By Allison Miles
You know the phrase “Home is where the heart is?” Home is where you feel most at ease and happy to see at the end of a long day. There is no place in the world you’d rather be. For me, home is on the open waters. Sure I live on land, but my definition says it’s not where I rest my head; it’s where I feel the most comfort and joy.
What does this have to do with this month’s Angler-2-Angler tip you might ask?
I’m not going to profess that I am an absolute clean freak, but I want my home to be tidy and calming. If I’m surrounded by trash and garbage, I’m not relaxed and need to pick it up and put it in order. When I’m out on the ocean either fishing, scooping out spots or just taking a harbor cruise, I always find trash bobbing up and down in plain sight that obviously doesn’t belong there.
It happens to all of us. We’re anchored up and fishing when we see our empty chip bag find a gust of wind and fly overboard. Or,
we’re speeding back to the dock to beat an oncoming storm and don’t realize our cargo isn’t securely fastened and flies off the back of the boat.
The unbelievable part of such a small item flying off our boats and into the ocean is the amount of time it would take to remove itself. Look at the NOAA infographic and I think you will be just as surprised as I was.
Every trip my husband and I take, we spend time cleaning up our home. When I say he is a great “spotter,” I mean he’s a great trash spotter. He will drive the boat over to an item that is hundreds of yards away while I get into position to retrieve it with a giant landing net.
My tip this month since spring has sprung is to help keep our ocean clean and protect the future of our fishing grounds. There’s a lot of trash out there, but also a lot of treasures waiting for us to pick up and put in their proper places.
Allison Miles is an award winning angler, fishing enthusiast and
blogger. She is Pro-Staff for Esca Lures and an Ambassador
for Pure Fishing. You can follow her angling adventures at
www.gopogy.com.