Leave No Trace Fishing

By Paul Wright

“Take only memories, leave only footprints” ~ Chief Seattle

Fishing presents opportunities to enjoy the wilderness without leaving impacts.

Is parking beside the river the best approach? Or could we gain peace of mind, and some exercise as well, by parking at paved areas further away? When the temptation arises to steer a vehicle off the pavement, will that damage the roadside habitat and cause rainwater from the road to carry sediment into the stream? With a little thought, we can enhance our experiences by choosing the paved parking area.

We might ask similar questions when choosing a path to a pristine stream. Do we really need to create a new path by forging through the brush? If a path is muddy, is that because someone put sticks or rocks down to create a water crossing – which blocked the flow of water from running OFF the path and kept the water on the path instead? Is it really okay to toss my apple core or banana peel by the path, as biodegradable and therefore not really “trash” or is it possible that a young and impressionable critter might learn to treat that morsel as part of its natural diet, and begin to look to human contact as a source of food? Or will my trash lessen the experience of the next person to come by? It’s not “just an apple core,” it is also a reminder to others that someone else was there – just like the initials carved into a tree or rock, or a rock cairn that says “I was here [BEFORE YOU].”

The point is simply that we choose whether to leave impacts. Almost nobody really wants to harm the wilderness, or someone else’s experience. But we have all experienced the impacts others leave when they do not think as clearly as we wish they had. By the same token, others probably have experienced impacts we have all left by failing to think as clearly as WE wish we had.

By focusing on how to leave as little impact as possible, we can enhance our own wilderness experiences as well as the experiences of those who come behind us. By making a “game” of becoming skilled at not leaving any evidence at all that we were ever there, we can harness our own competitive nature in a rewarding and responsible way.