Own worst enemy

Jim Gibbinson · Jan 10, 2005

It's heartbreaking, Jeff. Sadly, it's commonplace, too. How can we claim to be custodians of the waterside when we can't prevent this sort of thing?

The reality of the situation is that there will always be cretins in our midst, so the rest of us have to clear up their rubbish to prevent the reputation of anglers as a whole from being tainted.

Free and day-ticket waters tend to be the worst - club waters aren't immune to the problem, though.

There are times when I despair; I really do.

Gary Knowles 2 · Jan 10, 2005

How right you are Jim.

I live close to Pennington Flash in Leigh, a large stillwater set in a country park that it pretty much shared by dogwalkers, ornitholigists and anglers. I no longer (or very rarely) fish it even though, it is only 5 minutes walk and contains specimen bream, roach and pike.

Why?, because on this water I'm ashamed to be classed as an angler. Every Sunday morning I walk my dog around the lake and am dismayed by the amount of litter left on the banks. Cans of beer, crisp bags, etc are all over the place. We can't even pretend it isn't anlgers to blame as at lerast 50% of it is groundfeed bags or empty deadbait/lure boxes. Sometimes you even see bags of rubbish that have been collected, then hung from tree's like flags to show the world the stupidity of the 'anglers' in question.

Due to the amound of bird life that visits the country park throughout the year it is only a matter of time before angling is banned. And, in all honesty, I for one couldn't argue with that decision when it is eventually made...

It's a crying shame, but I cant see it changing.

Steve King · Jan 10, 2005

Sad to say it's all too common. Some stretches of the Thames (particularly Hampton Court) are covered in litter - whilst some can be blamed on tourists, a large percentage is due to anglers. It's not only the popular open-to-all fisheries that suffer, but also some of the more remote - I once cleared an out of the way swim on the Teme of 24 empty beer cans!

I have also seen assorted builder's rubble, old central heating boilers etc dumped in fishery car parks! It's not that hard to drive a few miles to the local council tip is it?

These morons should be banned for life!

GrahamM · Jan 10, 2005

I emailed Jeff this morning to say this:

Dirty b******s, I?d like to make them eat everything they drop.

I believe the best rule of all is the one that says you?re responsible for leaving every swim you fish clean and tidy, regardless of if it?s your rubbish or not. And then take the membership card off anyone who breaks the rule. But how you enforce any rules on free stretches that are not bailiffed regularly I don?t know. But I detest all litter louts. You see them tossing litter through car windows all the time. Only last week I was behind one car with a bloke driving, a woman in the front passenger seat, and three kids in the back seat, when the drivers window came down and out shot several pieces of litter. So that?s three kids at least who will grow up to do the same thing.

Why is it us, the Brits, that have that mindset? I?ve been all over the continent, and you don?t see it there, especially Germany.

Jim Gibbinson · Jan 10, 2005

Graham is correct; it's about example and education (by "education" I mean from parents, not just school). When my two sons were junior school age my wife always had to go through their pockets before washing their clothes - this in order to remove sweet-wrappers etc. They'd been taught not to drop litter, so they didn't. It's as simple as that.

I've watched a group of teenagers drop beer cans etc on the ground even though there was a litter-bin less than 10 metres away. Why? Blessed if I know - I guess it isn't "cool" to be seen to be caring and responsible.

So it's not only anglers - it's a cultural problem.

Frothey · Jan 10, 2005

one of the lakes near me has at least two bins on each bank, a bin at the entrance to the lake, and a bin in the car park, yet people still push litter into the bushes behind. worse still, some carry it back to the car park and leave it scatered around there! the only answer is to ban them - people only seem to do things these days if theres an adverse reaction to not doing it.....

Bully · Jan 10, 2005

My pet hate. My kids know that there are three things that define how I bring them up, telling the truth, trying and the environment.

Graham is spot on about other countries in Europe. I cant be cultural can it?

Its funny, someone announced recently the idea of having "Litter Police" who could hand out on the spot fines (may have been Ken Livingstone). There were howls of derision and comments about a nanny state.

I say bring it on........if there was ever an area that should have a zero tolerance policy then littering is one I would support. I hate it with a passion.

Blunderer · Jan 10, 2005

With you 100% Bully.
I remember this too and saw one of the news programmes doing an angle on it like "with all the crime in the counrty, surely we have better things to do than proscecute liteer droppers".
Fine them to the hilt and name and shame them in the papers. It makes me sick.

Peter Jacobs · Jan 10, 2005

Jeff is right that the general public only understand things like litter and probably don't even know what an unhooking mat is!

I agree with Frothey that on club waters a ban is probably the only way to go. Although Graham poses the interesting question about what is to be done on an open stretch or day ticket venue?
Sadly, it seems to me that only solution is for us anglers to continue to clean up after these idiots!

I wonder though if tackle shops gave away free waste bags (maybe printed with their logo, or dare I say it - the AT logo) if this might help to curb the problem?

GrahamM · Jan 10, 2005

I would agree with a law that made them eat what they drop, I'm so sick of seeing people turning our country into a litter bin.

But on a more rational note, yes, on the spot, really heavy fines.

Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA) · Jan 10, 2005

Jeff, on the assumption the bin bag in the in the first picture wasn't yours, what takes some understanding is the mind set of someone who purposely brings a bag to tidy his litter up in the first place & then dumps it in the bushes behind him or even hangs it on a tree, as Gary points out!

TAKE IT HOME YOU NUMPTIES!!!

Frothey · Jan 10, 2005

"I wonder though if tackle shops gave away free waste bags (maybe printed with their logo, or dare I say it - the AT logo) if this might help to curb the problem?"

cant see them doing that, the person that dumps it wont give a monkeys, and the shop/at will get the flack.

i know commercials (and they arent all bad) are, well, commercial, but you would've thought the owner would care enough about his lake to forgoe the ?5 or so and ban the odd person here or there.....

Cakey · Jan 10, 2005

My club lakes are clean as a whistle
this is done by giving two free tickets per season to litter bailiffs that go round keeping the place spotless !

Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA) · Jan 10, 2005

Good point Frothey.

Going on from what Cakey says, how far is the responsibilty of us all rather than specially appointed bailiffs to pick up litter not just in our own peg, but anywhere we encounter it on the bank?

I appreciate on some waters this might be impossible as a skip would be needed, but I suppose every little helps.

Cakey · Jan 10, 2005

It aint just anglers drive round the M25 and down the A10 .....sh*t everywhere !

Frothey · Jan 10, 2005

its not all commercials....when i've been to linear its been clean (apart from the car-park....why they cant afford to have a big bin there is beyond me!) but then roy and the other bailiffs do walk around regularly and they do pick up the odd bit. maybe thats part of the answer - better bailiffing?

Merv Harrison · Jan 10, 2005

A club of which I'm a member issues an immediate life-ban to anyone found guilty of discarding litter, and, it has been proposed that their names be published in the subsequent year book.

Newfie's Drool · Jan 10, 2005

Forget the fines, make them do community service. Make them pick rubbish up for a week, NO a month and pick the worst jobs for them. Failing that sign them up and ship them abroad on military service, theres a nice hot place just ready for them.

ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one) · Jan 10, 2005

Fines are no good -- even if they have the money to pay they just wouldn't pay them

They can't get them to pay fines as it is .....

Ron 'The Hat' Clay · Jan 10, 2005

I fish certain stretches of the Trent.

And I can tell you that the barbellers and specialist anglers are never a problem. But just let a match be held and the litter is enormous.

On the Idle the other day I had to pick up a fair amount of litter. I heard the comments from two anglers.

"It's supposed to be fishing its f...n head off. I havn't had a f....n bite in the last hour. Lets go the Hayfield where we can get some bites."

And they did and left a whole pile of litter.

There is absolutely no doubt that in the angling world we have a certain number of "Bank Yobs", that's all I can call them.

These people never read anything about our sport and don't really care about how we are to conserve what we have.

And I hate to say it, but the main problem appears to be with the match angling fraternity.

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