Things that really frustrate me about some fishermen.

[kayaking_kev]

These are only few at the top of my list, I'm sure there are more. It's my only my 3rd season of fishing, so I'm still recognizing some patterns, some funny ones and some annoying like these.

 

The first is the littering and I'm sure I'm not alone on this one, but some people will leave anything and everything at their fishing spot. I've seen old lady ladies going around with trash bags picking up all the garbage left behind by fishermen, and I feel embarrassed as I'm fishing, even though I don't litter. I think I'm going to try to go out at least once a month and hit up some spots with some trash bags and help out, maybe when I know a lot of people are fishing so they can think twice about leaving stuff. 

 

The next thing and this just happened again earlier today, is people keeping big bass out of a small public park pond. I'm not going to debate about eating bass, but this was a small park pond where there is only a few 4+ lbers (Keep in mind, this is Ohio and those are pretty good size bass). Well some guy caught a nice size LM across the pond from me, I heard him say 4.5, but he didn't weigh it and it didn't look no bigger than the 3 lber I had just caught, but it did look like it had a stomach full of eggs. Two other separate guys that were near him, who didn't catch a single fish the whole time there, went up to the guy who caught the fish and asked for it and the guy who had been catching and releasing his catches gave them his biggest catch, and those two definitely weren't missing any meals. So now a small pond will be missing one it's bigger fish, one that was going to be spawning soon. This is the last really good public pond around here and that's because not a lot of people know about it. But, this year everyone is out and looking for fishing spots and lots of new people have found this little pond and if this keeps up, it's going to be ruined just like all the others. I'm not just thinking about myself here either, there are a lot of young children that fish the pond with their dad. 

 

Most people I meet fishing are some of nicest people I've met, but there are some that absolutely disgust me.

[The Bassman]

Your concerns reflect mine exactly. I mentioned in another thread that I try to rationalize about ponds losing fish. They would in fact produce better fishing if there was a measure of harvest. But I'm talking smaller fish. When I see one over two lb. dead on the bank that gets under my skin. True, I don't know what happened but likely it was mishandled after capture. It takes a long time for a bass to get to bragging size so fish that size are too valuable. In my experience far too few people know how to handle fish. As many as I've caught I still lose a few. I debarb my trebles and use hemostats to unhook. Fortunately bigger bass give you more room to work when they're hooked deep. 

[Sam]

Catching and keeping bass killed Lake Lochinvar pond in Richmond.

 

Used to have fun fishing off a friend's dock and catching lots of bass, some of which were quite large.

 

Today only a few of those looking for black Crappie fish the pond.

 

Now it is not worth your time and efforts to fish Lake Lochinvar.

[scaleface]

 The rampant littering gets to me . The keeping of bass depends on the fishery . Some places I will keep some , other places never .

[PourMyOwn]

Boat ramp and on the water etiquette are tops for me. 

[CrankFate]

I saw a few guys out fishing with their kids yesterday, which is pretty rare at this place. Sure enough, they left juice boxes all over the place.

[813basstard]

The trash is unacceptable. Period. That doesn’t require the angler to know limits or regulations at all. That doesn’t even have anything to do with fishing, you would think humans can pick up after themselves.

 

As far as keeping fish...
 

I believe you have 2 choices: attempt to educate anglers of state regs (unlikely success rate)

 

or call the dogs on them. 
 

Ive seen the people who hunt/fish the most have the greatest respect. It’s the once a month guy with a 12 pack, bucket, carton of heaters, 16 rods tangled together, 6oz weights, reeling upside down, caught a 10pounder in ‘93, week worth of mail on the dashboard guys that have zero respect for anything

[Bird]

Your going to have that in every facet of life, some due to illiteracy and some due to plain lack of respect. 

 

I recently witnessed 2 guys on a jon boat sinking their beer cans in the lake as they finished them off, can after can.

 

Have not kept a single bass in over 40 yrs......trout and Crappie taste WAY better. 

[NJBasstard]

The top of my list is also littering. I keep trash bags in the truck and a handful of shopping bags in my tackle bag for that reason. There's trash at every body of water I go to so at the end of the day when I'm done fishing I always clean up what I can. Even the kids make a habit of cleaning up bottles and stuff when they're with me. Most of it's fishing line, soft plastics packaging and beer cans/bottles left by fishermen on the bank. I expect it to only get worse this year since it's one of the outdoor activities we're told is okay right now.

[Mobasser]

My grandson and I try to pick up trash when we're done fishing. I've seen to.many lazy guys who scatter trash around, and won't clean up after themselves. It's an uphill fight anymore

[nascar2428]

The trash part is always going to be there, unfortunately As I bank fish the majority of the time, I will always police the area before I leave. In other words I always leave the place better than when I arrived. The taking of fish, especially from ponds or  small urban park settings will always be upsetting to me. If harvesting is permitted, not much I can do.

[scaleface]

A lake I fish , 14 foot john boats are supplied by the conservation dept " for free". I usually have to clean the trash out of one before using it . Can you imagine being such a scum-bag , that a boat is supplied to you for free and when you're finished , just leave your beer cans , cigarette butts , fishing line....in it .That just befuddles me . Heck , I even drag the boat on shore and pull the plug so rain water doesnt collect , just to make it convenient for the next  guy or gal .

[Mobasser]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

A lake I fish , 14 foot john boats are supplied by the conservation dept " for free". I usually have to clean the trash out of one before using it . Can you imagine being such a scum-bag , that a boat is supplied to you for free and when you're finished , just leave your beer cans , cigarette butts , fishing line....in it .That just befuddles me . Heck , I even drag the boat on shore and pull the plug so rain water doesnt collect , just to make it convenient for the next  guy . .

At one of the small lakes we fish, they had 12ft boats with oars you could take out. We used to bring a trolling motor and use it with these boats. This is a no camping, no campfire area, only fishing. Well, now the boats are locked up near the conservation shed. Some guys made a campfire and actually tried to burn one of the oars for firewood. Dimwits! I really don't care how folks want to fish. If you want to sit on the bank with a cane pole, that's fine with me. But, clean up your trash when your finished, and obey all the rules! Don't ruin things for everybody else.

[MickD]

Yes , trash, specifically annoying are the cigarette butts.  It's so easy to keep a little plastic container in the pocket and put the butts in there.  2nd are the bait containers.  

 

I have a small stream going through my property and keep it posted.  If someone asks to fish it I give them the definition of trash:  ANYTHING that they  brought with them and didn't take home with them.  People have been very good when I can talk to them before they go fishing.

 

[MGF]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

Your going to have that in every facet of life, some due to illiteracy and some due to plain lack of respect. 

 

I recently witnessed 2 guys on a jon boat sinking their beer cans in the lake as they finished them off, can after can.

 

Have not kept a single bass in over 40 yrs......trout and Crappie taste WAY better. 

I think bass taste better but I don't keep them anymore either.

 

I agree with all the complaints here but Io guess your post reminded me of another. There are so many crappie fishermen who eat everything. Good luck finding a decent sized crappie around here...nothing but dinks. They don't care, they just keep eating them.

7 minutes ago, MickD said:

Yes , trash, specifically annoying are the cigarette butts.  It's so easy to keep a little plastic container in the pocket and put the butts in there.  2nd are the bait containers.  

 

I have a small stream going through my property and keep it posted.  If someone asks to fish it I give them the definition of trash:  ANYTHING that they  brought with them and didn't take home with them.  People have been very good when I can talk to them before they go fishing.

 

I don't see many cigarette butts anymore...mostly bait containers, McDonald's wrappers, cans and so on.

 

Cigarette butts always bothered me even way back when  I smoked. I just don't see many butts or people smoking these days.

[Ratherbfishing]

I HOPE and am pretty sure I can say that we're all preaching to the choir and the "people" who do these things aren't in our midst.  I don't really understand why people litter.  Isn't it just about as easy (or easier still) to pack out the same things you brought in?  Or is it an expression of contempt and utter disrespect? Or a lack of intellectual capacity to comprehend the impact of what they are doing?   Anyway, I especially haven't any room for litterers.  

[Guitarfish]

I'm sure it's going to get better boys.  When we have another million new peeps moved in.

[MGF]

1 minute ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I HOPE and am pretty sure I can say that we're all preaching to the choir and the "people" who do these things aren't in our midst.  I don't really understand why people litter.  Isn't it just about as easy (or easier still) to pack out the same things you brought in?  Or is it an expression of contempt and utter disrespect? Or a lack of intellectual capacity to comprehend the impact of what they are doing?   Anyway, I especially haven't any room for litterers.  

I've thought a lot about that. I used to smoke and I stuffed the butts back into the pack or in my hip pocket which drove those doing the laundry nuts. I drink beer and you can usually find a bunch of cans in the bed of my truck.

 

So why leave any of it at the lake. I'm convinced that it's a lack of intellectual capacity combined with the individual's belief that they are more important than you. Why do people leave their shopping cart where it will roll into your car? They aren't smart enough to do it to intentionally to damage your car. First of all they don't care. More importantly, they can't think that far ahead. We may really be in the "zombie apocalypse" and they are the zombies. LOL. 

[MN Fisher]

9 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

The first is the littering and I'm sure I'm not alone on this one, but some people will leave anything and everything at their fishing spot.

I smoke - but when I'm done with a cig, I 'field strip' it and stuff the filter into one of the pockets of my cargo pants. Drinks are taken in a refillable container, Ziplocs or wrappers go into the milk-crate behind my seat.

9 hours ago, kayaking_kev said:

The next thing and this just happened again earlier today, is people keeping big bass out of a small public park pond.

I don't keep big ones - just the 2#-3# ones that are good eating (IMO), plus the lake I fish is 14,000+ acres...so there's plenty to go around.

 

I also huff in disgust at some of the things I see people doing at shore-spots, launch ramps, or even out on the water.

 

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."

[greentrout]

for me some folks are just plain sorry no good individuals who simply don't care ...

 

good fishing ...

[Bird]

Hopefully the ethically responsible people, obviously apparent by the responses here can offset the armpits of society to some degree. 

 

Not related to fishing but just an example. 

 

Close retired friend of mine just recently purchased a new push mower for excercise " big guy " and parked it beside his house, next morning.....gone.

[Black Hawk Basser]

The lake near me is a bass factory, so it doesn't bother me if people keep some bass so long as they're not taking home and eating a huge one.

 

But, when I see guys keeping smallmouths from the local river, that irks me.  This is a small river, would be considered a creek to some people, and it cannot sustain the smallmouth population with people keeping numbers of them.  There are plenty of walleye and catfish to take home if they really want to eat, and they're generally easier to catch.

[DitchPanda]

I too hate the littering thing.. I pick up crap every other trip out so..but that's life some people are just so self centered they think their convenience out weighs other people's experience. Those people are stupid and disgusting so not much you can do besides report them. As far keeping bass I'm not against it but I'm not really for it. I just feel there are better options for harvest most places but if it's done legally I don't really care. I'm not for giving fish to strangers and in some states it's not legal so that's a different deal. Another one id like to add is people walking up to me and fishing if I don't know them. The places im fishing are public but some things are still not done in my opinion. There are at least 6 or 8 good spots on the pond I fish most so if your a stranger don't walk up on me..Especially with the covid crap ramping up around here.

[scaleface]

15 minutes ago, Pickle_Power said:

The lake near me is a bass factory, so it doesn't bother me if people keep some bass so long as they're not taking home and eating a huge one.

 

But, when I see guys keeping smallmouths from the local river, that irks me.  This is a small river, would be considered a creek to some people, and it cannot sustain the smallmouth population with people keeping numbers of them.  There are plenty of walleye and catfish to take home if they really want to eat, and they're generally easier to catch.

I have never kept a smallmouth . It takes too long to grow them to a decent size in the local streams . Largemouths I selectively harvest . Two years ago I got into a heated argument with another angler for keeping a limit of fifteen inchers . It got ugly .

[Squarebill79]

I was fishing at a spillway once and got tired of walking in filth, so I got some trash bags and filled 7 bags full of garbage. I went back a week later and it was just as bad as when I cleaned it. Thats when I realized its a complete lost cause to even care anymore.