"Fishermen Are Pigs"

I ran over to my sister in laws house this morning to spend some time with my niece. They live on McCarrons Lake in Roseville.
During my visit one of the neighbors stopped by that had just gone for a walk out on the ice. There was a pretty sizable pile of garbage left behind by some “fishermen” which caused her to say that fishermen are pigs.

I got into a discussion with her about it and left feeling a little frustrated that I don’t think I changed her mind very much.

Drilling a couple holes in the ice and dropping down a minnow under a bobber doesn’t make you fisherman, there’s more to it than that. True fishermen, and hunters, are stewards of the outdoors. They’re decent folks that share their love of the sport and outdoors unselfishly with others and try to leave things in better condition than they were. The metro lakes in particular really take a beating during ice season. The amount of crap left on the ice by a certain kind of people(not fishermen) is disgusting, but to the non-fishing public it’s the fishermen that are responsable.

Sorry to rant but this gal made her statement with such venom in her voice. Maybe carry a couple trashbags in your trucks and spend a couple minutes policing the area around you if it’s needed.

Pigs are pigs!
Some pigs fish but that doesn’t make them fishermen.

Not a rant. Perfectly made and true statement!!!

Regardless of the activity certain people are that way. Brutally self centered people that dont give a chit about anyone else but themselves. They dont care about you, me, the planet, NOTHING.
Then they have kids and teach them the same chit.

suzuki wrote:

Regardless of the activity certain people are that way. Brutally self centered people that dont give a chit about anyone else but themselves. Then they have kids and teach them the same chit.

And therein lies the solution. Monkey see monkey do.

I hate to say it, but it is becoming more and more the world we live in these days. When I 1st started ice fishing you almost never saw crap left on the lake. Now it is almost everywhere. I try to do my share and pick up what I can. if I picked up all of it I’d not get any time to fish. Each Spring near ice out, there is a group of people who get together out on Prior Lake and spend a few days Picking up Trash. I have happened to be out there several years while they were out there, I stop fishing to spend the rest of my outing helping them. I can not even tell you the amount of Garbage they have in those sleds after only a few Hr’s.

Walk around in a movie theater after the movie, or a stadium after a game. Look at the roadside ditches. Pigs and slobs are everywhere, and that will include the ice. That’s no excuse but the lady was wrong to characterize these people as fishermen.

x2!! a pig will always be a pig…… it sucks that we outdoorsman have to help them out from time to time by picking up there slack but its for the good of old mother nature

I’m a “fisherman” and you’d have a hard time convincing me “Metro Outdoorsman” aren’t pigs. I’ve fished down in that area twice and I was absolutely astonished and speechless at the amount of litter I saw on the lakes.

I’m not saying it doesn’t happen up here but I’ve never seen anything like down there.

I know I’m generalizing and I apologize to those that don’t act that way. You guys have a much larger proportion of litter bugs down there, that’s for sure.

“You guys have a much larger proportion of litter bugs down there, that’s for sure. ”

Well we certainly have a lot larger population down here. Is the percentage of pigs higher? It’s hard to say. I’ve seen junk left on the ice everywhere I’ve ever ice fished, including St. Louis county.

I think here in the metro the frozen lakes are a easy place for kids to party.

belletaine wrote:

I think here in the metro the frozen lakes are a easy place for kids to party.

Some of the KIDS I’ve seen leaving the mess are really OLD kids

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
I think here in the metro the frozen lakes are a easy place for kids to party.

Some of the KIDS I’ve seen leaving the mess are really OLD kids

Yeah, I hear ya. It just kinda burns me up that people(not all) lump all fishermen into the irresponsable thoughtless category. I have a hard time comprehending how behavior like that doesn’t bother some people, i mean good God, think of their mindset!

belletaine wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>belletaine wrote:</div>
I think here in the metro the frozen lakes are a easy place for kids to party.

Some of the KIDS I’ve seen leaving the mess are really OLD kids

Yeah, I hear ya. It just kinda burns me up that people(not all) lump all fishermen into the irresponsable thoughtless category. I have a hard time comprehending how behavior like that doesn’t bother some people, i mean good God, think of their mindset!

Have you seen their house? Their yard? Wanna bet what that looks like?

If she had said all people driving are bad drivers… would that make the bad people driving not drivers ???

Every time I ice fish I find tons of garbage left behind. It makes me sad. Quite often I will pick up what I can but sometimes I am just not in the mood. It’s not my fault but it is my problem. If I don’t pick up after these pigs who will? It will all end up at the bottom of the lake in the end so if I don’t pick it up and simply complain about it what good is it going to do?

I think many are missing the point. Perception is reality. If people think your a slob by association, your a slob. Most likely will never change her mind

I fish a lot of metro lakes when I have limited time, I do see a lot of trash out there. I managed to make a trip up 35 about sixty miles today and noticed a lot less trash, granted it was a smaller lesser known body of water. On my way in I spotted a couple of beer cans and an empty pack of smokes with the headlamp, TEN FEET from a trash can at the landing! It took me all of ten seconds to “finish” the job. I think I am now going to take the advice stated earlier and pickup a box of cheap garbage bags and do what I can out there, it’s not hard! I realize sometimes people miss some things out there, I’m sure I have been guilty before, but some of it is blatant and that is not cool.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I think many are missing the point. Perception is reality. If people think your a slob by association, your a slob. Most likely will never change her mind

Exactly Randy, and I’m not sure I was making any ground with her and there lies the frustration.

belletaine wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Randy Wieland wrote:</div>
I think many are missing the point. Perception is reality. If people think your a slob by association, your a slob. Most likely will never change her mind

Exactly Randy, and I’m not sure I was making any ground with her and there lies the frustration.

I encounter that all the time in trapping. Unbelievable sometimes how many anti-trapping people there are. So often I’m looked at like a barbaric neanderthal that would skin an animal alive and have zero ethics. Funny though, as soon as they are getting skunks in their yard, coons in the garbage, beaver eating their decorative trees/shrubs….who is the first person they call – A TRAPPER. Go figure….

Its amazing at how some people are today. Take a look at where kids gather and all the fast food wrappers that get tossed out and not put in readily available trash cans. We’ve seen kids at a McandDons in our neighborhood toss crap at a can and miss but leave it lay. I’ve been in traffic behind a carful of kids heading back to the local high school after dining at the same place tossing bags full of garbage out the window onto the streets. We have gone to ball games at that school and find the parking lots choked with trash, much if not most from the fast food joints.

So what’s to be done. Pass and ordinance that requires a deposit on every wrapper, bag, cup and straw from these places? Start enforcing the litter laws, not with fines the first three times but multiple hours of parking lot and/or roadside littler pick-up wearing bright pink shirts that say “I AM A LITTERING PIG”?

Do they live like this at home? Probably, but you won’t see it because Mommy picks up after them. There’s no accountability to this anymore and until there is, the problem will get worse. And yes, it starts at home.

There’s no accountability

AMEN

Randy Wieland wrote:

There’s no accountability

AMEN

X2!Entitled is a word that gets used more and more these days.

its becoming more and more a problem on the ice and on the water. i feel like i’m picking up garbage almost every time out on a public body of water.

i feel like i’m always cleaning up candy wrappers, pop cans, 1lb propane tanks all the time. we carry bags in our trucks for jsut this purpose.

on open water, the worst i’ve ever seen in saylorville spill way north of des moines. so much garbage on the rocks you think you are in a 3rd world country. almost EVERY time i’ve ever been there.

I keep my car a complete mess, but never leave one on the ice. I also find myself picking up trash from other people whenever possible. In fact last year I watched a couple of guys toss their used 1lb tank across the ice when they were done with it. I picked it up and placed it next to their shack.

Besides picking up the Trash, when you see an inhouse with trash outside, take a photo with your Smart Phone with GPS Activated. Send it into DNR or TIPLine or if your know your local Conservation Officer, send them to him. If finds the pile without the house, he’ll have the house # to track down the owners.

This also happens in the summer. Many outings in the boat I use my net to pickup some trash and dump in the barrels at the landing or take it home to dump it.

Kudo’s to all those that pickup the manure left by the Pigs!

I agree there are a lot of ppl that just don’t give a rats. If I see rubbish when I’m fish I don’t get angry I just put in my boat and despose of it when I get back to shore. Geting angry just makes your day fishing crap but look at it the way I think ,picking it up means the next fisherman will have a better day not seeing it

Cig butts are at the top of my litterbug list. Seems many don’t give it second thought to discard the trash on the ground, ice or open water.

-J.

The slob factor is an uphill battle and I pick up whatever I can when I’m on the ice, in the boat or out in the woods. The amount I pick up really doesn’t amount to much considering all the stuff that’s out there but every little bit helps I figure. IMO we need to set an example for the next generation by teaching kids at an early age that littering is never an option. A few years back, I was pulling into the launch after fishing all day. There were a couple kids 10-12 years old fishing nearby. They came by to see if I caught anything and noticed all the trash in the boat. The one kid said Man, you sure have a messy boat and he was right. LOL I asked them where they thought all this trash came from. Neither of them had a clue. When I told them that all this stuff was trash I found floating in the river that day the one kid said, Some people are real pigs aren’t they. Anyhow, I said a few things to them about how littering was bad news for the environment, people etc. and I think it sunk in, at least I hope it did.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I encounter that all the time in trapping. Unbelievable sometimes how many anti-trapping people there are. So often I’m looked at like a barbaric neanderthal that would skin an animal alive and have zero ethics. Funny though, as soon as they are getting skunks in their yard, coons in the garbage, beaver eating their decorative trees/shrubs….who is the first person they call – A TRAPPER. Go figure….

The distance between perception and reality is often VAST for many people these days. The problem that is of the “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” kind. People today honestly believe they know about something because on one little experience or one casual observation.

Grouse