More than 12 tons of trash removed from Lake Tahoe

[ATA]

 

 

We need this everywhere, Just back from overnight fishing trip, I collect a full garbage bg of trash only at the place I was fishing. Most annoying one is fishing lines.

[fin]

I’ve picked up a lot of trash over the years. I still do, but I do it with the understanding that it’s a battle that can’t be won. The amount of incoming is huge, and it’s only getting larger, and I feel like the Lone Ranger.

 

People will hesitate to throw trash if there is no other trash there to begin with. If there is already trash, people feel less guilt about adding their own trash to it. That is why I keep picking up other people’s trash.

 

The Tahoe project is good, but I don’t think there is much to gain by cataloging the trash. It would be interesting to look over the list of junk, but I don’t see how it could be beneficial to preventing future trash.

 

When I was a kid, this commercial played all the time. Are kids exposed to this kind of stuff anymore?

 

https://youtu.be/j7OHG7tHrNM

 

[thediscochef]

I bring a grocery bag and fill it every time I'm at Ray Roberts. People can be disgusting.

[Yuddzy]

It's sickening the amount of junk that people leave behind. If we all did our part in cleaning up after ourselves it would be easy to keep our lakes clean and healthy. Unfortunately, there's always bad apples that have no regard for shared areas or nature. 

 

Thank you to everyone out there who cleans up their trash, and double thank you to those who clean up after others. 

[fin]

On 5/15/2022 at 4:11 PM, ATA said:

Most annoying one is fishing lines.

 

I ignore a lot of trash, but I almost always pick up big lengths of line when I see it.

 

Recently I spent a few hours fishing, walking the banks, and then I got in my car and drove away. After driving about 25 yards or so, I suddenly felt both my feet being pulled away from the pedals, and then I felt the pop of line breaking. Scared the… out of me. I didn’t know what had happened. A few days later I noticed a few inches of fishing line sticking out from my tire. I pulled on it and found several feet of line wrapped around the hub. I have no idea how it got there. I obviously walked through it and it must have got stuck on my shoe or something, which has happened many times, but I don’t know how it got wrapped around the hub. I guess I’m just lucky it was lightweight line and I was wearing long pants.

[Captain Phil]

The Harris Chain has an annual cleanup day when groups of people get together and bring in junk they find in the lakes.   The lakes stay fairly clean, but there is always someone who uses the lake as a trash can.   It does seem to me that this is not as big of a problem as it used to be.  Most boaters these days are a little more aware of the environment. 

[MAN]

I always bring a trash bag or grocery bag and fill it up when I go fishing.  Down here in southeast Texas......Ive probably picked up more Modelo and Corona cans than anything else over the years. 

[PressuredFishing]

On 5/15/2022 at 1:44 PM, fin said:

I do it with the understanding that it’s a battle that can’t be won

Yup... it's a cultural issue at this point, American slobism. India and China can be off the hook because their people are just trying to get higher quality of life, but for America its just laziness. 

[Zcoker]

I always seem to be cursing into the air every time I go to some nice lake or quiet pond or even out into the glades, the trash and garbage tossed around is just ridiculous. It almost seems ordained or habitual or even expected....how people feel inclined to waste a pristine area is beyond reasoning. Weird. 

 

 

[TOXIC]

There are also some things that are not exactly from people being slobs, well at least not directly.  If your lake or river is near or through a big metro, the runoff brings with it tons of garbage.  Yes, it’s still man made but not directly or purposely thrown in/around the water.  When it rains heavy around the Potomac you will see everything from household appliances to semi truck tires still on the rims.  This is due to all of the feeder creeks and streams and what they run through bringing it to the river.  

[Gera]

1 hour ago, PressuredFishing said:

Yup... it's a cultural issue at this point, American slobism. India and China can be off the hook because their people are just trying to get higher quality of life, but for America its just laziness. 

Not only that, plain full ignorance and disinformation. 

 

The fact that many people on this country (and the world of course) still believe that resources are unlimited and that there is no reason for them to take care of the environment is beyond belief. I don't understand why having rules to protect not only the planet but the areas where you live are seen as a threat by people. 

 

Regulation is not a way to remove your freedom, but a way to maintain it. (and that applies to everything) 

 

Education is the solution, but not only from schools but at home. 

 

 

[Eric 26]

I’m not trying to excuse the people who are ignorant and leave their trash any where they please, as Corey Taylor says “people equal ….” but I digress. As far as I’m concerned the trash industry in general at least in my neck of the woods is horrible. Let me explain, first watch your local garbage man empty a can and see how many times trash comes flying out because someone didn’t bag it properly not the garbage mans fault but that stuff goes flying everywhere. Then and again I’m referring to my area watch the trash transfer trucks and see how much garbage flys out of them as they’re driving, even with the netting most transfers are overloaded to the point it makes me wonder what they were thinking. Drive down I-394 or I-80 or I-294 and you will understand. Their is a company not sure if I can mention the name so I won’t but I know for a fact they created a self contained trash hauling trailer in the shape of a cylinder. Not really sure why it’s not being used more often than it is. Again not making excuses for slobs but I believe we need to look at the bigger picture.

[fin]

20 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

I’m not trying to excuse the people who are ignorant and leave their trash any where they please, as Corey Taylor says “people equal ….” but I digress. As far as I’m concerned the trash industry in general at least in my neck of the woods is horrible. Let me explain, first watch your local garbage man empty a can and see how many times trash comes flying out because someone didn’t bag it properly not the garbage mans fault but that stuff goes flying everywhere. Then and again I’m referring to my area watch the trash transfer trucks and see how much garbage flys out of them as they’re driving, even with the netting most transfers are overloaded to the point it makes me wonder what they were thinking. Drive down I-394 or I-80 or I-294 and you will understand. Their is a company not sure if I can mention the name so I won’t but I know for a fact they created a self contained trash hauling trailer in the shape of a cylinder. Not really sure why it’s not being used more often than it is. Again not making excuses for slobs but I believe we need to look at the bigger picture.

 

That’s a problem here too. There’s an apartment complex with dumpsters that get filled to overflowing for whatever reason, then the trash truck comes and picks it up and it’s overflowing, bags of trash falling off the truck as it drives down the road. Seems like a pretty easy crime to solve, but it’s been happening at the same apartment complex for years. Also the rollaway trucks around here never have tags on them. I don’t know how they get away with that.

 

28 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

There are also some things that are not exactly from people being slobs, well at least not directly.  If your lake or river is near or through a big metro, the runoff brings with it tons of garbage.  Yes, it’s still man made but not directly or purposely thrown in/around the water.  When it rains heavy around the Potomac you will see everything from household appliances to semi truck tires still on the rims.  This is due to all of the feeder creeks and streams and what they run through bringing it to the river.  

 

I fish a creek that has that problem. Old trash dumps and industrial areas up stream, but most of what I see is plastic bottles and every kind of ball imaginable. When people cross a bridge, they toss out their trash, maybe on their way to the park, and when they get there, they wonder why there is trash in the creek.

[Bankc]

There's a small lake near me that used to be an unofficial dump.  First it was a quarry, then it got abandoned and filled with rain water and all of the locals would just dump their garbage in there.  Tons and tons of car parts (it's right across from an auto salvage yard).  The city took it over and turned it into a nice lake at great expense.  But they didn't do anything to keep it that way, and it's quickly going back to being a dump, because the locals don't care.  

 

I was at another small lake deep in the country about two months ago and saw two guys in a beat-up, old pickup truck dump a washer and dryer off a dam into the lake I was fishing.  I couldn't get close enough to ID them.    

 

Some people are just raised to believe that they're the only ones who matter, and if a lake they're not using is cheaper and easier than the city dump, that's what they'll do.  And the city certainly doesn't have the resources to monitor them 24-7.  In fact, I've probably called the police out to that first lake ten times or more to report prostitution. 

[gim]

Up here in the north, many lakes have an association and they often do a day of spring cleanup to collect trash.  Its primarily composed of people that live on the lake, so its advantageous for them to help and volunteer.

 

Much of the trash in our waterways here is from ice anglers.  Its appalling.  Its not just trash either.  Its feces, empty propane tanks, piece of furniture...plus trash and beer cans.  Since ice anglers park on the lake for days at a time, they obviously generate a lot more waste there.  Many of them have almost no interest in actually doing any fishing.

 

There used to be a festival on Leech Lake called Eelpout Fest.  It was halted a few years ago because it generated so much trash on the ice and the city of Walker got sick of cleaning it up.  So now they simply prohibit organized gatherings out there.

[ironbjorn]

Too bad they couldn't get the nastiest trash of all - the humans responsible for it. We're such a failed species.

[MN Fisher]

59 minutes ago, gimruis said:

There used to be a festival on Leech Lake called Eelpout Fest.  It was halted a few years ago because it generated so much trash on the ice and the city of Walker got sick of cleaning it up.  So now they simply prohibit organized gatherings out there.

This might be before your time - but years ago KQ had a yearly contest. They'd park a car on the ice, people would guess the day/time it fell through during spring melt and win a big prize.

 

I know the early years they didn't drag it back out...it was over one of the deeper holes.

[Bankbeater]

Years ago we were fishing a lake with a lot of trees growing along the bank.  Back in one corner of a cove there was a dead egret hanging out of a tree tangled up in someone's fishing line.  Ever since I saw that I try to pick up some trash each time I go out, and when I run across line I cut it short if I can't reach the main tangle.

[Jmilburn76]

I do my best to try and pick up some trash every time I go out. I especially try to pick up line that's stuck in trees etc.  I never want to see any wildlife harmed.

[soflabasser]

There is record drought occurring in many parts of California and other South Western states at this moment in time so there will be a lot of things that will be found with the water level so low.

[WRB]

It’s hard to imagine the clarity of water in Lake Tahoe. 

Tahoe is a beautiful natural Alpine lake that boarders California and Nevada attracting the wealthy and vacationers with gambling allowed on the Nevada side.

Tons of trash is shocking from this pristine jewel of a lake.

Tons of trash from any California small reservoirs wouldn’t surprise anyone and not be news worthy.

Tom

 

 

2 hours ago, soflabasser said:

There is record drought occurring in many parts of California and other South Western states at this moment in time so there will be a lot of things that will be found with the water level so low.

Lake Mead is at record low levels and a barrel was found with human skeleton inside.

Tom

[ironbjorn]

35 minutes ago, WRB said:

It’s hard to imagine the clarity of water in Lake Tahoe. 

Tahoe is a beautiful natural Alpine lake that boarders California and Nevada attracting the wealthy and vacationers with gambling allowed on the Nevada side.

Tons of trash is shocking from this pristine jewel of a lake.

Tons of trash from any California small reservoirs wouldn’t surprise anyone and not be news worthy.

Tom

 

 

Lake Mead is at record low levels and a barrel was found with human skeleton inside.

Tom

They've been finding quite a few bodies in that lake, decades old remains. That was someone's train station.

[throttleplate]

8 hours ago, Bankc said:

I've probably called the police out to that first lake ten times or more to report prostitution. 

C-mon man, people got to make a livin in this bad inflated economy.

[Bankc]

13 hours ago, throttleplate said:

C-mon man, people got to make a livin in this bad inflated economy.

...said the man who has never snagged dirty underwear.  After you've fumbled around with sticks on the bank trying to free the hook of your $12 jackhammer without touching anything, one tends to undergo a change of heart.  If not the first time, then surely by the third time in two years. 

[FishTank]

I see it all over Indiana.  It drives me crazy. I see it every weekend where there will be a group of bucket fisherman sitting down throwing trash everywhere.  It has been a pet peeve of mine for years. 

 

To tell how bad it gets, my brother is an environmental engineer and he was hired years ago to help coordinate a stream clean up near Louisville. The stream is filled with trout and some nice small mouth bass. There is a deep bridge that catches a lot of trash. They filled a tanker of melted plastic bags from just this spot. Think about how many liquefied  plastic bags it would take to fill a 54' tanker. It's crazy the dumb stuff we do to the waters we fish from.