[TroutFishingBear]

I am getting sick of going fishing and finding all sorts of trash EVERYWHERE! Some people are terrible slobs that obviously don't care about the environment. When I go to shorefish one of my favorite rainbow trout holes on the colorado river near glenwood, I always find wierd trash- and lots of it! Dirty underware, dirty socks, dozens of beer cans, gatorade bottles, used powerbait jars, etc., it always pi$$ed me off but now I am reading what you guys over on the east side of the continental divide and I realize what I am facing is nothing in comparison to what you guys are facing. My sympathy goes to you guys and my "bear wrath" goes to those who leave trash. Shame on them!

 

[1eyered]

Yes sirie bob... I've pulled out wads and wads of line and it gets old.

I think Epic went on a date behind his wife's back west of the divide and forgot some items..



J/K Epic

 

[idratherbfishing]

Full to the gills with that stuff!

Dan

 

[epic]

Yes sirie bob... I've pulled out wads and wads of line and it gets old.

I think Epic went on a date behind his wife's back west of the divide and forgot some items..



J/K Epic

See 1eyeRed I have an excuse for when you saw me at Boulder

TFB, I feel for you man I have been to a couple lakes (south west) this year that have been relatively trash free. It however is a 2hour drive to these lakes (only an hour from my friends house) but I still think its worth the drive. Fewer people and alot less trash... more dead carp.

 

[gotmusky?]

I think everyone is sick of the trash. I for sure am. What really pisses me off is when you see a plastic shoppping bag full of trash such as candy wrappers and beer cans about 10 yards away from a garbage can. You kept the trash in the bag dude but you couldn't walk your lazy a$$ to the trash can? It just is ridiculous but I don't think my complaining will help. All I can do is clean up what I can see and hope whoever sees me appreciates what I am doing and that they can do the same.

 

[epic]

I hate catching those walmart bags... Man they fight good only to be a dang ole bag. The good thing about when I catch them they end up in the trash can and not back in the water for the next angler.

 

[jdferguson]

I totally agree. I think that if you get caught littering you should serve the same penalty as if you get caught with illegal game. Or, make them clean up the whole damn lake for a week.

John

 

[tim-cos]

Everyone could help to make a difference... Just bring an extra Wal-Mart bag and fill it up each time you go out!! I know it sucks picking up other people's crap, but it will help teach your kids a good lesson as well! In my experience the lakes are much worse off than the rivers.

Tim

 

[wraithR1]

Everyone could help to make a difference... Just bring an extra Wal-Mart bag and fill it up each time you go out!!  I know it sucks picking up other people's crap, but it will help teach your kids a good lesson as well! In my experience the lakes are much worse off than the rivers.

Tim

I pick up trash if I see it. 

Frankly, I'd like to see heavy fines imposed and actually enforced.  Put up a big sign by the boat ramp or entrance that states, "$1000 fine for littering".  Bust a few folks and watch how the littering slows or stops.   

 

[NeWcS]

Why not take it one step beyond that? First offence you get fined, 2nd time they revoke your fishing license.

Im not sure that it would work though, If your dumb enough to do it twice chances are you'll just fish w/o a license anyways.


-Jay

 

[Mattsabasser]

I do my part and pick up what I can. Some lakes have a lot of trash and it would take half the day to clean it all up so picking up the wads of spent fishing line is a good start and easily managed.

Adopt a lake! Don?t let your favorite fishing spot turn into a dump. Give a little back by taking one day a year to do some trash removal.

My favorite urban spots get an annual trash pickup by myself during the off-season. These are those smaller, neglected lakes around 30 surface acres. Typically I can cover the entire lake in a few hours and fill maybe one or two trash bags. This makes a HUGE difference in my overall mental state when I?m fishing as I don?t have to step over all the trash.

 

[roadkill]

if you have a problem with getting rid of the trash after to clean it up some of the trash companies and or dumps will take it for free if you call ahead and tell them what you are doing

 

[fishingkats]

yea but some of the lake out this way have trash cans but it doesnt help when they dont come and pick them up

there are times of the year when they need to dump them can every other day

not once a week

 

[afishman]

my kids and me always have extra bags. its really disturbing to see all the trash we pick up every time we go fishing. i'm really tired of feeling like a few of us have to police everyone else.

 

[gotmusky?]

Why not take it one step beyond that? First offence you get fined, 2nd time they revoke your fishing license.

Im not sure that it would work though, If your dumb enough to do it twice chances are you'll just fish w/o a license anyways.


-Jay

I like that idea. Even better is if you get caught fishing without a license after it has been revoked, you get the death penalty!!!!Okay, maybe a little too extreme but I wouldn't mind. As you can tell, I am not a liberal.

 

[Kadiya]

Y'know I agree with you all. But I have to wonder how many of you actually confront someone who litters in front of you? Personally I think it'd be hard, I know my bf would just complain about it and clean it up himself, I instead would do it kind of rudely I guess, cuz I just talk very loudly saying "Man look at these rude inconsiderate jerks littering don't they know that's illegal!" Honestly I think I'd be a lil leery of going up to them directly and telling them I saw what they did and they need to pick it up. Then again that's the only way to fix the problem, b/c some ppl will keep doing it if they think ppl will let them get away with it or maybe they could possibly be ignorant, I doubt that tho I think they're just lazy

 

[Mattsabasser]

99% of the time (in my case) I come along the trash after the stuff has been dumped and the violators are long gone. Except for one time....

I watched these guys pack a bunch of beer into Ward Pond. The fished off the shore in one area known for collecting piles of trash. They drank their 12-Pack, tossed the cans aside and kept on fishing. As they loaded up to pull out a few hours later, I brought my belly boat in close to the trail, got off the water and headed them off at the pass...

"You know those beer cans are a lot lighter now. Should be easier to pack them out then it was to pack in...right?" I said with a wink and sarcastic smile.

"Go $%$# yourself!" was the verbal response.

"We all have to share this water." I responded through gritted teeth. (There was three of them, one of me and I stand about 5'-5" and weigh in at a buck fifty...Didn't want to push these guys too far.

One guy went back and picked everything up while the rest went to the car and took a few more verbal cheap shots at me. I tried to shrug it off but my anger lingered a bit and pretty much ruined the rest of the day for me. Even though I had got them to remove the trash, the whole scene was ugly.

All I can suggest is....Yes, you want to confront any violators but measure the circumstances carefully. In a lot cases it may just be easier to pick up a few items, give them that stern look and move on.

Kids should be educated...adults should know better.

 

[wraithR1]

I have no problem confronting people about blatant disregards to either a.) safety or b.) respect for the outdoors. If they choose to have an attitude and fowl language, I have no problem throwing blows. None.

Situations rarely escalate to that level as most people seem to back down when significant aggression is displayed.

 

[hunterfishercamper]

if i have a friend or two with me then i will confront a person. if they try to fight i will back off but if they dont stop then may teh lord help them (and probably me in the end )
i dont know about everyone here, but i consider noise pollution just as annoying as littering. i cant stand it when i am fishing and a group of people come up adn start makign a ton of noise. no no no. not around me. usually if it is one or two people a nice angry yell gets their attention but if it is a large group then what do you do? i just sit there. if there are other fisherman around i just get up adn leave. if there are no other fisherman around adn i brought my stereo then i play their game i turn my stereo up real loud playign something like classical or country or opera. then i try to make a bunch of splashjing with my lure if they are fishing. just try to out do them.

 

[James]

I always pick up trash, but if I run across any of Epic's dirty drawers, I'm leaving em to rot!  ;D

We could always start a CF.com hotline.
"What's that Matt? 3 punks in a pick-up? I'll send some of the CF.com locals (wearing their black hats).  8)

I don't know what we can do about people littering. Having recently moved here (w/in 5 years), I can't believe someone could throw trash in such a beautifull locale, especially not other sportsmen? Oh, well. At the closest pond to my area, I pick up a full bag (safeway) of trash a week!! The funny thing is, I hardley see anyone fishing there.