Some Boaters Are The Same

I got off the water late this afternoon and was walking in the parking lot toward my truck. I came across a spot that was covered with minnows. Some poor misguided individual had splashed his leftover bait in the middle of the blacktop. Too bad , I would have taken them for my brothers backyard pond.
I wish I was there to witness this act of littering.
BTW: I was coming off the water on Friday at the same time as the DNR. The CO and his partner were very excited about their activities for the day. They were congratulating each other on the opportunity to write a few tickets on Pool 2.
Dino

When I read that, I had to stop and think for a minute whether I really consider dumping out some minnows littering.

I still don’t think that I’ve got a good answer. I wouldn’t want everyone doing it in my yard, but then it doesn’t really bother me that much elsewhere because I would think that the minnows would do just as well to feed the critters there as the landfill.

Be interesting to see what others think.

i agree with Gianni atleast they were not dumped in the river.personaly i never have that problem of disposal because all i use is PLASTICS! eyenutz!

Why leave the minnows in the lot to rot (smell)? It may be worse than litter. With a pop cup or empty pack of smokes, one could easily pick them up to dispose of properly, not an easy task with squished, nasty, & smelly dead bait.

I recently stopped by 4 Seasons Sports in Red Wing, MN to see if they needed any “plastics” while on my sales route… When walking past the corner, right by the front door I was very shocked to see where some “fisher-person” had emptied out his frozen minnow bucket “chunck of ice full of dead minnows” by the edge of the building… just 10 feet from the front door.
What is that about ? Gotta be plain nuts and a very disrespectfull kind of person to do such crap as that.
Guess it takes all kinds… perhaps we as a group can help to educate some folks here on EFN.
The mamagement of 4 Seasons was quick to clean up after this “slob”… and take away the mess. They were as perplexed as I was about why someone would think this is proper sportsman’s conduct.
Dave Hoggard

first let me say I’m guessing, hoping, praying, that we’re preaching to the choir with the folks who enjoy this site. take home everything you bring with you or dispose of it properly. the critters don’t seem to be able to consume everything left for them before I manage to track some into my boat or truck. Again I’m guessing here but I wish people with dogs, not those of us with dogs who would never do such a thing of course, would remember that the whole world isn’t the place for Fido to leave his calling card. It’s gotten so if I’m putting in or taking out when it’s dark I check the ramp and landing area for surprises, and yes I have had to clean up a few. oh well. Pool 2 was beautiful yesterday not much luck with the fish but it was great getting out, took a little cruise felt the sun on my face wind blowing thru what hair I have left on my head. hoping this is just the first of many more days on the riv. good fishing all, kenn

I personally don’t like it when poeple throw the minnows right out on the cement where you launch but if they do it in the water or on the grass nest to the launch I think it is great..And you need to throw a lot of minnows out at the public launch to have it start smelling…
Birds eat a lot of the minnows and snakes, coons, and everything else eats the rest… I can see why you wouldn;t want to dump minnow’s into a system like devils lake, N.D but there is nothing wrong with dumping un-used minnows into the river dead or alive……. dead they are going to get eaten by the catfish and gulls and alive well they get ate by everything else

Occasionally I throw mine in my yard, down wind from any enterance ways. That way the neighbors dogs will eat the stinky nasty things on their way back from doing their job in my yard. Hopefully, the neighbors catch wind of their dogs when the go in the house. Perhaps they will contain them to their own yard in the future. Helps the grass grow too.

I used to always dump my unused minnows into the water before we would pull the boat out! About 3 weeks ago I attended a presentation by two Iowa DNR biologists that provided information about the LMBV, (large mouth bass virus) in pools 9 and 10 on the river. There are still lots of questions to be answered concerning this disease and its spread UP the river system. The program was over 2 hours long and I cannot begin to cover all the bases but one part of prevention process was;
1. Recommend dumpimng of unused minnows on land, away from public areas!
2. Do not transport bass or diseased fish from one body of water to another. To include do not transfer from one slough to another.
The DNR has identified a high percentage of diseased fish in one slough and not found it present in another one less than a mile away. There is also a breakout of a bacterial infection in bass that was discussed on FTR in past posts.

My primary point here is don’t dump minnows back in the water, dispose of them away from public areas, not in the parking lots. In many ways we seem to be our own worst eneny? Or we can be our best promoter. It’s a choice we can make.

With the introduction of exotic species into our lakes and rivers I thought that this subject was covered in the fishing regulations. I took a quick look at the Minnesota and Wisconsin regulations and found the following:

From the Minnesota DNR fishing regulations – page 65 – ‘How you can stop the spread of exotics:’
· Dispose of unwanted minnows and leeches on shore. Never release live bait into a water body, or release aquatic animals from one water body into another.

From the Wisconsin DNR fishing regulations – page 63 – ‘Battling Wisconsin’s Unwanted Pests’.
· Use baitfish with care in lakes and streams. Never release any baitfish into the wild: always destroy them or return them to your bait dealer. Never dip your bait bucket into one lake if it has water in it from another.

Granted this doesn’t mean dumping them on the ramp or parking lot but if you tossed them in a nearby ditch they would quickly become chow for some varmint or fertilizer.
barc