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Angling Fish - by James Rickard

What are we throwing away?

May 27th 2008 00:17
Bic lighter
It happened again yesterday. I was down by the river, supposedly fishing but also reflecting on world events and circumstances. (Heady stuff, for sure!)

I stood there noticing there are fewer boats on the water than last year--no doubt a result of spiraling gas prices--and then I saw one of the culprits fueling our oil dependency!


Someone had discarded a disposable lighter! Sure, we can simply drop a disposable lighter when it is of no more value. BUT are we really getting rid of it? Or have we reached the point where our "throw away mentality" is coming back to bite us in the butt?

What happens when that lighter ends up along the river bank? Granted, some of the water in a river ends up as drinking water but often small rivers or streams flow into bigger rivers and they, in turn, flow into our oceans. Realizing that, it's not too far fetched to believe a lighter may end up in the stomach of a fish. Since plastic doesn't digest easily, the fish will probably die and make it unpleasant to boat, fish, or swim.

If our "throw away" mentality is contributing to our oil consumption, the Bic Corporation is surely leading the way. Since the 60's we've been introduced to disposable pens and even razors in addition to the aforementioned lighters. Why am I picking on Bic? It takes oil to make plastic and those razors, pens, and lighters are more plastic than anything else.


How often do you see a lighter that someone has thrown away? Maybe we need to revert back to the days when everyone had a Zippo and a can of lighter fluid in the cupboard!

Let's see--less oil--less garbage. Hmmm.



Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
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Aliens among us? Pt. 2

April 7th 2008 00:54
Clean your boat

Yesterday's post introduced us to invasive species. Now that we have a handle on what exactly constitutes these invaders, today we'll talk about stopping them.

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Aliens among us? Pt. 1

April 6th 2008 00:36
Help stop envasive species
Signs like this are popping up more and more.


I’ll warn you ahead of time that this is going to be a two-part post. I began writing and things started getting REAL LOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG! That makes any post a little tough to read. If you dig what you see, tune in tomorrow. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.
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Is catch & release even worth it?

February 7th 2008 03:00
Even if you do things right and you're putting the fish you catch back in the water, you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it. Internal injuries to fish may not be visible and they simply swim way to meet their fate hours or days later. To that end, some experts have gone so far as to say that only HALF of the fish we release back into native waters live on. If that's true, when I begin thinking of all the fish I've caught in my life time and those I should catch in the future, the number is more than a little daunting!

Biologists agree that releasing fish helps sustain fish populations. Where disagreement begins is in discussions about repeated releases.

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Catch and release tactics you can use

February 6th 2008 04:44
Every day there are people out there killing fish but don't even know it. They pat themselves on the back, thinking they're practicing good catch and release. Although their intentions are noble, they're often doing more harm than good.

One of the easiest things you can do to insure fish survival is to limit their time out of water. This sounds pretty basic but, you'd be surprised how long it can take to snap a picture or weigh a potential trophy. Organize things so your camera, scales, and whatever are close at hand!

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A few thoughts about catch and release

February 5th 2008 01:59
Anyone who reads this blog very often knows I'm a pretty big advocate of "catch and release." Over the next couple of days we'll be talking about catch and release--why we do it and how we do it.

I really hate it when anglers start huddling up and begin spouting off terms that may be foreign to the uninitiated. So, before we get too far along, let me define "catch and release."

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Do fish feel pain?

February 1st 2008 20:23
Okay! I'll throw my hat into the ring and offer my two cents!


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Whale hunting is dropped

January 4th 2008 05:31
In all the Christmas confusion, I missed this story when it was released last month. It sounds as if people are listening!

A second chance for the whales.

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Photograph your trophy

January 3rd 2008 04:52
I've mentioned catch and release in passing before. What happens if you get that once in a life time catch and want to show it off? In the past, when you got that "trophy catch," you had to choose between throwing it back and keeping it. You could get a trophy but it was pretty well the end of the line for the fish. Now days, you can get your trophy and the fish gets to live to be caught again.

All you need to do is take a series of photographs of your catch and a life like replica suitable for mounting can be made. Todays reproductions are far superior to what was available just a few years ago. In fact, the technology available today can create trophies that are so life like that they rival anything in nature and certainly look better than anything found in fishing lodges when you were a kid.

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Isabel Lucas does her part for whales

November 7th 2007 03:20
I found this last night as I was
researching another topic.

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Are we overfishing?

September 27th 2007 22:15
The post about cod got me to thinking and I found this clip you may find enlightening.


Too much of a good thing
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Roundup & bass

August 1st 2007 02:11
frog


I thought it was interesting the other day when I heard that something we use every day is killing fish


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Littering Your Favorite Spot

July 13th 2007 00:10
sign, litter, pollution

Always on the lookout for a new place to fish, the other day I was trying to follow some direction a guy gave me but, it was pretty hopeless. I don’t know if was him or me but, I ended up at a private marina. So, you can just about figure what happened. I had no sooner stepped onto the dock before a someone came out of a shed type building.
“Can I help you?” he asked


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