White Trash

I was out on Lake Nokomis this morning for the first time this year and I was very disappointed. Not because the fishing was slow but because of what I saw on top of the ice. For all of you anglers who venture out to this lake please pick up after yourselves. There were cigarette butts everywhere and where you could see the outline of a previous house there must have been 30 butts scattered around a hole, there were bottle caps melting into the ice, trash of all sorts and human poop. Do you think all that stuff magically disappears into thin air? It ends up in the lake or on the shoreline in the spring so when people are out to take a walk around the lake they get to look at your mess or when they want to go for a swim at one of the beaches they have to swim with your mess. I sure hope that you so called “fisherman” aren’t bringing your children out to the lake and teaching them this type behavior. All of you who participate in this are giving the sport a bad name.

It’s a perennial problem no matter where you go. Yesterday I picked up 3-4 bait containers, a beer can, and candy wrappers around a community hole I fished. The other stuff like pee stains, and people crapping out on the ice, and used feminine hygiene products even is just disgusting- especially on the lake I fish a lot that is less than a thousand acres in size and is ringed by a state park with ample facilities open year round. Like there’s literally a bathroom 100 yards away in most directions. It just comes down to people are lazy and there is no depth to the level of laziness they exhibit. Thankfully most people are pretty good about cleaning up after themselves, but the few that don’t end up making the biggest messes!

I’m calling the ACLU and reporting the obvious racism in this post.

Ice fishing seems to bring out the best. Happens every year, on every water that has ice fishing.

This stuff just makes me furious as well. The biggest surprise I’ve seen this year is the amount of broken/discarded gear just left on the ice. I’ve seen a fair amount of broken tip-ups just left on the ice. What’s disheartening is that most of us would like to think that outdoorsmen and women are a little bit different breed of people who will go the extra mile to take care of the natural resources we use. This makes it that much more frustrating when people from that fraternity leave the land and the ice looking like a dump.

I know there’s a difference between sitting around and complaining and actually doing something, I just don’t know what that something would be. I always think that I’d be willing to put some effort in to fixing this problem, but what would that be? Anyone have any idea of how this problem can be fixed?

I think the only thing you can do is pick up trash and when you see it and shame those that you actually witness being slobs.

I rarely actually witness people doing this crap, so just pick up the trash when you see it is the only recourse.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Ice fishing seems to bring out the best. Happens every year, on every water that has <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing.

Unfortunately it isn’t just ice fishing or at least not from my experience. Before I had a boat I was always consistently appalled by the amount of trash left behind by shore anglers. Most shore spots on pool 2 were terrible.

Saw a hole today with about 40 ciggy-butts around it… disgusting. Worst part is, I’m not picking those up because got knows who’s mouth they’ve been in, I can only imagine if they are stupid enough to leave them there that they are too stupid to clean their nasty mouth.

nhamm wrote:

I’m calling the ACLU and reporting the obvious racism in this post.

This is the sort of racism the ACLU is not interested in. I was hoping he was talking about the color of the trash not racially profiling a certain type of skin color with people who leave trash on the ice. 😏

Butts tossed out car windows urine me off as much as butts on the ice. This coming from a smoker…. Throw butts in the garbage.

A pocket works great until you find a garbage.

Respect!

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Butts tossed out car windows urine me off as much as butts on the ice. This coming from a smoker…. Throw butts in the garbage.

A pocket works great until you find a garbage.

Respect!

No schnitt!

I don’t know what sort of control or fix there could be to this crap. I see shorelines covered with crap left behind too by trout anglers at Foster in the spring when the ice recedes. Powerbait jars, corn cans, bottles….and as mentioned I would love to see ethnicity NOT play a part in this but it does….at least around Rochester to some extent and more than one may think.

My wife and I joke about this all the time- how is it that a cigarette butt constitutes as not being trash????

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Butts tossed out car windows urine me off as much as butts on the ice. This coming from a smoker…. Throw butts in the garbage.

A pocket works great until you find a garbage.

Respect!

and it isnt that hard to do,my wife and I both smoke,so we take an empty soda bottle with us filled one third full with water to put butts in when on the lake,here in Iowa,or in Mn,sure,its a nasty habit that I choose to do,but I dont throw the butts out of the window,nor do I leave them on any trail we walk down.