Trash and Other"Unstreamside-Like Behavior" on Virginia Bank of Potomac Downstream from Chain Bridge

[chasthos]

Last week in search of shad I hiked down the Gulf Branch Trail off Military Road to the Potomac Heritage Trail on the Virginia side upstream from Fletcher's Cove.  It was very disappointing to see piles of trash, bait containers, beer cans, etc...along the bank at every accessible point.  There was also the stink of rotting fish and chicken bait.  I thought shad were protected, and yet I saw one fisherman throwing a large net at them and others killing their catches.  In view of their streamside behavior many of these fishermen are also probably lacking licenses too.  Is there any enforcement of laws against littering and of fishing regulations?  

[TurbineBlade]

It's a real problem.  You can call and report these things, but it is 100% certain that nothing will happen. 

Since poachers and litterers don't show up on this forum to argue the merits of littering and poaching, we generally just deal a game of "the other fly fisherman is a jerk" for having dry hands, "tossing" fish, and using egg patterns.  The latter is completely unimportant compared to the former, but you get more participation.   

Gene

[Bryan Lanier]

I've used egg patterns. They're softer on the poor fishie's lips.

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[Misha Gill]

I second Gene's sentiments. Man, I wish there was some enforcement action. In Richmond, they would pick one day during the shad run and write 100 citations. They should do the same here. Huge ROI. 

Unfortunately there's nothing to be done about the trash. Shout-out to Justin Schiavone for organizing a day each year to clean up around Chain Bridge in the past. Someone should do that again. 

[Eric L]

Oh man, the dc/md side is pristine!

Kidding of course. It's pretty atrocious how people treat the river.. a couple years back they did have some license enforcement at least, which is a start. Not sure if that's still going on at all.

[Evan D]

I'd like to report that I was asked for my license at Chain Bridge just a couple of weeks ago, on the Virginia side.  The enforcement officer had been watching through binoculars from afar and wrote several tickets for possession of river herring, possession of shad, possession of striped bass, and lack of fishing licenses.  The sad part, though, is that the officer seemed to know the individuals he was writing tickets for very well, and he acknowledged he had written them tickets just a few days prior.  It seemed like they didn't care about getting the tickets and they wouldn't pay the fines.  And, it seemed that the enforcement officer knew that writing a ticket was the best he could do, but if they didn't pay all he could do was write them another ticket.  

He handed out several thousand dollars worth of fines to maybe 10 people and then everyone left.  What didn't leave was their trash, beer cans, dead bait, hooks, extra line, broken rods, and dead striped bass they had taken illegally - those laid on the beaches, waiting to be swept away in the next high water event.  It is so very, very disappointing - to the point that I've decided not to fish there anymore this season (we'll see how long that'll last). I've done my fair share of policing and trying to keep the beaches clean, but we are all fighting a losing battle.  I wish there was more that we could do, but its up to the enforcement officers to drive the penalties home - maybe a pair of handcuffs would do the trick.

[Hugh Fike]

I would gladly get together with some folks on a couple weekends and pick up trash in the shoots down to the river. Waiting for others to clean it up will only result in it not getting done.

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[namfos]

Slobs will be slobs, that's there choice. No changing that. Better to set an example. I usually but not always carry a plastic bag to pick up trash on the way back to the car at the end of an outing. If I don't find an accessible dumpster enroute home, I'll just put it out with the household stuff on Friday. I will say that usually and unfortunately one bag fills up really quickly and is nowhere near enough for all the crap the slobs leave behind.

Mark

[TurbineBlade]

I think it's great that a lot of anglers take a few minutes to pick up trash the slobs leave behind (as Mark put it).  It's annoying that people can be so ignorant. 

Be careful doing so, however.  One stretch of Rock Creek we used to sample was a popular spot for drug use, and we generally found needles (and other "items" I won't mention) every time we worked that stretch.  Wear some good boots and be really careful about reaching for things.  Various footpaths along rivers seem to attract such activities --

Gene

[Greggory DiSalvo]

I walked the shore from Fletcher's early in the run and on the way back, grabbed a few bags of trash.  Alex was nice enough to let me dump it in their private dumpster. If we all did that, it would overflow immediately.  For that reason, I'd also be happy to show up on a weekend for a trash pick-up, but we would have to use somebody's truck or something to haul stuff to a dump.  I've seen that there are periodic cleanups, but have never taken part.  How have those worked?

Gregg

[Kevin Huntington]

I was out at Chain Bridge the week before last and I actually ran into 3 police officers who were down there writing tickets - at least that is what a different police offer told me when I parked my car.  They kind of caught me off guard when I was walking down the trail but they never asked me for license or anything, maybe cuz I was carrying a fly rod?   However, despite the cops being down there, there were still all of the issues listed above taking place on both sides of the river.  There was an unbelievable amount of what looked to be dead white perch remains on the rocks close to the bridge.  I only fished about 20 minutes before I had to move because the smell was horrific.  The bonfire remains and trash along the river banks is so sad.

Maybe we should get a group of 25 guys, go to the bar and have a few and then head down to Chain Bridge and confront these people from an "ethical" level.  Any takers?

Good talk, cya out there.

On Thursday, May 5, 2016 at 1:54:45 PM UTC-4, chasthos wrote:

[TurbineBlade]

Maybe we should get a group of 25 guys, go to the bar and have a few and then head down to Chain Bridge and confront these people from an "ethical" level.  Any takers?

That depends.  Can you swing a pillow case full of door knobs? 

Gene 

[namfos]

You've reminded me that a set of those picker upper dohickeys the road crews used for trash pickup would be handy and make for an extra measure of safety. Maybe for my next urban fishing expedition.

You wouldn't happen to be speaking of Coney Island whitefish? ;-)

Mark

On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 9:18:33 AM UTC-4, TurbineBlade wrote:

I think it's great that a lot of anglers take a few minutes to pick up trash the slobs leave behind (as Mark put it).  It's annoying that people can be so ignorant. 

Be careful doing so, however.  One stretch of Rock Creek we used to sample was a popular spot for drug use...

[TurbineBlade]

That's them!  ;)

Gene

[namfos]

And speaking of picking up after others: http://bit.ly/1WjCs7T

Mark