Earth Day: Don’t Trash your Mother Earth
By Tom Keer
Apr 23, 2015
We just celebrated the Earth Day which is a form of Mother’s Day, and in this instance we should be good to our Mother Earth.
We just celebrated the Earth Day which is a form of Mother’s Day, and in this instance we should be good to our Mother Earth. While I don’t cotton to wearing tie-dye, I do believe in this one core philosophy: the cleaner and healthier our environment the better sporting experience we enjoy. When fishing and boating, pack out what you pack in.
Monofilament lines don’t breakdown very easily, and if a fish spools you or breaks you off it’ll gather a whole mess along with it. The most common is for birds to get tangled in the line, and that means that they aren’t flying in the air giving us clues as to where the fish are.
Boat trash. Unsecured sandwich wrappers, cans, and plastic bottles blow overboard when you’re coming up on plane. Toss ’em in the cooler before you bury the throttle and you won’t have to look at the trash floating on the surface or washing up on shore.
Nets and lines from commercial vessels are a leading cause for skunking the water. You may know the frustration of breaking off a trophy fish on a submerged tangle, so if you see the lines be sure to notify a conservation officer or the harbormaster. They add up.
Oil and gas spills. Sometimes it comes from sloppy filling at the gas dock while other times it comes from cracked hoses. Most of the time it’s not a tremendous amount of fluid, but it does add up over time. Take extra time when filling up at the gas dock and be sure your inboard or outboard motor is in good repair.
The healthier we leave our environment the more fish we catch. And we all know catching ’em up is a great thing.
Monofilament lines don’t breakdown very easily, and if a fish spools you or breaks you off it’ll gather a whole mess along with it. The most common is for birds to get tangled in the line, and that means that they aren’t flying in the air giving us clues as to where the fish are.
Boat trash. Unsecured sandwich wrappers, cans, and plastic bottles blow overboard when you’re coming up on plane. Toss ’em in the cooler before you bury the throttle and you won’t have to look at the trash floating on the surface or washing up on shore.
Nets and lines from commercial vessels are a leading cause for skunking the water. You may know the frustration of breaking off a trophy fish on a submerged tangle, so if you see the lines be sure to notify a conservation officer or the harbormaster. They add up.
Oil and gas spills. Sometimes it comes from sloppy filling at the gas dock while other times it comes from cracked hoses. Most of the time it’s not a tremendous amount of fluid, but it does add up over time. Take extra time when filling up at the gas dock and be sure your inboard or outboard motor is in good repair.
The healthier we leave our environment the more fish we catch. And we all know catching ’em up is a great thing.
Tom Keer is an award-winning writer who lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He is a columnist for the Upland Almanac, a Contributing Writer for Covey Rise magazine, a Contributing Editor for both Fly Rod and Reel and Fly Fish America, and a blogger for the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation’s Take Me Fishing program. Keer writes regularly for over a dozen outdoor magazines on topics related to fishing, hunting, boating, and other outdoor pursuits. When they are not fishing, Keer and his family hunt upland birds over their three English setters. His first book, a Fly Fishers Guide to the New England Coast was released in January 2011. Visit him at www.tomkeer.com or at www.thekeergroup.com.
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