I have argued before that fly fishermen tend to be a little more connected to nature than those who peruse fish in other ways (Bowfishing is Not Fishing, and Five Ways to Respond to Someone Asking for Your Fishing Spot), and that is why we need to welcome people that want to fly fish with open arms. This was again forced to my attention as I took a short vacation on the southern end of Galveston Beach this weekend.
As we woke up Sunday morning, we headed to the beach to enjoy our day. However, it was obvious that some so-called-fishermen had been fishing right where we were the night before. Do I care if people were fishing on the beach, NO! I would encourage it. I love fishing the surf. What was the problem then? Whoever it was had zero respect for the beach, the fish, or other people, and decided to leave all of their trash, fishing line, and dead fish and crabs, strewn across the beach. Just take a look.
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| Dead (smashed) crabs and diapers. |
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| Broken chairs and tent left behind. |
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| More trash. |
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| Dead Gafftopsail Catfish, some cut bait, and a dead mullet. |
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| Fishing line. Some cut pieces, some really still long. |
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| Another cut Gafftopsail Catfish. |
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| Dead shark. Obviously undersized. |
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| More trash. |
This was at Salt Cedar Avenue Beach - City of Galveston Beach Access Point #36.
There was more trash as well. Diapers, bottles, bags, and more. This was by no means everything left behind.
Undersized sharks, cut-bait, and whole fish. Even if you think, "oh, something will eat these dead fish, it wont damage the environment." This is not something that should be left behind on a popular family beach unless you want fishing to eventually be banned.
I debated about sharing this. But, if we want to protect what we love (our waters and fish), and continue to be allowed access to waters to fish, this is the kind of stuff that needs to be stopped.
If you know who this was, make sure you let them know that they need to do better.
Fishermen must demand better from each other.
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