Tungsten Weight Source?

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a couple of years ago, I bought a handful of egg weights
from BPS for saltwater use that "said" were tungsten. (or tungsten plated?).
a few uses later, they turned to rust. so I tossed them out and went back to lead.
are "tungsten" weights just coated steel or other pot metal ?? I am leary to try them again.
 
I thought they were tungsten dust set to hold the form with a very thin epoxy or pressed and sintered with other additives.
 
Eco tungsten from tackle ware house, typically 20% off on holidays, Fourth of July, Christmas and others. $50 free shipping
 
Baja, that weight company has some great pricing. Do they have a good following? Thanks
 
onthewater102 said:
Lead is no-bueno in tax-a-chussetts

man that would over double my tackle spending, when I think about all the lead weights I have. Heavy coin and drift sinkers for catfishing, drop shot weights, jig heads, shakey heads, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, bullet weights, split shots, weighted swim bait hooks, good lord I couldn't imagine the cost of replacing all my lead stuff with the same things made from tungsten, bismuth, or unobtanium the way most the tungsten stuff is priced.
 
I've been frequenting the Goodwills in the area picking up random pieces of pewter to melt down as I sell my hand-tied bladed jigs on ebay as a lead-free chatterbait alternative.

I don't think lead is being banned in liberal jurisdictions when used in the heavier setups (1oz+) that you'd use for catfish and shoreline bank fishing.

It's a real shame lead is so easy to come by and recycle - the tire shops around here are happy to give you a bucket of wheel weights for free. Takes a little to sort out the zinc and plastic weights, but once you do they cook down quickly on a camp stove and take all the price-pain of pitching jigs into heavy cover out of the equation. Nothing worse than throwing a $4 lure to the craggiest cover you can find knowing it will likely get bit off by some slimer (pickerel or pike). A friend of mine and I went through easily two dozen jigs, bladed jigs/chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with all the pike up in Champlain over the course of just two days, at $6 a piece for retail prices that would have been very costly!

Tungsten sure is nice though - I've salvaged quite a bit of it in the fall when they drop the lake for shoreline maintenance and picked a decent amount of it from texas rigs hung in tree branches once the leaves are gone. There is a definite sensitivity difference vs. lead, but not really worth it to a weekend fisherman for the added cost.
 
I agree about tungsten especially drop shotting and with bottom jigging you feel it tapping bottom more easily. I've been buying most my jigs, weighted hooks, and sinkers off ebay number of guys on there that make lead ones when bought in larger quantities are quiet cheap. I'd like to get into making some of my own, but just don't really have the time. The free time I have I tend spend either working in the garage on a vehicle, fishing, or hunting. As much as I enjoy making my own things pouring my own weights/jigs has been low on the priority list. I have a lot scrap lead I use now and again to pour my own weights for duck/goose decoys. I have a five gallon bucket of old wheel weights. If I had pike in my lakes I'd be targeting them over the bucket mouths, I love some pike. Jigging for sauger in the ohio river it never fails best spots are in rocky rip rap that tends to eat my jigs which range from 1/2oz to 1.25oz depending on depth and current. I couldn't imagine using tungsten right now the place I get my heavier jigs from they end up being around a dollar each I can deal with losing a few of those on an outing. It would hurt if they were four bucks each or so.
 
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