What happens when people leave their fishing line behind

Went fishing today and fought the wind down at Herington old lake did not manage to get one fish in. Matter of fact only had one hook up and it immediately took me into a snag. While I was there I saw a cormorant that was stuck on a tree limb, the first time I was over there I didn't notice that he was stuck just thought he was brave letting me get that close to him. Second time over in that area i seen him struggling to get away and he couldn't.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps68626604.jpg

So I got up close and personal with the cormorant and cut the line loose while make sure he didn't get a hold of me with his beak. When I got the line cut loose he sat there for a few seconds then swam off. I didn't catch him flying off but he swam a ways away and then disappeared while I was performing my fruitless attempt to catch a fish.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...psad063b13.jpg

It is too bad that there are so many careless people. I would wager that most people never even consider the impact their actions have.
Thanks for the pictures and write up! Hopefully it will remind us that we need to clean up after ourselves and not leave it for someone else to clean up.

It makes me sick seeing that. Don't know how many ducks and geese I shoot a year with fishing line wrapped around them in some way. Shot a canvasback a couple years back with line, weights, and hook hanging from its leg. See geese all the time in the parks with there legs about to fall off for the same reason. THINK before you break that line or throw it out your boat. Glad to see that you cared enough and took the time to do the right thing!

As bad as I think the comorants:Doh: are to the fish,,,, I commend:ThumbsUp your actions. I just don't like making any wild lifenonono suffer uneedlessly. <*)}}}><

:biggrin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crappie Chatt

As bad as I think the comorants:Doh: are to the fish,,,, I commend:ThumbsUp your actions. I just don't like making any wild lifenonono suffer uneedlessly. <*)}}}><

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I'm not real fond of them either, but couldn't just let him suffer that way. I do find them entertaining; first day of goose season hunting the Marsh you see them coming around and then you hear the goose calls fire up. Its amazing that people can't seem to tell the difference.

There was a park in southern Ohio that had line collectors set up places along the bank where people could put their old fishing line in and it would be sent back to Berkley for them to recycle, was pretty neat, it was run by an old couple, I heard of others, maybe we should see about getting something similar initiated?

it was so bad at ft Gibson that it shut down my trolling motor 3 different times on sunday because of so much line wrapped around it.. none of it was even my own. must have been over the brush piles i wanted to find, just never found the crappie only catfish.. can only image is happening to the wildlife down there also. even the deer that went swimming by us could have easily got caught up in it also...I like the idea of getting something initiated. just let me know what i can do to help....

Here is an old post on this subject from 2005.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...sty-stuff.html

Most of the State Ramps & Federal Launches have boxes or cntainers for old line. Last summer I got line in my prop, took out the seals and wound up costing over $2000 just due to some so called fishermans laziness for not taking care of their line. IT DOESN'T BELONG IN THE WATER!!

Job well done. Thank you sir.

Okay I do not throw discarded line in the water. I do get hung up and even using a thumper some times the line breaks, hopefully it breaks at the knot no problem, some times due to a nick ding or what ever it breaks further up the line. So this happens say once every three maybe two trips. happens more now at Melvern with the Zebras. So unless we start using biodegradable line the act of fishing is going to get line in the water. I can see it now PETA demanding we use biodegradable line so we will not hurt wild life. Just
Saying

I remembered i had this picture I took at Harvey Co East Lake a year or two ago.
Attachment 107041Attachment 107042
Here is one bird that put to use the left behind line of fishermen. I was pretty shocked when i saw it how much line was there to make a nest out of it. I would of cut this down but it was too high. It seems about half my fishing trips I'm bringing home a wad of fishing line to throw away I've snagged while fishing. I always pull on the line and try to get as much as I can back, a lot of the times I'll end up with a new fishing lure that's needs new hooks and is ready to go again.