or a really, really cheap bastard. Isn’t lead pennies per pound & aren’t most fishing weights less than a pound?
Unless I specifically need it (like that’s the only change I have for a vending machine) I’m not searching for 5¢.
Sounds like that may have been the only weight he had on hand.
Also, if I lost some gizmo my Dad gave me to use for some task he needed done, I’d feel bad when I a) failed the task and b) lost or broke the gizmo. Cheap or not, I’d rather find/fix it, succeed, and not tell him of my miscue than get caught out as a clumsy chump.
The weight selection is the funnest part! Use an old shoe or a half-filled water bottle. It doesn’t need to be dense and compact for slicing through water like when fishing. And the visibility won’t hurt, either.
Casting straightish up is pretty different from the horizontal fishing casts anglers practice, both are hard!, so misses are expected.
Is that why there are always shoes slung over power lines? Why are people hanging so many bird feeders over the highway?
Because that’s where the birds are. Perched on the wires along the highway. Silly person. 
Why do crows like to sit on telephone wires?
To make long-distance caws!
but of course
Wouldn’t that be unstable? Would not a full bottle be more stabler ?
Maybe in some ways but I don’t think stablerity is the main criteria. Here, we want a load about the right size, shape, and weight to not get stuck in the tree, light enough to launch or lift, but also substantial to carry the runner. And not fly off the line, get lost, hurt anyone, attract rodents, etc.
With a water bottle or pill bottle of pebbles or sand we can at least adjust the weight to the angler’s preference.
I think that @jnglmassiv has done this before 
We’ve got more of the little egg weights now, but your approach is sound, too. I’ll see what else in the garage might be a good casting nugget.
I’ve got to defend my stepson `cause he’s the father of my most precious grandson. But I get what you’re saying. There was a sense of urgency that day, and think he let that urgency accentuate any shortcomings. Mainly by only grabbing his rod and one weight when he left the house. And he’s a relatively new fisherman. He just started casting lines a couple of years ago. This could be more of a chore than he thinks it’ll be. As @jnglmassiv mentioned, he’ll be challenged to cast it higher rather than farther.
Somewhere in my basement is a mostly full 500ml bottle of water with a cord tied around it. I used it to hang a swing (~15 feet high) for my grandson. It worked very well. I run across this water bottle occasionally and think, “why haven’t I thrown that away?” And then I think I might use it again one day, ha! I’m sure I’ve not got the muscle to toss it 30 feet up there, though. Maybe I can fashion it into a type of boleadora for throwing further distances. Hmmmmm.
I’m going to let my angling stepson have another go or two at it. I’ll keep y’all posted.
In my scoutmaster days, we would have scouts make a monkey fist knot. It’s a tight ball-shaped knot, sometimes built around a round rock or ball, useful for tying to the end of a rope in order to throw the rope up high. Besides being a good throwing knot, it’s useful to keep a bunch of kids busy making one for an hour or two. Then they get to throw them!
It’s not that hard, and I’ve left plenty of hardware in trees to prove it!
