[spooled1]

No matter where or how you go fishing, please CLEAN UP YOUR F$%#*^ MESS.

I have no desire to clean up some tourists stinky bait bags and empty stubbies but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I don't like finding the community gaff left on the lowest rock ledge and I feel physically ill when I think about the 20 metres of loose fishing line that is left blowing in the wind.

Me, my mates and a lot of the locals here aren't prone to dumping cigarette buts in rocky crevices. I'm glad those blue, green , orange, pink and red ballons weren't condoms but they still left an unwanted message.

We also don't drink Bi-Lo Creamy Soda and have zero respect for mindless fuckwits who believe unused pilchards, garfish and prawns make better burley when they are left to rot in a skanky little rockpool.

Aside from the direct and obvious impact fishing litter has on marine life, this sport is getting harder and harder to justify to greenies and politicians. People who leave fishing waste should be given a big, fat, punch in the head.

 

[aleg75]

Well done for making a stand! I too feel sick and off when a fishing spot is left with people who are careless about what they leave behind!

I take the stance "well it's not my mess, but I will clean it regardless" as it reflects fishermen as a whole and not individually! as a rule of thumb I always carry a plastic bag, for my mess and that others leave behind! thankfully in the yak I dont have to put up with it!

Some people care, some dont, it's human nature......but we can rest assured that we do care!

Perhaps some hot fishing spots could do with bins though? I tend to fish popular spots, bins in these places might encourage people to do the right thing?

Interested to see how other people feel about this issue?

 

[yakfly]

well said Dan

 

[driftr]

i totally agree, i was pretty annoyed when i went down to my local spot and saw a bag of rubbish hung over a tree as if its a bin and waiting for the council to empty it..... damn no hopers

 

[justcrusin]

Well said Dan,
You can handle it if the weed is stuffing up your lures, but when it shopping trolleys and plastic bags it really pisses you off. You take your own stuff home and just wonder why everyone can't do the same. Its not at all hard to do.

Cheers Dave

 

[hairymick]

Universal motto for sea kayakers is "Leave no Trace" should apply equally to fishermen.

Well said Dan.

 

[Dodge]

Well said Dan agree totally; have also seen it in the bush while walking so appreciating nature sadly isn't shared by all users of the great outdoors

 

[Guest]

While I completely agree with your message and get equally frustrated by this sort of thing, sounds to me like you're preaching to the choir here. I think it's probably best said in a place like fishnet. I don't know any kayak fisherman doing the wrong thing. :-/

 

[Peril]

Happy to pick up other rubbish. Just can't understand why anyone thinks it makes sense to leave any behind

 

[Astro]

i concur the thoughtless people who are happy to leave their shit behind is not only unsightly and smelly but also dangerous ie broken bottles, discarded hooks etc. need to lift their act. when i take my boys to the local spot they MUST now wear shoes and we take always take a large bag and gloves to take the filth with us. around my local area it is a real problem with the council taking action about problem spots by having the public report and then going to clean it up. whether this is actually happening i dont know since i rarely fish around town.

watch out anyone trying to walk away leaving their rubbish around when i am there, words are always said....

 

[YakAtak]

I find it hard to walk over rubbish in the street let alone at my fav fishing spots.

 

[HiRAEdd]

I agree with 5thofNovember, you're probably preaching to the converted in this forum. As yak fisherpeople, I think we're right up there with the most environmentally sound fishers around. I, as do probably many of us here, pick up rubbish left by others. I've even gone so far as to bring back to shore lost/disposed of crab pots that I've reeled up from the bottom (albeit accidently). I have a new definition of "mess" after hauling an old rusted, covered in mud, crab pot onto my yak and taking it back to shore hehe.

Not that I don't appreciate your rant. I've said those same words many times over the years

 

[JT]

Amen to that brother :evil:

2 recent examples:

I come across 3 morons smashing glass bottles with stones on the meter and a half wide entrence to a newly created family beach area on lake Macquarie. And get this....they were in their early twenties and one of them had driven a car there which means one would assume that at least one of them would have enough brain cells to wonder if it was the right thing to be doing or not. So I confront them with an incredulous "what the f*%k do you think you are doing? How are my children supposed to walk on this path to the beach"? Response "lighten up mate!"

I hit the rock ledge at Catherine Hill Bay 3 months ago to find 9 guys in their 40s and 50s were packing up to go home after an all nighter. They were taking a haul of fish home but man were they laving alot of shit behind! Bait packets, onion skins, empty coke bottles, orange peel, tangled fishing line and a damn good measure of whatever integrity they had arrived with. Absolutely staggering!!! This on rocks that the water would have no chance of washing away the biodegradable rubbish (not that that should have been left).

Some people just don't get it. I swear, it just doesn't occur to them :evil:

JT

 

[polylureosis]

Gggrrr - One of the few things that makes me truly cranky.

Fishing IS simple: Those who litter ARE simpletons.

 

[Russ]

Agree Dan

A trip not that long back with my boy's to Clifton Gardens wharf was a great example to my 2 fishing buddies on what not to do.

We were lucky enough to spend the first five minutes of our morning cleaning up the shit left by some other putrid arsehole.

BUT WE REALLY SCOOPED THE POOL

We got to clean up their mess while smelling the piss that they covered the wharf in.

Filthy insects

I do hope however that they got a bag limit of Sydney Bream and they get a good dose of the Sydney Harbour Piscatorial pox

fishing Russ

 

[Y-Knot]

yeah i was gonna rip a couple of guys a new ass-hole :evil: when i came across them throwing stubbies into the yarra river up near warandyte, this is an area of shallow water and just under the surface big rocks and these fk-knuckle clowns were aiming to smash the bottles on submerged rocks. All this in an area that is frequently frequented by young families whos kids love nothing more than playing in the water and on the rocks.
DikHeads...

 

[andybear]

And the other thing is the submarine shopping trolleys around the place, I remember on my first kayak trip ever, the sight of those things, in what otherwise appeared to be almost pristine conditions.

I know, and I hate, those systems, where you have to pay a deposit, or put a coin in the slot to get a shopping trolley, but hell, I guess it really has to be that way. The trolleys are worth a couple of hundred dollars apiece, so you can understand that the owners would like to get them back.

Some of these idiots must seriously think shopping trolleys are free, just who the hell do they think picks up the tab? Even to pay someone to go around and collect them from the streets costs, and costs.

Im waffling, Im out of here!

Cheers all Andybear :x

 

[Y-Knot]

Hmmmm, touchy 1 Occy. I LOVE my DOG.
scraggy - NOT
smelly - NOT
unkept - NOT
overweight - NOT
ugly - Uhhh not sure how he looks to other dogs but i reckon he'd rate as doggie-andsome.

I walk my dog EVERY day and carry a bag for his shit etc ... BUT ... there have been occasions where ive been out and not had a bag and theres a big steamy pile of :evil: ...

i guess this makes me a lazy pathetic stinky feral unkept overweight ugly stupid gnat ???
Sounds a bit harsh i think :shock:

 

[shayned]

A little while ago I managed to gather together 15 like minded souls, all fishos (Canoodle was one just for the record) and we did a clean up around the shore line and banks at North Pine dam at McGavins Veiw. Whilst we got the place pretty spotless a week later and I was back to filling a shopping bag with other peoples crap to take back up to the bins. It fair dinkum gives me the shits. :evil:

 

[sunshiner]

Here, we're fighting hard all the time to keep the place rubbish free. I'm the volunteer coordinator of a council-funded river patrol (4 metre tinny) and our main volunteer job is to look after the Noosa River. Most of the volunteers are over 60, some dedicated fishos and all are passionate about 'our' river. Several of them are also keen yakkers.

We also have FLRB (Fishing Line Recovery Bins) which we clean out. They are placed at shore-fishing spots by the Noosa Council and usually attract quite a bit of used fishing line plus an assortment of other rubbish.

Another thing we do is hand out personal ash trays to smoking fishos we see during our patrols. They are plastic and stainless steel devices small enough to fit inside a closed fist and large enough to contain all of the butts during a day's fishing. They are re-usable and our aim is to discourage people from throwing their butts into our beloved river.

So there are ways to fight it, but it usually takes dedicated volunteers backed financially by local authorities.