Lethbridge oldman river tubers extreme litterbugs!

NUK SOO KOW · #1 02-17-2010, 10:53 AM

Hey guys, went down to the oldman river in Lethbridge the other day and fished some open water. Somthing quite serene about casting a fly or spinning rod with snow and ice on the ground!! Anyway, tubing the river has grown into very popular summer pastime the last two years. Which is great as I take my canoe down often as well. But I have also noticed the increasing amount of litter in this area. Even in Febuary I come across reminents of old tubes, beer bottles and cans, chip bags, whatever. The river is shallow in many places and I could see broken glass and cans sunk to the bottom(many people wade the river as well as peoples dogs. no one need cut up feet!) Air mattresses and tube strung up on the shores. And I mean Lots!! My girlfriend and I are disgusted by the amount of litter. I know a company has started renting tubes here as well. I have seen 50+ people on the river in a day. Times that by a couple days or weeks, turn into thousands of people makin trips down the river. And of course they all bring snacks and "refreshments". Now you can imagine the amount of crap in our river. People please respect our waters, and bring out your trash!!

notagoodtroutfisher · #2 02-17-2010, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NUK SOO KOW

Hey guys, went down to the oldman river in Lethbridge the other day and fished some open water. Somthing quite serene about casting a fly or spinning rod with snow and ice on the ground!! Anyway, tubing the river has grown into very popular summer pastime the last two years. Which is great as I take my canoe down often as well. But I have also noticed the increasing amount of litter in this area. Even in Febuary I come across reminents of old tubes, beer bottles and cans, chip bags, whatever. The river is shallow in many places and I could see broken glass and cans sunk to the bottom(many people wade the river as well as peoples dogs. no one need cut up feet!) Air mattresses and tube strung up on the shores. And I mean Lots!! My girlfriend and I are disgusted by the amount of litter. I know a company has started renting tubes here as well. I have seen 50+ people on the river in a day. Times that by a couple days or weeks, turn into thousands of people makin trips down the river. And of course they all bring snacks and "refreshments". Now you can imagine the amount of crap in our river. People please respect our waters, and bring out your trash!!

I hear ya, the Bow is a mess aswell. There is only so much a guy can pick up while fishing

Bogman10 · #3 02-17-2010, 12:30 PM

This is one of my biggest beefs in the outdoors! If you go someplace and enjoy it, why would you mess it up ? You might want to return, do you like a mess? Go play in a dump!
I was just thinking about this the other day. I get p.o-ed when I see a pile of shotgun shell just left in the woods, fishing line, chip bags, beer cans etc. One time I even took a six pack plastic holder off of a gull!!!! I think "Litterbugs" is too d*mn "cute" of a name for those Inconsiderate B*stards. "Classless Ignorant A**holes" should be a new title for these inbreds.
I am a hunter/fisherman/photographer and general outdoorsy guy, stop messing up the place!!
Rant over.... : )

crazyfish · #4 02-17-2010, 12:38 PM

i really hate all the golf balls on the bow , down around fish creek park, and all the other crap too ! but the golf balls is just senseless ! They should have to go and pick them all up after !

BowhuntAB · #5 02-17-2010, 02:20 PM

Yeah the Bow gets pretty gross as well. The worst is right after run off when all the city crap get pushed downstream. Tampons, condoms, diapers, golf balls, tennis balls.....and the all time worst is needles. I actually had to pull one out of the bottom of a clients wading boot about 6 years ago.

This makes us all look bad. Its nice to see most guys pick up garbage as we go. It may seem like we arent making a difference but we truly are.

marlin4570 · #6 02-17-2010, 02:56 PM

I fish the Oldman river all summer, great place to relax. This past summer there were more rafters floating the river than ever. Most seem to be out for fun and dont care about anything else. To bad for the guy that got hung up in my line, bet it hurt. They have no respect for anyone! Braided line cuts skin nicely. Makes me laugh when people drop I-pods and cell phones in the river.

fishstix · #7 02-17-2010, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notagoodtroutfisher

I hear ya, the Bow is a mess aswell. There is only so much a guy can pick up while fishing

its true. iIf you were to pick up every piece of trash you came across, you would need a wheel barrow.

Fishstix!!

dodger · #8 02-17-2010, 05:54 PM

It's getting worse out there every year, I use to spend a lot of time fishing the Eastern Slopes. After busting my butt hiking into some small creeks so far of the beaten path I would still come across beer cans on the shore???

Dodger.

fish on · #9 02-17-2010, 06:53 PM

That stuff really ****es me off. This is our kids world not ours please keep it beautiful because our kids, kids ect world please take what you bring.

AdAMxr · #10 02-17-2010, 08:15 PM

same thing on the south sask. but how was the fishing? and were abouts did you find some open water?

NUK SOO KOW · #11 02-18-2010, 08:46 AM

Found the open water down at the alexander park. Its near the lethbridge gun range. I caught one small pike, about a pound or so, in a backwash.

oldmanrivertubing · #12 05-12-2011, 05:35 PM

Hi guys:
Hey I'm sorry about any litter you may be finding. I did a search on tubing and found your posts and joined the discussion so I could ask you to please email me any locations you find litter and we will work to clean up those areas (wtodd_hudson@yahoo.com). Although they seem to be largely from a young irresponsible 2% of the river users (not our customers who are generally an older group), I take litter on the river seriously as the owner of the rental operation and an outdoors lover myself. Glass on the river is absolutely not allowed by my company and I personally have reported the few I have found drunk and littering.
Sorry for the damage and please keep me informed,
Todd Hudson
403-892-3031

chubbdarter · #13 05-12-2011, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanrivertubing

Hi guys:
Hey I'm sorry about any litter you may be finding. I did a search on tubing and found your posts and joined the discussion so I could ask you to please email me any locations you find litter and we will work to clean up those areas (wtodd_hudson@yahoo.com). Although they seem to be largely from a young irresponsible 2% of the river users (not our customers who are generally an older group), I take litter on the river seriously as the owner of the rental operation and an outdoors lover myself. Glass on the river is absolutely not allowed by my company and I personally have reported the few I have found drunk and littering.
Sorry for the damage and please keep me informed,
Todd Hudson
403-892-3031

Thank You ...your a stand up business person.
I spent my youth fishing the Oldman...its good people like you are being good friends of the river

huntsfurfish · #14 05-12-2011, 05:58 PM

Nice to see your post oldmanrivertubing!

I also live in Lethbridge. Tubing has indeed become very popular and usage is increasing by all.

Thank you for your interest in keeping it clean.

gprime27 · #15 05-12-2011, 07:34 PM

Business owner / Fisherman to Business owner.. thank you for writing that. Very stand up of you and you've got my respect

NUK SOO KOW · #16 05-12-2011, 08:58 PM

Thankyou for you post oldmanrivertubing. Nice to know you are looking out for our rivers as well!! The Lethbridge section is quite bad for litter. Last year my wife literally caught an old boot(classic) out of a small pool under the highway bridge. That split second of excitement of a huge lunker walleye then bam!! up comes a rotten old boot. It sucked to see the look on her face. I love this river, and we are fortunate to have it right in our city.

NUK SOO KOW · #17 05-12-2011, 09:00 PM

Oh, and last week my wife and I picked out a bunch of broken beer bottle glass from the shore and shallow water at pavan park. Then we moved downstream to play with the pup. There was a garbage can 30 feet away. Dumb!!

gprime27 · #18 05-12-2011, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NUK SOO KOW

Oh, and last week my wife and I picked out a bunch of broken beer bottle glass from the shore and shallow water at pavan park. Then we moved downstream to play with the pup. There was a garbage can 30 feet away. Dumb!!

Hate to say it but we need a good flood to wash it all away. Maybe even take out that tollestrup plant down there.. god I hate following their trucks on the highway.. I've smashed so much glass / lenses on those bastard.. It sounds like a bunch of kids chucking stuff into the river.. let's hope I never catch them

Dust1n · #19 05-12-2011, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gprime27

Hate to say it but we need a good flood to wash it all away. Maybe even take out that tollestrup plant down there.. god I hate following their trucks on the highway.. I've smashed so much glass / lenses on those bastard.. It sounds like a bunch of kids chucking stuff into the river.. let's hope I never catch them

a least we dont live in the usa where that happens just about everywhere

gprime27 · #20 05-12-2011, 09:15 PM

[QUOTE=Fish Hunter7;939339]a least we dont live in the usa where that happens just about everywhere[/QUote}

Well you got me there

Battleriverman · #21 05-12-2011, 10:32 PM

Maybe you guys should organize a river cleanup in the spring & fall like red deer does ! We don't get everything but there is a lot of junk cleaned up ! Maybe more garbage cans along the walkways -if you have walkways ! A company usually puts on a free barbque & free drinks & tickets are given out to participants for prizes drawn !!! Something to think about ! Turnout is usually good !

Battleriverman · #22 05-12-2011, 10:49 PM

http://www.reddeer.ca/default.htm HERE'S SOME MORE INFO FOR YOUS. INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE LITTER, ETC. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ! THERE ARE LOTS OF COMPANIES, ORGANIZATIONS & THE CITIES THEMSELVES THAT WOULD BE GLAD TO SPONSOR CLEANUP EVENTS ! CHECK OUT THIS LINK & LOOK UP GREEN DEER 2011 !

NUK SOO KOW · #23 05-12-2011, 11:50 PM

Lethbridge does a coulee cleanup, however I believe they only cover Indian battle park. It is a great effort but only covers a small portion of the river bottom in the city. Many portions are only accessable by tubes, boats, canoes/kayaks.

BGSH · #24 05-12-2011, 11:57 PM

most rivers with alot of people have so much trash in the water including edmontons nsr with cars in the river shopping carts and so on, red deer river same thing, and lethbridge, ya people respect the water and land by just throwing your trash out its so easy.

michaelmicallef · #25 05-13-2011, 05:30 AM

It just goes to show how some people treat our planet. I think in time the parasite will kill the host and the garbage will eventually disappear. The bow is bad to. I see it everywhere.