What a Waste,and why?

[mwp]

Took my five year old son out with me to Cotton road on Sunday for the first time.I have been doing fairly good there by this years standards and looked forward to a day with my son.Set up with the shanty,lines in the water,and first keeper in the bucket by 7:45.Ended up with 30 keepers,mostly 8 and 9"ers and 3 10'ers.That was the ok.Watching my son try to pull up the lines,unhook,try to bait,and the whole expereince was the best time .What got me going was at the end of the day.I packed everything up and we started are walk in.Of course it was a zoo there on Sunday,and the animals left there mess behind.Picked up bud light cans(4)2 propane cans,1 coke bottle,and some cigarette packages."Dad why did they do that".Well son some people are lazy and don't respect the outdoors so we have to pick up after them and keep the outdoors clean so you can enjoy it when you get older and have a son and take him fishing.Filled a five gallon bucket with other peoples crap.Then as we are about to climb up onto Cotton road ,right where it is all mud there is a five gallon pail 3/4 of the way filled with fish,looked like a couple of days old.Had to explain that one as well.Some moron catches that much perch and leaves them.All descent size as well,what are these as@h**** thinking.Then we parked behind the store and theres about 10 good sized gills there,GEEEEEZZZZZ.It might be just me ,but it seems like this year more than ever I see more garbage and more waste than I have seen in the past.When your out with your kids and your trying to instill a little respect for the outdoors and our environment I didn't need to see all that.Just my two cents.
A long walk in picking up trash..........discouraging
A bucket of wasted fish...................needless waste
A beautiful day to be on the hardwater...Great
TIME ALONE ICEFISHING WITH MY SON.............PRICELESS

[mallardtone-man]

Wow, I hate hearing stories like this. The only thing I can say for the bucket of fish is at least this guy left the whole bucket, probably hoping that someone would pick it up. I have heard of and seen people dumping the fish on the ground, or in a garbage can.

[tommy-n]

Maybe someone left the fish by accident, I remember one time when I was younger went steelhead fishing and had 5 on the stringer. Loaded up the car and got home and no fish, left them lying on the ground and pulled away, made me feel very bad to waste them.

[yellowbelly80]

i also picked some some propane tanks yesterday at cotton and it pissed me off

[ahasiec]

I would have to agree, more this year than ever we have had to pick up a bunch of waste after people, I probably have collected 2 dozen propane bottles that were not our this year, sad to say that people just do not get it :confused:

[len]

Hi all they were probably to drunk and forgot the best part of there fishing trip, if you are not going to take it offer it to some other sportsman that are more responsible may appreciate the fish, what about giveing to someonewho is less fourtunate an may need the food, do we have so much that we can waste food, also it is the same people that leave the litter that will complain about it when it comes floating on a beach or wash down a canal. I once saw a person empty his ashtray next to his car in a launch area seeing that the person may of forgoten everything they brought I picked the butts up and put them back where they came from sorry if this offends anyone but good sportsman do not hunt or fish in someones toilet.
Had to speak my peace
Len

[Ed Michrina]

MWP, the good news is that you are working on a young one that won't trash the lake or waist the fish. The bad news is any JOE can ice fish with little money or knowledge. These guys wern't raised with the same values of you or me, or your young one.
To these guys , The lake is something they party on 3 times a year and couldn't care less about the lake or what is left behind. I would like to see their back yard or house (trailer) :rolleyes:. On a good note most of the mullets can't afford a boat so it protects our lakes a little.
All you can do is teach your children ethics (and your childrens friends).
It is a good subject to bring up. I'm sure there is someone reading this that might see the light and pick up their junk off the ice or someone that doesn't littler, start picking up after people .
To bad about the dead fish and trash . Very Cool experiencing some of the best times of your life with your young one.

[Ed Stringer]

We fished today with some out of town guys, they saw this dude get his fish and dumped them counted out his keepers and left the small stuff on the ice. They got them back in the water for another year. I explained that it was not the norm and they should have gave him some crap, I sure would have. I have no problem putting the crap on mindless caveman like him.

[Icedog34]

I have to say mwp I agree with you 100 percent. I was fishing last weekend at Fairhaven and with the exception of the fish left behind I also picked up trash on the ice and also had to explain to my 10 yr old why some ****head left all their trash on the ice. We talked about the responsibilty you accept when you use the great outdoors. We talked about how you leave a place better than when you got there! I try to instill the values that my dad passed to me and I will pass to my son. Please keep up the good work because if we don't do it nobody else will!!!

[UTEP]

i dont understand why people do these things, i went over at metro and seen a whole bunch of perch thrown in the garbage. whats the point of that?

[tedshunter]

Was'nt the D.N.R. writing tickets last year for leaving small ones on the ice?I heard they were,now wouldnt that be the same thing(throwing them in the garbage)I know they cannot catch everyone but maybe they should write some tickets for them idiots that are wasteful.

[UTEP]

these were descent size 8 in perch, at least 6 of them. its kinda crazy why someone would do that.

[eyecatcher]

know if we have a wanton waste law here? They do in Canada. Cost a friend of mine $500.00 for just breasting a duck and tossing the legs, back away. I don't know what it would cost to dump a bunch of perch? I'm sure it would not be enough.If we dont have that law maybe we need to ask our elected officials to pass one. They will jump at any chance to raise a few more dollars and it would help stop the fools from wasting game.

I think the fine for littering is $500.00 so we need to report these fools to the DNR or the local police. I know that I will be using my cell phone to report anybody who dumps their trash or fish on the ice. if enough people get busted maybe they will get the point. I have children and grandchildren who love the outofdoors and they have all been taught to leave it as good or better then they found it. Thats a lesson more people need to learn.

[William H Bonney]

I'm not sure how they'd enforce a "wanton waste law" for leaving fish on the ice/garbage, when they can't enforce the current littering laws?????? Although its a pain in the ****, but it seems like the members on here are doing a better job of keeping the areas clean.