Everyone's Opinion please.

[Derrick Bustle]

Went to my favorite pond today. Where the big ones are coming out of. Found out due to others that fish there leaving Beer cans and garbage everywhere that I wouldn't be fishing there. This just ticks me off. I am respectful and clean up after myself leaving no trace that i was there and due to some jerks my fantastic fishing is taken away. Wanted to know everyone's opinion on people who take advantage of , and are careless with others Ponds and property?

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I was taught to always leave a place better than I found it by all the ethical sportsmen in my family Derrick.....It is a shame and I don't blame you for being upset......

[Tony Livingston]

Derrick, I hate to hear that. It's truly sad when a few unthinking individuals ruin it for everyone. And having worked around our property when it was still a public campground, I have seen many examples of just how bad it can get.

Now that it's ours and the campground is no more, we still get occasional requests to fish. I don't recall ever turning anyone down, but I make sure that anyone who comes to fish knows the rules, and I wouldn't hesitate to restrict access if things went awry.

Speaking as a pondowner,  I know a few things that a visiting angler might do to help ensure continued access. Most folks already know to pick up their trash, close the gate, what fish to keep and which ones to release, etc.

But... owning  property with ponds can be a lot of work. If an angler is a regular visitor to a BOW, showing up one Saturday with a weedeater instead of a fishing rod would be a BIG help. Same goes for a lawnmower, or, if the property owner burns firewood, a chainsaw when fall approaches.

Clearing the backside of the dams is a once a year task here. And it's a lot of work. Sure would be nice to have someone offer to help. The roads that allow access to all the ponds need stone once in awhile too, offering to chip in on a load would be appreciated. Repairing fences seems to be a never ending task......it's easier to stretch that barbed wire with two or more people.

And certainly, doing all of these things takes up a lot of time. Time that otherwise might be spent fishing by the landowner him/herself. Dropping by with a dozen or so freshly filleted Bluegill would be a nice gesture.

I'm not criticizing you Derrick, you very well may already do these things, or something similar. And there is no guarantee that doing them would guarantee access. Sometimes, a pondowner gets mad and says "enough is enough". Rather, these are just some ideas that would go a long way with me.

 

[Derrick Bustle]

These ponds are not maintained at all. By anybody, but regardless the trash being left everywhere is uncalled for. I would have no prob keeping everything clean just to fish there. But i don't keep fish, and the land owner doesn't fish any of these ponds. Its 400 acres of land with a total of at least 10 acres of ponds. But the only thing i can do is find another place.

[Vince Fusco]

The lake we have been fishing is on private property and others have trashed this place as well. Each time we go there, we take a couple plastic grocery sacks and fill them with trash on our way back to the car. I do not understand how anyone could go on another's property and leave their trash when they are done fishing. Our towns resivour was shut down several years ago because of sorry people leaving trash everywhere. They even had cans around the resivour and in the parking area, but they still left trash everywhere. The resivor is open again, at least for a while. I was always taught that drink cans and worm containers are lighter when they are empty and I darn well better not leave any behind. Dad would always carry a trash bag with him when he went on another's property to leave it better than he found it, and that's where I learned it from.

[JBplusThuy]

It constantly amazes me to go fishing and find trash dumped on the shore just a few yards from a trash can because some jerk was too lazy to take even a few steps to throw something away properly. Nobody taught me not to trash fishing spots; even as a kid I fully understood that, and as a teen I developed what remains my fishing ethic to this day: pack out all of your own trash, and some of somebody else's. I bring a bag just for that purpose.

I can't imagine how stupid people have to be to not grasp that the world isn't there trash can, especially somebody's private property, but then, there isn't a day goes by that I don't see somebody chuck their cigarette butt out the window (number one cause of roadside brush fires here in California). I've never in my life had access to a private pond; those things are pretty thin on the ground in California, and permission to fish them is thinner still. It blows my mind that anyone with such a privilege would trash the pond and ruin it for everyone the way the people you describe did. Scumbags.

Sadly, responsible people seem to be in the minority these days.

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

The top three things that send me into a rage that makes me want to hunt down those crackheads,

           number 3.           TRASH

           number 2            DIRTY DIPERS

           number 1             ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN DUMPED OFF

       LOFR

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

READ ALL THE COMMENTS HERE DERRICK: GUESS WHAT I AGREE WITH MOST ALL ANYONE SAID HERE. I only have 3 ponds to fish and am careful not to abuse the priveledge to fish there .

 Some people who leave behind trash are intollerable to me ! Trash is my number one complaint and it is with most pond owners who maintain their properties . Don't blame em a bit and if I see any small items I will pick em up to help out.

  I help out in other ways too: Doc's pond that I posted pics of a few times is very small and she has never fished it herself till last week when I was there. I gave her one of my old vintage rods to use an she caught her first fish ever from her own pond and had a ball. The smile on her face was worth the effort of weed eating and other things I've done for her there.
   I always limit what I take there cause it's a small pond and could get damaged in a hurray if I took too many fish, so I now limit my self to a dozen or less and never more than a couple dozen a year.
   It's really a shame others ruined it for you through their stupidity or just poor upbringing. I believe I'd go see the property owner one last time and try to get back in cause good spots are too few these days. DO what you gotta to so we can all enjoy your pics again.

 

[JBplusThuy]

Like Tooty says, it might be worth going to see the land owner once more. Show up with some gloves and trash bags and say you're there to clean up as a way to say "thank you" for the opportunities you had to fish there. You never know, the opportunity might come back, in time.

Good luck!

[John Sheehan]

This has happened to me where I usually drive my truck to beautifull ponds in the woods .These ponds are also unmaintained and are a 'Natural'Treat! The park gates are closed this year and i've gotten various reasons from different people on why .All of which sound to me as  biased!  I now have to hike to get to the ponds which I'm willing to do when I have the time . It has dampened my spirit this year as I had a good last season up there in the woodsy ponds I 've enjoyed and was really looking forward to another one .

 JB has a great suggestion ,folks that earn the right should be able  to fish there and if "poachers"trashing the place dont belong there theres only one way of keeping them out and that's to have someone responsible like yourself there with a camera catching them

[Tony Livingston]

I don't know the landowner's situation in this case, but if they don't fish the ponds and do not maintain the grounds, it could be a case of them just getting tired of the traffic. I know if I give several people permission to fish, I still wouldn't like seeing somebody over there every time I looked out the window. The trash could be the excuse needed to say "no more". It's a blanket excuse, applied to everybody, with no reason for the landowner to have to make it more personal, or single just a few out.

[Derrick Bustle]

Nobody lives on this property, but as far as i know nobody else has permission to fish there..the land is used to grow soy bean. But has cleared away roads for the big machines.

[Joe Jacobsen]

It is a shame for sure. Some people have to ruin it for everyone else. I try to pick up a little trash no matter where I go, and no matter if I have to carry the trash in my pocket, or bag. People are pigs, it is sad.