It's time for a rant..... On sunday afternoon I took my sweetie out to the puyallup/carbon river near orting and was dismayed to find out just how deplorable the people we call fishermen can really be. Upon stepping out of my truck I (and the wife to be) stepped on fish tails between one and three days old, this is in a parking lot owned by a private business across the highway from the river. I counted 18 fishtails within 20 feet of my truck....PATHETIC!!!!!! After gearing up we headed down the empty shmidt can trail to the stinky mess called the riverbank, where we encountered enough tackle to keep a man fishing for a lifetime, cans, bottles, bait cups, scent bottles and other assorted piles of crap every ten feet. I also was able to count over 50 fishheads in varying stages of decomposition within a flycast of our first fishing spot. (I became weary of counting after that) While looking for another spot to fish I encountered seemingly endless piles of fish, guts and parts, not to mention two complete 20 pounders less fillets lying on the beach. If this represents the state of fishing today, let me be the first to leave the party. It is no wonder, after witnessing this, that the politicians and environmentalists don't want us to be a part of the grand revival plan. I am not sure I want us to be, with irresponsible dunderheads like this within our ranks. As many of you know, I spend several weeks on the Clearwater in Idaho each year and have never seen such a pigsty filled with uncaring pseudo-fishermen in my life there. Maybe I am just blind, but I think these people are unique to the metro areas. Can't quite appreciate the outdoors when you don't rely on them for anything other than a place to get drunk and fish. I for one will never again hesitate to ask the jerks to pick up their messes and will now begin bringing a larger trashbag on all fishing trips. Pack it in--pack it out seems to be simple enough even for these idiots. Perhaps there are not enough true fishermen left to spread the word, but I remain optimistic. Comments are indeed welcome, but I would prefer to see a change in behavior!!!!!!

Wit45cal Im with you all the way its to bad the lady had to see the river that way. It seem like alot of places on the rivers are that way now. So Im like you one of us who trys to pick what the jerkwads leave behind! SHARP HOOKS!

Many holes on the Skykomish are the same way. I wish guys would pick up their trash and not expect others to do so. mike

There seems to be something about salmon that brings out the very worst in certain elements of the population, and I dont think it is limited to metropolitan areas, some of the most heinous violators of game regulations on the Stillaguamish are the locals. I always dread the coming of humpy years because I know that the banks of the the river will receive twice the normal allotment of empty beer cans and assorted garbage. The Carbon River, from what I hear, has become a snaggery second only to the Samish and I suspect that most of those fish are taken for one reason alone; gotta stock up on eggs for steelhead season. Anybody for outlawing bait?

A couple of plain clothes wildlife agents would help. Some video tape on the evening news of some snaggers pickup being towed off might help. If its the endangered runs I think the feds can prosecute. Used to see the feds all the time. Haven't seen one in 10 years.

While on the subject of messes; How about people who pull all they old line off the reel and leave it on the beach.

It's a 50 to 500 dollar fine to litter in most places. How about a 1000 dollar fine? I think the our beaches and rivers would be a good place to start collecting funds for salmon recovery. I think that may limit the trash if they don't have the money to buy all the crap they leave.
I think that people need to be more careful when discarding fish remains, but I belive it should go back in the river or saltwater.
It will be consumed or degrade much faster.
If a few hundred people were fined for littering, the state,city or county could pay to clean up all the trash. All we can do now, is just try every time you go out to take some of the crap with you. Dont leave it!
Keep our state clean
Tap on!!

Trash on the rivers I fish is an ugly eyesore. It seems that some "fisherman" use the banks as their own garbage can. Last month I fished the Skokomish river. The gravel bar looked more like the county dump than beautiful river bank. None of the other fisherman reported any action, so I got the hefty plactic bag out of my vest and cleaned up some of the mess. Bait container, beer & pop cans and bottles, plastic bags, etc. (I was hoping it would give me some good karma). Well, you guessed it, on my fist cast I hooked and landed gun metal Chinook, released it and proceeded to stick four more fish. I'm not ususally superstitious, but it's become my routine to fill up my hefty during each fishing trip. Give it a try--it just might improve your fishing success, and it certainly will improve the environment.