Fishermen post

[balzaccom]

A recent entry from my blog on http://sites.google.com/site/backpackthesierra/home

Anybody else frustrated about this?



WHAT IS IT ABOUT FISHERMEN?

"Fishermen are pigs."

The lovely M was looking down into the water, where she saw an old jar of salmon eggs lying among the stones. We were fifteen miles from the nearest trailhead in a stunning part of Yosemite. It was a beautiful, isolated lake at 10,000 feet, with nice-sized trout and gin clear water. Towering peaks loomed over it, rosy in the evening light.

I would have said it was pristine, except that pristine means unspoiled. And this water was spoiled by an idiot fisherman.

I had to agree with my wife. To be fair, I have made the comment many times to her, so she wasn't trying to start an argument. Fishermen are pigs. They leave fish guts in the lake. They leave lures on logs in lakes. They leave strings of monofilament draped on trees and bushes along streams. And they leave paper and plastic packaging on almost every stream in California.

So what is it about fishermen?

Maybe some of them are so focused on catching fish that they don't realize exactly what they are doing. But at 10,000 feet, fifteen miles in? You have to be a real jerk to litter up a lake at that point. You have to be pig.

And yes, I am a fisherman. I fish every chance I get. And sometimes I lose a fly, or mess up some monofilament leader. When I do, I make every effort to clear up the mess, so the next guy can actually experience the same beauty, the same "pristine" conditions.

But I can't remember the last time I went fishing and didn't collect some kind of debris, detritus, or trash that had been left by a fisherman. I have waded out into lakes to pull that lure off the log. I have spent half an hour winding the monofilament out of the bushes along side the river. I have used my fly to pull up fish guts from the bottom of the lake so that I could leave them on a rock nearby, to be eaten by a raccoon or other friendly scavenger.

Every time I go fishing, I end up with a pocket full of trash left by my fishermen friends. And every time I empty that pocket into our trash back at camp, I say the same thing:

"Fishermen are pigs."

[orion]

Really, this is probably a generational thing. I find you can't really change the habits of older generations, once they become ingrained. Any real change that happens will happen over much longer spans of time.

The Emmigrant Wilderness is so much worse than Yosemite in regard to fishing trash.

People with stock are much worse than fishermen. I've found in both places: 5 gallon plastic tub, carpets, pepsi cans, baling wire, styrofoam coolers, half gallon whiskey bottles, leaking kerosene can with kerosene, cast iron stove, tarps, blow-up mattresses, dutch oven, glass jars, pots and pans, gallon sized tin cans, grills, shoes, and the list goes on. It doesn't take a detective to reckon these things came in on the back of a horse, and the person using them was too lazy to put it back on that back to take it out.

Some people feel they have a right to the place as frontiersmen; some people are living out a sentimental fantasy. The high country, at least, is no place for a horse, mule, or donkey, and I would hope they are banned within my lifetime above 9000'.

Anyway, I'm sorry. You were speaking of fishermen. I'm always suprised to find people fishing around a lake in the noon day sun. Does anyone ever catch a fish that time of day? I haven't seen it. I figure they are keeping themselves busy. The one thing I can't abide is powerbait - what nerve putting those foul chemicals in my drinking water! Those people need to be slapped around with a trout.

The best time to pick up errant fishing line and lures is during or after rain, it really jumps out at you when wet. At least it isn't heavy to pack out. I'd say, on any given trip I spend three or four hours doing park maintenance: picking up trash, scattering illegal fire rings, dismantling log rafts, etc.

The best way to look at it is not to get too angry, contemplate the ignorance which brings it about, and think of a long term solution for change. The mountains seem to have plenty of time and patience for us to figure this out.

So I wouldn't say fishermen a pigs per se, just that some people will always reflect the myopic vision of our society at large, and some of those people also fish.

[orion]

The dam controversy of the Emigrant Wilderness is an interesting convergence of fishing and horses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigrant_Wilderness
(dam controversy at bottom of wiki)

The fishing is what drives the economy of the pack trains, and the rotting dams could undermine the fishing.

Do you suppose most of the fishing litter comes from those who ride in? I suspect this myself.

[bill-e-g]

People in general are pigs. Just look at the garbage in the cities.
Always amazed at people dropping garbage and there is a can
1/2 block away.

Seems in the backcountry the amount of respect for the land
increases with the amount of experience someone has and
the effort they took to get there.

[IntoTheWild]

Some of us are very conscious of keeping nature clean