Yeah, the garbage in the river and along its banks is appaling. I cant even take my dog to the bow anymore. Im afraid he'll eat something gross. There is a clean up day approaching. May 13, Mothers day! Organized by
www.bowriverkeeper.org This clean-up will be focused on Bearspaw res.
A few things i do to minimize my impact on our rivers are; put all spent flies and leader material into the "garbage pocket" on my vest. I carry a plastic bag for when im heading back to the car. If i see some trash i pick it up and take it to the proper garbage area(garbage cans).
Heres a quick story. Last season i was fishing a deep hole in the highwood. I spotted a green garbage bag sunk at the bottom. At first it didnt bother me. I cast a few times; no luck. What is the problem? Well, I actually knew what it was. That stupid garbage bag was driving me nuts!
I stripped down to my boxer briefs and waded in.
The water was actually a lot deeper(and colder)than it looked. I thought about aborting the mission, but i was in too deep to just give up. A few more steps and
shrinkage occured! Well i might as well just dive in now. The rest of me has no problem getting cold. So i did. but the bag was still out of reach. I stood back up and this time i really dove in hard. I grabbed the bag and pulled it out, made it ashore. I dried off and warmed up in the sun. I fished that hole for a while after, but had no luck. The strange thing was that when i made my way along to the next hole, i felt like i had done the fish a favor.
The fish are my friends.
Fishstix!!