Garbage on the water after ice out

[89retta]

Now that we are getting a little closer to boating season. Is there anyone else who gets ticked off with the amount of stuff floating on the water . Every year there seems to be more debris on the water that was left on the ice by fisherman. I've seen propane bottles , beer containers , plastic crap not to mention left over firewood. Really got to keep an eye open the first few trips of the season.

 

[JimS123]

Well that sucks big time. I was an ice fisherman years ago and I must say that I never saw pigs go fishing like you described.

Living on the Great Lakes we have issues as well. But its all Mother Nature. After ice out we see huge trees, sticks and other flotsam that fell into the water by its own.

My son's birthday is March 30th, and his goal every year is to go out in his boat that day. I always tell him to wait for the ice out and the deluge that follows. Not always listens, but at least he hasn't had an issue as yet (except his wife complains that its still toooooooo coooolllllld.

 

[mr 88]

Not completely agreeing with you , most of the garbage on Erie is from the ice "collecting" what it wants on the shoreline. Water levels are up and freezing water will expand to the shoreline and when it melts/ recedes the logs, trash etc go with it into the lake. Last year on Ontario with the water levels rising during most of the boating season the amount of logs that were continually being swept off the shoreline put you on full alert whenever you went out. So its not always the fishermen..

 

[JimS123]

Not completely agreeing with you......So its not always the fishermen..

I don't get your comment. Sounds like you WERE agreeing with me. I said "mother nature", and never saw fishermen that were pigs like that. So, what's the disagreement?

 

[89retta]

I also go ice fishing but don't leave a mess. But do see that others do. And there is nothing wrong with having a fire on the ice and the wood is natural. But all those pieces are like little lake mines come spring time.

 

[ahicks]

Take away point for the newbies - logs big enough to cause serious damage and/or injuries are often found floating on or possibly just below the water surface - on ANY lake as the season opens. Take care....

 

[frantically relaxing]

I also go ice fishing but don't leave a mess. But do see that others do. And there is nothing wrong with having a fire on the ice and the wood is natural. But all those pieces are like little lake mines come spring time.

First, good for you that you clean up after yourself, you're that one in a million...But fires? around these parts I've yet to see anyone who started a fire on the ice NOT leave the unburned logs behind. In a lake that's not "natural", it's a hazard to boaters, their boats and whoever's being towed behind them. One such log took out one of my outdrives many years ago on Lake Powell, and I was 130 miles from my truck. That ordeal is forever etched in the dark side of my brain, and has left me a bit biased as to humans leaving debris in the water...

And second, it doesn't take "ice" to make fishermen pigs. Around our harbor you can't walk 10 paces without side-stepping or tripping over wads of line and hooks, broken bobbers, fish heads, entrails, empty beer boxes, cans and bottles, butts, KFC buckets, broken lawn chairs... Makes me wonder what their homes look like...

 

[211libwtfo]

I do ice fish. But very rarely ever see garbage left on the ice but here on upper Mississippi it’s different I guess. Oh and you wanna talk about debris the big muddy rip an outdrive off in a hurry if you’re not paying attention but.......I love this place soo it’s what I’m willing to put up with. Best of boating to ya.

 

[mr 88]

I don't get your comment. Sounds like you WERE agreeing with me. I said "mother nature", and never saw fishermen that were pigs like that. So, what's the disagreement?

I was replying to the OP 89retta first post ,not you. He basically blamed the fishermen for everything floating on the water after ice out on them. Do SOME of them leave garbage out there ,probably , is it ALL their crap,no.

 

[89retta]

In my neck of the woods most of it does come from ice fisherman. And I'm not saying they are all bad but all it takes is a few bad apples.. It would just be nice if everyone packed out what they pack in.

 

[mr 88]

First, good for you that you clean up after yourself, you're that one in a million...But fires? around these parts I've yet to see anyone who started a fire on the ice NOT leave the unburned logs behind. In a lake that's not "natural", it's a hazard to boaters, their boats and whoever's being towed behind them. One such log took out one of my outdrives many years ago on Lake Powell, and I was 130 miles from my truck. That ordeal is forever etched in the dark side of my brain, and has left me a bit biased as to humans leaving debris in the water...

And second, it doesn't take "ice" to make fishermen pigs. Around our harbor you can't walk 10 paces without side-stepping or tripping over wads of line and hooks, broken bobbers, fish heads, entrails, empty beer boxes, cans and bottles, butts, KFC buckets, broken lawn chairs... Makes me wonder what their homes look like...

Most of the fires,if not all ,are from fisherman collecting deadwood on the shoreline,wood that would make it back into the lake in the spring. I have never seen guys dragging out logs that would bust up a lower unit,too much work for something that big and it takes forever to start on fire. Sounds like you have a hard on for fishermen, because all pleasure only boaters are as clean as hospital rooms, sarcasm intended. There are pigs in all walks of life , I guess you just deal with it the best you can. Personally I wouldn't come on a boating forum and single out all fisherman as pigs like you did.

 

[mr 88]

BTW, we get crap every spring on Lake Ontario and guess what ? The Lake never freezes over , there are zero ice fisherman on the big O.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Mother nature takes what it wants

Friend of my dads lost his boat house and boats to an ice out about 20 years ago. Took two trees along with it. Nothing like a 3' high ice shove to show what the glacier did so many years ago

 

[roffey]

I am in Ottawa Canada, we have a festival called Winterlude and clear off a huge section of ice on the canal. Numerus people venture out on the "biggest skating rink in the world" .... and leave garbage behind. When the canal is flooded for the summer boating season the garbage just floats on the water and ends up going out into the Ottawa river, What I would like to see is some sort of net setup to catch the garbage or clean out the water before the last set of locks before it goes out to the Ottawa river and down to the St Lawrence... it a real peeve of mine.

Thanks for giving me the forum to vent a little, lol.

 

[89retta]

I am in Ottawa Canada, we have a festival called Winterlude and clear off a huge section of ice on the canal. Numerus people venture out on the "biggest skating rink in the world" .... and leave garbage behind. When the canal is flooded for the summer boating season the garbage just floats on the water and ends up going out into the Ottawa river, What I would like to see is some sort of net setup to catch the garbage or clean out the water before the last set of locks before it goes out to the Ottawa river and down to the St Lawrence... it a real peeve of mine.

Thanks for giving me the forum to vent a little, lol.

Very nice city to visit. But I did notice the garbage when I was there , such a shame. In regards to it all ending up in the St Lawrence , Montreal needs to stop dumping millions of raw sewage into it once or twice a year. That is disgusting and so wrong.

 

[garbageguy]

I think the stuff left on and around the water at ice out, or any time of the year is dependent on what kind of water and where it is. People leave garbage everywhere, mother nature moves it around and adds her own stuff. I don't think we can do too much about mother nature, but people CAN put their garbage in a proper place - but that's too much for some people

 

[NYBo]

No problems at all with ice fisherman here on Seneca Lake.

 

[Grub54891]

Almost like hunting in the national forest around here. Way out in the woods, trash that someone was to lazy to carry out. Ya know the beer cans and trash are much lighter on the way out. I pick up what I can.....

 

[82rude]

In Ontario its illegal to have a fire on the ice.I don't ice fish but was told that today by several ice fishing friends.Open wood fire.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

The ice above and below the water are recycling depots for some numbskulls. And the worse is they call themselves Sportsmen. Here on Erie the water is Gin clear. I have rented a hut and looked down the hole to see a dozen Beer cans, garbage bags, tin foil, you name it. Not easy to move a frozen hut and people complain about rental prices. Dim Wads some of our fellow Sportsmen are pure ignoramuses. We had some recent severe flooding of the Grand River in southern Ontario. The shorelines and riverside parks look like a dump with all the plastic garbage many idiots were too lazy to put out for the Pro's to take away. Included are lawn chairs, bicycles, BBQ's and all manner of manufactured products. Today I saw a Dirt Bike in a pile of deadheads. Are people that stupid to realize their camps might get flooded, year after year after year but just leave their stuff unsecured?