After fishing at Chain Bridge where no one was having any luck, I went to the Occoquan River late in the day April 6. The shad are arriving here, and I caught two shad and lost two, and took a picture of the one-pound hickory shad that hit on a little dark soft plastic minnow on a lead head ("Rattlesnake" brand).
Once a wide open fishing river, the Occoquan has almost no bank access anymore. Especially annoying is the sign at the tiny spot still open to the public just below the Occoquan Reservoir dam. The sign is aimed at the some of the lowest people on earth, fishermen who leave garbage on rivers and lakes. The sign says, "You must dispose of your trash in the trash cans provided. Otherwise the town will be forced to enact a no fishing law."
WHAT?
Let's see — I saw some trash by the roads, so let's just close the roads. I saw trash at the baseball fields — let's outlaw baseball.
I hope this sign is meant only as a scare tactic, and I think it's working. There's very little trash when I visit, and certainly any cleanup crew, or cleanup person, could take care of it in 15 minutes, once a week. But the very idea of being "forced to enact a no-fishing law," again, is annoying.
Some small number of people who fish are litter bugs. Most are not. Town of Occoquan, you have trash to pick up everywhere, including the river. "Oh, life is so unfair, these people come from far away and litter our tiny public spot on the water." Let's have equal protection. Only if Occoquan can guarantee that none of its citizens will litter anywhere they go — where another town has to clean up after them — should they be free to close the historic Occoquan to fishing.
[I would think one source of cleanup funds would be from the taxes from those new enormous condos that block the last open view of the river in the historic section of town.]
I'll note that Occoquan Regional Park does offer very extensive bank access to a wide and scenic stretch of the river. It's downstream from the rocky narrow fishing haven near the historic riverfront. The park gate is along Hwy 123 uphill from the river near Lorton.
2 comments:
Hope they don't ever close it.
Fun to catch, shad but I don't know why anyone keeps any.
Yes, the area is a nice place to fish. Unfortunately, the ones that volunteer their time to clean it are the non-fishers. The fishers that don't litter seem to have a rather high tolerance for standing amongst trash their fellow littering-fishers left behind.
So thanks for enjoying the area and I hope your fishing experience was good, but I wonder how much, if any, of the trash you hauled out yourself...just to help out a little.
Stop complaining and be part of the solution, not the problem. 15 minutes...get a reality check.
Post a Comment