Green Tackle Blog
You will find the following tackle in your SAFE Angling Kit from Recycled Fish:
Tru-Turn J-Hooks (Gold Aberdeen and Bleeding Bait Red, 3 sizes)
These "cam-action" hooks do a great job of hooking fish on the outside of the mouth. Different sizes target different species and let you pick the right size hook for your bait. The long shank makes it easier to remove the hook, too. Load it up with a night crawler, FoodSource Lures, hook a minnow through the back and hang it under a bobber, or try a cricket, grasshopper or piece of cut fish for bait.
We recommend using a pair of needle-nose pliers or hemostats to pinch down the barbs on these hooks. You’ll still catch fish just fine, but it will make it easier to take them off the hook. It also makes them safer if someone unintentionally gets hooked, or the hook finds clothes, carpet or a tackle bag.
Daiichi Circle Hooks (2 sizes)
Circle hooks are a great choice for fishing with live or dead bait for larger fish like bass, catfish, walleye, pike or saltwater species. You don’t set the hook - the unique shape of these hooks automatically catches in the corner of the fish’s mouth almost every time to make for easier release, and eliminating deep "gut hooking" of the fish. A card inside the kit explains how and when to use them, and details on rigging live bait.
Water Gremlin and Bullet Weights Tin Split Shot (4 sizes)
Above your hook, you need a weight. Water Gremlin and Bullet Weights make tin split shot that you can pinch onto your line. The "wings" on each weight allow you to remove and reuse them over and over. Tin is an inexpensive alternative to lead, which is toxic. Waterfowl mistakenly eat lead weights and die.
Dr. Drop weights (3 sizes)
Dr. Drop weights are also lead alternatives which use heavier non-toxic metals. You ‘weave’ these onto your line, which eliminates pinching or crimping the line, which could weaken it. Their shape helps them slide past snags underwater.
Bullet Weights worm weights (2 sizes)
Bullet Weights worm weights slide on your line, so put those on before you tie on your hook. Fish won’t feel the weight when they pick up the bait, and the bullet shape slides through snags. You can put it above a split shot to add more weight and keep it away from the bait, or let it slide right down to your hook.
Northland Nature Jigs (3 sizes)
Northland Fishing Tackle makes many fishing lures. In this kit you’ll find lead alternative jig heads. Put a minnow, leech, worm or artificial lure on the jig head, then cast and reel it back in. If you’re fishing for bullheads, a jig head does a great job of helping prevent them from swallowing the hook - something bullheads are notorious for doing. Just put a half worm on the jig head, cast it out and let it sit. There are countless molded baits designed to be placed onto a jig head as well.
FoodSource Lures earthworms or mealworms
FoodSource Lures make biodegradable molded baits to use instead of traditional soft plastic lures. The old ‘rubber worm’ is actually soft plastic, and it never breaks down - they stay in our water forever. Fish mistake soft plastics for food, eat it, and it can ultimately kill them. FoodSource lures are molded protein, so not only do they catch more fish than plastic lures, they are biodegradable and digestible if a fish eats them. Plus, they are easier to keep than live bait.
Thill Wooden float
Your Thill wooden bobber helps you detect strikes, and it is a biodegradable alternative to plastic bobbers, which stick around forever. If you’ve spent any time at a lake, you’ve seen plastic and foam bobbers hanging from trees or floating around the shoreline. Thill floats will last a lifetime, but eventually break down which is better for the environment. Plus, because they float upright, it’s much easier to detect the bite of fish who take the bait from the bottom. Round floats only show if a fish pulls the bait under, but often fish hit from below. Your Thill float will lay on its side, letting you know that a fish has hit from below.
Finally, your Flambeau tackle box helps keep everything organized. The kit has been hand packed by team members at Recycled Fish, but we include the extra dividers so you can change the layout of your tackle box at any time.
