Adopt a lake trash grab at WP

Just doing another lake cleanup, folks. Wish that I have better fishing action to post but the trash grabbin’ action is always there. This place gets a Mattsabasser scrub about every year give or take a few. The good news is that I am not the only one doing annual scrubs at this location. The bad news is that at times you would never know anyone was doing nothing BUT leaving refuse. Only way to make it go away is get to grabbin’.

Pull into the fence guarded dirt parking lot and see a few empty cans. Sometimes I see bags of leftover fast food or the remnants of a small party when I roll in here. Get the trash bags out, put the gloves on and make sure I have the new trash claw grabby thing on hand. This was a 10-dollar purchase from Walgreens to keep me from getting bit by spiders and snakes while digging stuff out of the bushes. Before I can so much as pick up a single trash can I step on something metal. Seconds later I kick something silver. Reach down and pull up two discarded lures. These would have really ruined someone’s day had they ran their dog or tires over.

Coves seem to gather up the most trash due to wind and frequent use. When reaching one of these areas I know to set the bag down and start collecting items by the handful. The southwest cove offers half a trash bag of refuse. The northeast cove however filled up one bag all by itself and reduced the trash grabbing helper unit into trash as well. There was a chunk of carpet. Several cans and broken bottles were strewn about but the worst may have been the enormous snarl of line. Thankfully I didn’t have to pull out any dead birds or baby rabbits from this mess. Could have made a small hammock with the amount of line pulled from this one area. The photo below doesn’t do this line snarl proper justice.

Conditions have been dry in Colorado making it a lot easier to pull off a good scrub at the local lakes that I fish frequently. Earth Day rolled around again this year and was a helpful reminder for me to get out and give a little back to the sport I love so much (even though things have been slightly worse than terrible for me this season).

Trash removal is one of the best things anglers can do for the waters they fish. Empty beer bottles, aluminum cans, spent fishing line and more takes away from the natural setting on so many levels. I encourage everyone to adopt the waters that they frequent and pick up trash on a regular basis. Earth Day can be any day and this amazing planet could use the help. You might see an increase in wildlife activity as a result.

Good luck and good fishing.