonballs. 48oz Is going for in the $16 range retail. People are selling lead and $2 lb seems to be the going rate.
Make a trip down to Fishermans Marine and your jaw will drop at retail prices for finished lead. Im sure you could sell fishable lead for $2.50-$3 lb.

 

[Member 24198]

You use 6-16oz for salmon fishing.

 

[Mikej]

I was an addicted sturgeon fisher for decades. Back in the day, it was not uncommon to use 32oz or 48oz cannonballs on the Columbia.
I have a lot of sinkers, from small to gigantic, and I no longer fish as I used to.

Sturgeon fishing is a gift of the past that we can no longer participate. For this reason, and because newer fishing lines with far less diameter require far less weight to stay on the bottom, big cannonball sinkers are dinosaurs.

I know lead is needed by bullet casters, but that lead is bought and sold for melt value. My big sinkers were purchased at quite a premium over melt value.

So now, before i sell my fishing weights for melt, is there any market for large fishing weights?

@Caveman Jim , are you reading this?

Are you registered on ifish.net? I also quit the habit and have a bunch of lead cannon ball weights. Seems like lead weights are just a little more valued than brass cases. I was going to put my lead on ifish but there was a guy on there selling fresh poured stuff that was shiny and perfect, for less than a dime/ounce. Those BIG weights of yours ought to sell though. There are a lot of salt water fishers on ifish. My biggest weights are 20 oz. With a lot of 3-8 ozs

 

[dangerranger60]

When I was casting a lot of bullets I also bought a couple of sinker molds. When I had alloys that did not make good bullets I would cast sinkers.
I found a Boat that would trade sinkers for fishing trips. When I built up enough sinkers to take the whole family fishing I would trade them in! They wanted 1/2 and 1 pound weights, but they could not be round. Round would roll around on the deck. DR

 

[osprey]

I still use 2-3# weights for deepwater hali and lings in the ocean. I mostly use cod weight style with flats to prevent them from rolling around in boat while underway. I know some people use some big weights at times to fish deep in the buoy 10 Columbia R salmon fishery as well.

 

[WAYNO]

Thanks folks. I will hold off and try to sell them at sinker prices as opposed to melt prices.

 

[Flymph]

you could probably sell them to a poor-boi as a down rigger ball. Work especially well for kayak and canoe guys. They just need the right clips and some old school sturgeon leader set to the right depth to hang off the boat.

 

[TKB]

People are still buying larger cannonballs. 48oz Is going for in the $16 range retail. People are selling lead and $2 lb seems to be the going rate.
Make a trip down to Fishermans Marine and your jaw will drop at retail prices for finished lead. Im sure you could sell fishable lead for $2.50-$3 lb.

I was a commercial diver for over 20 years. In the late 1970's a twin masted sailboat was heading to the backside of Catalina island on autopilot. The two couples on board were partying and drunk. The sailboat found the island when it ran into it. We did the salvage on the boat but had no way of lifting the 20 thousand pound lead keel which is in 10 feet of water. At the time lead was going for pennies so not worth messing with. Wish I wasn't old and disabled. 60 thousand dollars sounds quite tempting!!

 

[mcbob101]

I was a commercial diver for over 20 years. In the late 1970's a twin masted sailboat was heading to the backside of Catalina island on autopilot. The two couples on board were partying and drunk. The sailboat found the island when it ran into it. We did the salvage on the boat but had no way of lifting the 20 thousand pound lead keel which is in 10 feet of water. At the time lead was going for pennies so not worth messing with. Wish I wasn't old and disabled. 60 thousand dollars sounds quite tempting!!

That would be fun trying to bring that lead up.