What's all this rubbish...

[SteveLG]

I'm currently debating a return to fishing after a 16 year hiatus as I cannot face another summer of just sitting about at home.

Back end of last week I had a walk round one of my local commercial fisheries and what I found was pretty shocking really. I don't think I've seen as much rubbish when leaving a music festival as I did when walking round this fishery. The main lake was basically surrounded by empty beer cans. There were hundreds, most had clearly been drank and thrown in the overgrowth behind, which has died back during the winter and was now on full display. Dozens of cardboard lager boxes (mainly Fosters strangely enough), empty tin cans that had clearly been used for bait. When they bring in this plastic bottle tax I'm quitting my job and going collecting down there as I'd be able to retire after a couple of hours collecting - there is simply that many. I took a picture of one of the slopes behind one of the smaller ponds lower down as it was simply jaw dropping the amount of **** that was down there - the pic really does not do it justice though.

Crisp packets galore, empty fag packets, disgarded packaging that originally contained fishing related products. Disregarded tackle, broken floats, bait tub lids - unbelieveably I didn't see any old line lying about, I probably could have though if I'd have looked properly.

Drug bags! Spotted a few of these kicking about too, now - I've been no angel in the past and he who is without sin and all that but come on, at least I used to take my **** home with me.

I had a walk round another fishery on Saturday and I'm happy to say this place was in much better shape, however, I'm not blaming the first fishery for all the **** laying about as it's not really their job to clear up after everyone. It is the fishermen that have left it there in the first place.

Just when did it become acceptable to leave all your rubbish in and around the water?

 

[thecrow]

As with everything in life there are good and bad fisheries those that are run well and those that are not, I would purposely not fish a rubbish strewn water in fact when I carp fished seriously I always looked at potential new waters in the winter so that any rubbish hidden in the undergrowth during summer would be clearly visible, any rubbish I did not join.

Keep looking and choose the ones that are cared for and run correctly is my advice.

 

[john step]

There are some inconsiderate bar stewards out there. We have all seen the litter.

Let me for a moment play devils advocate here though.

These lazy litter louts leave their litter because they are able to do so. Why are some waters well kept and others like a dump?

I have always felt that if you are running a commercial enterprise whether it be a shopping mall or a fishery and you charge for the facility you have a duty to look after the place. That means policing it properly, CLEARING any rubbish when a miscreant is missed and walking the banks to keep it safe for the decent customers.

Like Crow I would avoid such places like the plague. I don't know where Rossendale is but there must be well run club waters in your area as well as decently run commercial fisheries.

Good luck with starting again. Please let us know how you get on.

 

[103841]

It's a sad reflection of the world we live in today. Our house is a few yards away from a bus stop, our front garden often is mistaken for a refuse tip, a bus comes along and fags, bottles and cans get deposited on the pavement or our garden.

In the summer the beaches along Whitstable on a Monday morning look more akin to the council waste tip. Hate to say it and of course there are always exceptions but it does always seem to be the younger generation responsible. There seems to be a complete breakdown in moral responsibility and respect for others to such a degree that all we hear on the news is teenagers stabbing and murdering each other, what chance have we got in getting them to use a litter bin!

Came as quite a shock last year when joining a club and visiting one of their waters for the first time to be confronted by a pile of empty beer bottles by the swim I wanted to fish, so the first job was to bag them up and put them in the car for disposal later, fortunately I havent as yet come across human waste which is a problem occasionally, I won't fan the flames further as to where the blame lies amongst a certain type of angler.

 

[steve2]

Both my clubs have a policy of if there is rubbish in the swim when you get there it’s becomes your rubbish. Banned if not cleared.
There are no rubbish bins because it’s your job to take your rubbish home not the clubs to clear it up after you.
As far as human waste goes it’s a ban if you don’t use the toilets provided.

 

[terry m]

Crow sums it up perfectly.

Avoid fisheries like this and it will hurt the owners in their pocket.

 

[SteveLG]

To be fair to the fishery, the actual pegs themselves, for the most part were quite clean, especially on the main lake. It just looked like someone had tidied their garden after a barbeque by just throwing all the rubbish over the back fence.

I had a walk round the same fishery about 4 years ago one evening after work and things were pretty bleak, everything looked run down and all the ponds and waters edge were badly overgrown, some of the lower ponds looked basically un-fishable there was that much weed in them.

This looks to have been all sorted out, especially the overgrown lower ponds. Even the lilly patch that I used to like fishing next too looks to have been removed though, unfortunately.

I'm not going to avoid the place because of the litter, I've had some awesome days fishing on that water and it's a bit unfair to give the place a miss because of a few (a lot?) scruffy individuals.

Clearly the place is being maintained - to be honest I feel a bit sorry for the fishery owners. It looks like an uphill struggle keeping the place clean & tidy. The litter bugs need to have a word with themselves and stop spoiling it for everyone else.

 

[Mark Wintle]

One of my local clubs took over a similar water about 20 years ago. it had been day ticket and the litter was horrendous. For a while, despite the club's agreement, the farmer continued selling day tickets but this was sorted out and the club through the sterling work of a dedicated bailiff removed all the litter and it remains litter free. A decade or so ago it still had a bit of a litter problem and one day a young angler packed up opposite me and carefully hung two bags of rubbish from a tree then walked around the lake to meet his father on the way back to the car park. I stopped them, pointed out that the son had left two bags of litter and to the credit of the father he was sent to retrieve them. Initially the son protested until I said that in a committee meeting he wouldn't stand a chance and would lose his permit.

 

[flightliner]

It's like I mentioned a few days ago when I had a recce on a canal near Thorne where the fly tippers had desecrated all the adjoining fields alongside the few parking spots.
The canal sides themselves were clean tidy and seemingly unfished but it suggested no one fished there as it was likely they may have been blamed for the mess.

 

[thecrow]

to be honest I feel a bit sorry for the fishery owners.

I don't, its their water and it should be in their interest to stop the littering they clearly don't care so long as the cash keeps coming in.

 

[markcw]

Both my clubs have a policy of if there is rubbish in the swim when you get there it’s becomes your rubbish. Banned if not cleared.
There are no rubbish bins because it’s your job to take your rubbish home not the clubs to clear it up after you.
As far as human waste goes it’s a ban if you don’t use the toilets provided.

It is the same with the 3 clubs I am in, I am a bailiff for one of the clubs, and sometimes it is hard to be polite when you ask someone to remove litter from their swim and they start saying its not theirs etc, My reply is read the rules.. you will find it is your litter, Actually one of the clubs I am in has just expelled 2 members for leaving human waste at the water.

 

[Philip]

I have fished some quite out of the way places and there is nothing worse than thinking your miles from civilization and then coming across discarded load of rubbish or make shift fire filled with empty burnt beer bottles and tin cans. It kills the whole thing for me instantly.

The people who do it should have a skip full of their own rubbish poured through their front door.