Just Gotta Say This

[KurtisK]

Ok there is a small pond that is pretty well loaded with crappie and various bass. I love fishing this smaller pond. I have also found a very large largemouth that has been named Gertrude, she is elusive and has already teased me and taunted me. The point to this though is that I every time I go out there I find that other people that have fished the area leave their trash and spent baits. I walk the shoreline and pick up bobbers, tangled line, empty worm bags and lure boxes. Its very annoying that people leave their trash all over the place. I keep a walmart sack and a empty worm tub to place my trash in and to hold the trash I pick up from other people. I ask you all to please, if you are guilty of this, to please pick up after yourself. We need to try to keep our fishing areas clean. Thank you all that read this and please if you see something someone else left behind just pick it up.

[Hamby]

You know what sucks more? Fishing line in the trolling motor. Not only do i have to be angered by the littering, but i also can't ignore it if i wanted to.

[KurtisK]

See thats what I am talking about. Not only can it ruin bank fishing but leaving that stuff around can affect others boats and personal property. It takes away from the joy and relaxation we are supposed to be getting from a day at the lake.

[Sam]

True bass fishermen are excellent stewards of our waters.

It is those who either don't fish often or come from a lower socico-economic level that will leave debris behind or throw trash out of their vehicles.

All we can do is clean up behind them.

Do not approach them about leaving trash behind as you have no idea of how they will react.

Pick it up and feel good about yourself for doing it.

[deaknh03]

True bass fishermen are excellent stewards of our waters.

It is those who either don't fish often or come from a lower socico-economic level that will leave debris behind or throw trash out of their vehicles.

All we can do is clean up behind them.

Do not approach them about leaving trash behind as you have no idea of how they will react.

Pick it up and feel good about yourself for doing it.

I don't think the size of their paycheck has any relevance to their hygiene and littering habits. It's more their upbringing and respect for themselves and others, rich or poor.

["Lunker Hunter"]

Deaknh03 I agree with you being a slob has nothing to do with your station in life. In our subdivision we have a 45 acre lake and it drives me crazy that the tennis players never go after there tennis balls that get away and they end up of course in our lake. This is on top of the fishermen who stop by and throw there Stuf on the ground, every time I see this it reminds me of the American Indian commercial where he is crying over the trash on the highway. But all this will not matter as the world will come to an end today.....

[grimlin]

I do my part...Just check the trash bag in background. I picked up the trash before I started fishing.Looks like I was rewarded.

[VABassin'14]

This is especially bad when you are fishing on private ponds and other such areas. The pond I grew up fishing and the place that really got me hooked on fishing is a perfect example. Every time my dad took my brother and I down to this place the place was trashed. I didn't understand it at the time but my dad would always make us pick up trash for 15 minutes before we started fishing. When I was about eight years old the guy posted the land and stopped letting people fish it. These thoughtless people ruined it for everyone. You can do everyone favor by clean up after yourself when you are fishing. You never truly know how lucky you are to have something until it is gone.

[Sfritr]

We have a small pond in our sub that people fish in and leave trash. My son and I built a small waste receptacle using a mailbox post. We put a sign up to ask others to please use it to place trash in. It is the size of a small trash can. Every week we empty it before putting our house trash to the curb.

I wanted to teach my son that it DOES matter and that being a steward of the sport is more about conservation than anything.

Give it a shot

[OHIO]

Deaknh03 I agree with you being a slob has nothing to do with your station in life. In our subdivision we have a 45 acre lake and it drives me crazy that the tennis players never go after there tennis balls that get away and they end up of course in our lake. This is on top of the fishermen who stop by and throw there Stuf on the ground, every time I see this it reminds me of the American Indian commercial where he is crying over the trash on the highway. But all this will not matter as the world will come to an end today.....

Wow, you must have a big neighborhood!

I have a lake near my house and there is trash all over the place. I try to pick some up, but I don't have room to store it in my tackle bag.

I guess I should start bringing a grocery bag or something and start putting it in there.

It sounds a lot like the lake you mentioned except a little smaller.

The people who play tennis do the exact same thing at this lake too. They just leave tennis balls all over the place.

If I find them, I just bring them home and give them to my dog. One man's trash is another's treasure I guess.

[clayton86]

Vabassfisher same thing happend here there was 3 big pond/quarrys I used to fish people used to swim there the place got trashed and the old man posted it now he only let's ice fisherman out there and only if u go to his door every time to let him know. A lot of the trash used to actually be beer bottles and crap from people throwing parties there. Now its gated and posted

[deep]

True bass fishermen are excellent stewards of our waters.

Sam, you got a point. Among the several lakes I fish, there's one predominantly panfishing lake, and one put-and-take trout fishery. The number of empty beer bottles and discarded live bait containers (little cubic earthworm boxes I guess), not to speak of bobbers, discarded line, empty packs of hooks or inline spinners and so on, on the shore of any one of these are 10 times that of all the other primarily bass lakes put together.

[NBR]

Sam, you got a point. Among the several lakes I fish, there's one predominantly panfishing lake, and one put-and-take trout fishery. The number of empty beer bottles and discarded live bait containers (little cubic earthworm boxes I guess), not to speak of bobbers, discarded line, empty packs of hooks or inline spinners and so on, on the shore of any one of these are 10 times that of all the other primarily bass lakes put together.

[NBR]

I had a dear friend who is no ;longer with us that was fishing one of Michigan's best trout streams who watched a canoer pitch a beer can into the river. He picked up the can and on his way to a usual pull out spot called the MI DNR. He and the DNR guy met the canoers when they got to the take out landing and the canoest was issued a ticket. We all need to me more proactive in reporting violations.

[TerryR]

This annoys me so much. Honestly, is it so hard to take that junk with you when you leave. You carried it in, being empty it is lighter now to carry out.

[tomustang]

What annoys me more is when there's a trash can near the junk they leave behind.

Fishing line getting sucked into the propeller? That's a tuffy though, since getting a lure stuck out in the water and having it break off, can't really do much about that. I mean I get frustrated hooking a broken line every now and then but it's not really their fault

[AndyPlaysDrums]

It is those who either don't fish often...

This year, for the first time, I took up trout fishing in some of the stocked streams we have around. These are the haunts of the "pros" that fish for about a month and a half a year. It's appalling the amount of garbage left around some of these beautiful stream spots that are basically in the woods. And I don't know what gets to me more, that d**n night crawler/meal worm containers and lids all over the place, or the miles of line strewn about.

Just this past Tuesday I was at one of these spots, when all of the sudden my line stopped reeling in. I thought I was snagged but then detected just the slightest pull on the line and realized I had a stick or a fish on. I reeled my line in to discover a small stick caught on my hook at the end of my rod, but then realized there was still line going into the water. I was greatly confused for a second until I grabbed the line going into the water and started pulling it in by hand. On the end of a mess of line was a beautiful little rainbow trout with a hook WAY deep inside of it. With my hook, I had caught this small stick which, in turn, had yards and yards of line wrapped around it and a poor fish on the end of that! I'm thinking someone must've snagged, just cut their line and moved on, leaving a baited hook free in the water, and this little guy took it. I cut the line up to the eye of the hook and put it back in the water and it swam away ok, but it was still a disappointing sight to someone who cares. The frustrating part is that this stream is not at all big, and it probably wouldn't have taken too much maneuvering to de-snag that baited line.

And no, I did not count that as a fish caught!

[Getfished]

I mow for a marina at my local lake during the summer. Every Monday morning I drive the Kubota tractor around the property and pick up trash. Sometimes I end up getting so much it fills the front bucket! There are several dumpsters conveniently located but people just don't get it. It's unbelievable.

[Bluebasser86]

There have been several lakes around here that were getting trashed so the state cleaned up the bad areas and put up warnings that if it didn't stop these areas would be closed to bank fishing. Well of course it didn't stop and now nobody can bank fish. It doesn't bother me because I don't bank fish but I feel bad for others who do that clean up after themselves. I've filled entire trash bins with all kinds of junk that I picked up from the edge of the lake, it just drives me crazy to see a pretty shoreline ruined by others trash!

[Grey Wolf]

I used to police a couple area's where I fished off the bank but I started policing more than I fished so I surrendered to the onslaught and gave up. I just fish now.

[J Francho]

I ask you all to please, if you are guilty of this, to please pick up after yourself.

Here's a better rant for you.

Those people will NEVER change, so PLEASE IF YOU SEE TRASH CLEAN IT UP.