Hasskamp objects to lighted lures

Lawmakers reached a compromise on allowing lighted jigs to lure fish: The battery that lights them can't contain mercury.

''I don't want us to get worked up into an environmental frenzy over this,'' said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley.

The proposal had hit a snag after the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency expressed concern that the small batteries used inside the plastic lures contained mercury.

Gerlach originally had proposed limiting the amount of mercury in each battery to two milligrams. But colleagues worried that was still too much.

''Why can't you use another battery for this lure?'' said Rep. Kris Hasskamp, DFL-Crosby. ''Why should we put all of our lakes at risk for your one constituent?''

The Senate has already passed a bill with no mercury restrictions. Gerlach said he would make sure that the final bill prohibited mercury.

The lures currently are illegal in Minnesota and two other states. The GloJig lures, invented by an Apple Valley man, use a battery-powered light to attract fish.