Nick Simonson
Amidst all the discussion of global warming, climate change, and pollution on a level so great that a second landmass made of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean can be seen from outer space, it’s the smaller areas where I encounter garbage that stick with me each spring. After a winter under ice, and snow-covered shorelines opening up to spring anglers, the water is where our impact — hopefully not so much as fishermen, as I like to think we have a special connection with the water, but as society in general — can be seen.
Sure, there’s the occasional tangle of twisted monofilament tucked into the shoreline rocks along with a worm container or maybe a couple of pop cans from someone in our sporting ranks who obviously doesn’t know better. But in the branches of trees and along the water’s edge, it’s becoming more and more common to find plastic bags, Styrofoam containers, plastic bottles and other everyday items that make their way from where they belong — the garbage can or recycling bin — to our waterways. For the former population of those entering the outdoors and utilizing its resources, it rests with us as sportsmen to make sure that those we take to explore the many fishing opportunities in our area know better than to leave anything behind other than their footprints. For the latter, it comes down to society as a whole — outdoorspeople and otherwise — doing their part to protect the resources that lay downwind and downstream.