On 4/1/2019 at 8:16 AM, TOXIC said:

As fishermen and women, we are front line stewards of this resource.  No matter if you are boat fishing or bank fishing it is our responsibility to promote conservation and good habits to keep the activity we cherish protected.  Line recycling barrels at ramps, don't discard plastics in the water, keep waste and trash to a minimum and overall don't be afraid to police the bank and pick up trash.  Walking right past it is part of the problem.  

 

I had a place on the Shenandoah River that I used to wade fish that was about a 1/2 mile off the main road and you needed to have a 4WD to get to.  When I fished there, I always made sure the area was cleaner than when I came but it got to the point where it just got out of control with the amount of trash that was there.  Certain people would camp overnight and leave beer cans and every kind of trash imaginable including dirty diapers and clothing.  It started looking like a trash dump.  The owner of the land finally chained it off.  Shame really because it was a good access spot for wading.  

I have float fished the Shenandoah river for the past 8 years with my great uncle, even in that time the amount of litter from people has increased drastically and its a D*** shame, its still a beautiful river but certain areas are especially hard hit on the north fork. The areas around woodstock are the worst, Chapmans landing used to be beautiful but now theres people who come with the whole family and leave their trash and diapers and such around. We had one incident where we confronted them, however this did little but when the police showed up and we showed the videos of them throwing diapers in the ditch and other trash soon several of them left in handcuffs. The Virginia Dnr guy thanked us for turning them in and said he wished more people would report stuff like that. So it just shows the game/fish commision is willing to try to help if you can report people who are and have evidence.

I made a thread about this before. My grandson and I fish together, and make it a point to pick up trash around the launch when we're done. We've even had a couple of guys help us too.Good fisherman respect the waters they fish, and want them to stay as clean as possible. In my younger days I would confront someone who I saw being careless with trash. Now I'd report them. I don't like people who trash out the lakes. Old school fisherman were always taught to pack out more than you take in. That means clean up after yourself! Live by it!