Tungsten Or Lead?????? 2025
eyedabassman reply :
I fish alot of C-rigs and T-rigs, Flippin and pitchin. I have alot of lead wts. so I don't know if the Tungsten is worth buying. There not cheap, so what are the pro's and con's other than the cost.
Sam reply :
Tungston.
Better feel of the bite and bottom.
Smaller than lead, too.
Give some a try.
Tpayneful reply :
Sam is 100% correct on this one! You feel a lot more with the tungsten weight! I have tried excaliber, some other brand from Gander Mountain and Tru-tungsten. I only buy the Tru-tungsten weights now. Some brands put an insert into the weight to keep the tungsten from cutting the line. The other brands insert comes out sometimes and the line gets cut and you lose the weight. I wish the paint on my truck was as hard and durable as the paint on the Tru-tungsten weights. It just doesn't chip off. I am totally on the tungsten bandwagon and specifically Tru-Tungsten.
Gone_Phishin reply :
QuoteI wish the paint on my truck was as hard and durable as the paint on the Tru-tungsten weights.
Well said.
Bassin_Fin@tic reply :
OMG here we go again with the tungsten vs lead war again
Personally I prefer tungsten.
alger319 reply :
definitely tungsten..they're smaller and fit against a flippin bait better to reach down in those thick grass mats (in florida anyways) 
burleytog reply :
Fish tungsten on a C-rig one time and you will never go back to lead.
ABC123 reply :
QuoteI fish alot of C-rigs and T-rigs, Flippin and pitchin. I have alot of lead wts. so I don't know if the Tungsten is worth buying. There not cheap, so what are the pro's and con's other than the cost.
I have seen these threads come and go, and I have not weighed in on them, but I give it a go.
I have not used lead anything in years, so I don't have much to say on it other than it's cheap, and can be found in most stores.
When I want to make a "statement", I thread on a brass bullet. They are large, and very reflective compared to the colored ones, but in the deeper murkier water that I use them, I like them.
I do have some "off brand" tungsten bullets I use in shallower water. I like them too. I don't really notice enough difference between the feel of the brass and the tungsten to really care. They both work fine for me.
Just_Old_Fisherman reply :
Like fluemis, I can't see enough difference in lead and tungsten to justify the extra cost.
Raul reply :
How come nobody ever mentions that tungsten has a lot better acoustic properties than lead ? :-?
HPBB reply :
I too say Yes to tungsten. I switch a few years ago and don't use lead very much anymore. on jig heads yea, but on T-rig or C-rig it is tungsten only. I like it a lot better when flippin into heavy weeds. it seem to slide through the weeds better.
Just one note. if your boat has windshields (like a walk trough windshield) watch how you set the hook. last year I was flippin with very light weights 1/4 and 1/8 oz and having a great time. well I missed a fish and when I set the hook the bait and weight came flying back at me. missed me but hit the windshield of my boat, and it looked like someone shot at me. it went right through it and shattered did that make me switch back to lead? no. I put a Plexiglas windshield in and still use tungsten.
Posted by: Raul Posted on: Today at 11:44am
How come nobody ever mentions that tungsten has a lot better acoustic properties than lead ?
Hey did you just metion that?
farmpond1 reply :
I use kryptonite weights when I'm going up against superbass.
Crestliner2008 reply :
More & more state DNR's are restricting lead from various reservoirs; obviously due to wet land birds scrounging along the bottom and ingesting this terrible metal (which, intern, may be ingested by us!). Personally, I use steel. Paying a buck a piece for a sinker is not in my realm of reality.
Catt reply :
Weights with feelings & birds that eat lead
The_Natural reply :
QuoteWeights with feelings & birds that eat lead
I guess you don't waterfowl hunt. This is old news. I wouldn't be surprised in 10 years if lead is banned altogether. Of course Tungsten may be a lot cheaper then. Until then...I'll use every advantage I can get! Is it more expensive? Sure...so are good lookin' women and nice cars.
Catt reply :
You want to know what's really funny about the lead ban on migratory bird hunting.
I grow up in Southwest Louisiana which has some of the best duck hunting in America and all of us Cajuns died laughing when we heard about the proposal of banning lead. The supposed Biologist said that the ducks in the marsh feeding on the bottom would accidentally eat the lead causing lead poisoning or if you ate the duck you could get lead poisoning. Well the truth of the matter is most ducks feed in rice fields not in the marsh and these are the same rice fields we hunt doves which by the way are hunted with lead shot; the supposed Biologist have not banned lead shot in the rice fields for dove hunting. So where do you think the ducks have a better chance of eating lead in the rice field or in the marsh?
This same way of thinking is behind the ban on lead in fishing lures; this supposed Biologist believes that fish will scour the bottom accidentally eating lead. Now I ask how many fish actually feed on the bottom.
dumb_dog11 reply :
use brass, makes lots of noise with a little better sensitivity and its cheaper
tfisherman reply :
Lead it's cheaper and tungsten is NOT that much smaller.
The cheapest and most expendable thing in my tackle is the sinkers why should I change that?? I guess those Ol timers didn't know what they were doing after all
Catt reply :
QuoteLead it's cheaper and tungsten is NOT that much smaller.The cheapest and most expendable thing in my tackle is the sinkers why should I change that?? I guess those Ol timers didn't know what they were doing after all
11 double digit bass last year VS your how many
cajun1977. reply :
fish chris and 4bizz probably caught just as many double digits without lead or tungsten, so whats your point?
Tpayneful reply :
I don't understand the Ol timers comment unless it was completely tongue in cheek. Ol timers didn't have Senkos, Brush Hogs, Lucky Craft crankbaits, chatterbaits, fluorocarbon lines, graphite rods, depthfinders, baitcasters with 10 ball bearings and thousands of other things that technology and ingenuity have provided us over the last 40 years. I will try some of these new gadgets, lures and tungsten weights and if they work I will continue to use them.
Tungsten is expensive but I get a better feel for the bottom, the cover and the bite using it. On highly pressured lakes and rivers this may make me a better angler.
Of course if the whole comment was made in jest I am just being serious for nothing ;D
Bassin_Fin@tic reply :
ding! ding![ROUND 2
Jeff C. reply :
OK,,,,
Just how old do you have to be, to be an Ole-Timer??????
:-/
tfisherman reply :
The Ol timer comment was just making the point that Larry Nixon and Rick Clunn were winning $$ without it! I know times change but you can stay low tech and catch fish.
The "I am man hear me roar" comment about fish caught is just stupid! If you wanted to get into it you'd have to compare time on water, I DON'T live in Texas, and the size of our..."boats" :-?
I'd love to see all your FLW/Bassmaster trophies please invite me over sometime!
jsettnek reply :
I can't deny the benefits of tungsten. It's smaller, has great feeling to it and makes more noise than lead. I like it... A lot!
That said, I don't like the idea of paying $6 for 3 to 4 weights. It just isn't realistic. And I doubt the price will come down very much since Tungsten is in a very short supply and takes over 6,000 degrees to melt (which means it's hard to work with). This brings me to my next issue. For those of us that make our own tackle, tungsten is just not possible to work with. If there was a total ban on lead every small time tackle company would fold or move to steel and brass.
Oh yeah 1 disadvantage of tungsten (and it isn't a big deal) it's so hard it will smash your glass beads. I can't tell you how many beads I've broken with an 1/8 oz weight.
Catt reply :
While I don't have any FLW/Bassmaster trophies I will gladly show you some Redman, Bass-N-Bucks, McDonald's Big Bass Splash and numerous others.
The feeling y'all get from using tungsten I feel with lead so when I use tungsten I feel no difference. On a calm day I can feel a ¼ ounce lead bullet weight hit bottom in 15' of water, I can feel ever twig, strand of grass, or anything else the weight comes in contact with that is an advantage of being an Ole Timer.
The ideas of lead poisoning fish or duck to total hog wash since very few fish and practically no ducks feed on bottom muck where the lead ends up. Think about it how many fish actually root around on the bottom like a hog roots on the forest floor?
Yes there is a time and place in which I use tungsten and brass-n-glass
FishTank reply :
IMHO, tungsten is not worth the price but for me it does work better than lead. I will use it occasionally but not on a regular basis. I also like jigs made out of Bismuth from Outcast.
As far as the study goes with the effects of lead on the environment, I have a little bit of experience with one (Spahn and Sherry 1999 Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology) . Here are two links to read. The first is the credentials and work of T.W. Sherry and the second is brief summary.
http://www.tulane.edu/~profe/Dr.%20Sherry/tsCV.htm
http://www.lenntech.com/aquatic/metals-lead.htm
Tungsten also does not seem to be 100% eco friendly.
http://www.lenntech.com/Periodic-chart-elements/W-en.htm
Just some food for thought.
Catt reply :
I know this has gotten totally off subject but examine the facts
One part of the study on lead shot that is suspect is the following In the United States, where the problem has been most investigated, some 6000 tons of spent shot are deposited each year and a minimum of 2.4 million waterfowl, out of a total North American population of 100 million, die annually of lead poisoning due to ingestion of shot. Where is all this birds at? With the numbers that high you should see birds laying all over the marshes and fields but yet you don't see any. The question is if lead is indeed that harmful why is it legal to hunt doves with lead shot in the same fields that ducks feed in.
Ducks are usually classified into two broad groups the dabblers and the divers.
The dabblers are surface-feeding ducks. Frequently, they are called "puddle ducks". They prefer small, shallow, inland lakes, ponds, marshes, and creeks. Dabbling ducks obtain their food by tipping up, rather than by diving.
The more common dabbling ducks are the mallard, black duck, gadwall, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, baldpate (American widgeon), pintail, shoveler, and wood duck.
The divers are sometimes called "sea ducks" or "bay ducks". They are ducks of more open bodies of water. Some are common on lakes and rivers of the interior. Diving ducks dive for their food and feed underwater.
The more common diving ducks are the redhead, ring-necked duck, canvasback, greater scaup, lesser scaup, common golden eye, and bufflehead.
Food. As a group, the dabblers feed upon a variety of water plants: forest mast such as oaks, ash, and sweetgum; many water and land animals from insects to clams; and the seeds of many farm crops, grasses, and weeds.
Diving ducks feed mainly on aquatic foods, but there is a great diversity among species. For the most part, redheads and canvasbacks eat plants. Scaup eat both plants and animals. Maritime divers feed mostly on animals.
So my question is how these ducks ingest the lead since they do not swim around on the bottom scoping up the bottom contents?
FishTank reply :
I wanted to satisfy my curiousity so I contacted Dale Humburg, the chief biologist for Ducks Unlimited and asked these questions....
What would cause a duck to eat lead shot? What in their diet would offer up an oppurtunity to eat lead? Is it a real threat to the duck population?
Here is his e-mailed response.
Regarding your question about ducks eating lead shot, considerable work was conducted over the entire 20th century about lead ingestion and lead poisoning. This ultimately resulted in regulations requiring the use of nontoxic ammunition for waterfowl hunting. Ducks pick up lead pellets that are mistaken for hard seeds or grit as birds are feeding in shallow water. The lead is ground in the gizzard, taken up in the digestive tract, and ultimately interferes with a wide range of physiological functions. In a number of instances birds died as a result of lead ingestion and, through the years when lead was used for waterfowl hunting, lead poisoning die-offs were not uncommon. Since nontoxic regulations were implemented, I know of very few instances where notable lead poising losses have occurred. Lead poisoning was one of a number of sources of annual duck mortality that could be addressed directly. While not the most important source of mortality, it was one that could be essentially eliminated.
I wanted to know for myself, nothing against lead. I will continue to use it until a better/reasonable allternative is available.
PS
The only ducks I have seen die of lead poisoning are the ones that I am lucky enough to shoot.
Crestliner2008 reply :
FishTank - THANKS for the great articles! Very enlightening indeed. I'll continue to use steel (lots cheaper than tungsten & legal, for the time being - until they determine that rust poisoning is a problem ;D.
Ballpark Frank reply :
Moving back to the topic. I only recently(last year) started fishing plastics and alot of my reasoning was money. I got tired of the cost of unretrievable lost lures, primarily cranks and swimbaits. Now I find that I should spend $4-$6 on 4 weights to use my $3 bag of lizards, to throw in cover with a greater chance of snags and breaks. No way, I will continue to use lead and occasionally brass.
Matt Fly reply :
There are times that some noise attracts fish and sometimes it doesn't.
I don't see how a 1/2 oz lead bullet weight makes that much of a difference on a 12 inch worm when TX rigged.
Whats the deal? Tungsten changes the profile by how much in length.
A Texas rigged worm doesn't make that much noise unless you add a bead or something. Most of us push the worm over the eye, thus no metal to metal.
A carolina sinker with a 4 foot leader only matters if you have added something in there to make noise with it.
A smart fishermen will use the cheaper lead when he can get away with it so he can save his expensive tackle for when the conditons calls for something smaller in size.
What looks better? a baby brush hog rigged with a 1/4 oz lead bullet or the same with 1/4 tungsten.
Ducks eating lead is the lesser issue. Its ducks that have been wounded, that arent bad enough or life threatening at the time, but lead will eventually cause lead posining later after the wound healed.
Thus, the laws were changed for migratory birds.
I'd start buys some alternative weights. One of these years, just like in huntng, you will see lead free tackle, and thats gonna make things go Higher in price unless theres a cheaper metal out there.
Tpayneful reply :
I don't think Catt and I are even contest that Tungsten is more expensive. If you don't think it isn't worth the cost....good for you. I was at a Fishing Seminar yesterday and Shaw Grigsby said that he only uses Tungsten. He had three reasons.
1. Smaller profile
2. It is harder thus transmitted vibrations better
3. The weight doesn't get hung in the bass' mouth when you set the hook therefore it will not interfere with the hookset.
I started using Tungsten weights last year and I have only one reason that I use it. I can feel the bottom, cover and a fish bite better than with lead which I believe helps me catch more fish. A. I want to catch more fish and B. I can afford the weights. Also, I have a lure retreiver which has a 100% retrieval rate when it has been used.
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