As reported earlier here on Bassmaster.com, in January of this year the Connecticut state legislature introduced an unwarranted bill — S.B. 59 — which would have placed a statewide ban on the use of lead fishing tackle.
While this would have had a significant negative impact on the state's anglers, including our B.A.S.S. Federation Nation club members, it would have had no positive impact on loons and other waterbirds it sought to protect. Further, there was simply no scientific data to support such a ban.
To make matters worse, the proposed fine for violations was to be about six times more severe than the fine for fishing without a license.
Thanks to Connecticut B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Conservation Director David Santos, who testified at the hearing, and the literally hundreds of B.A.S.S. Federation Nation members in Connecticut, elsewhere in New England and throughout the mid-Atlantic states, hundreds of opposition e-mails flooded Connecticut legislators' inboxes.
Though the bill received a public hearing, it languished in committee beyond the March 25 deadline for passage, rendering it, according to a legislative aide, "dead."