Citico 6-28-08

[Flyfishjeep]

I took the family camping at Indian Boundary Campground this past weekend. We had a great time and the grounds were beutiful even though it was busy.
I took my young son with me to Citico Creek on Sat morning about 9 am. I was warned by a park ranger that Sat mornings are busy with locals catching the recently stocked fish. Man was that an understatement. That morning there were people pulled over at every possible spot and people walking over every inch of water. Plastic bags filled with thier limit of fish.
I just wanted to wet a line and catch a fish for my son to look at and then release. We accomplished that goal and played in the water.
Unfortunately we were surrounded by garbage! worm and corn containers, cigarrette packs along with mono line was scattered everywhere along that water. You couldn't look in one direction without seeing trash. This was very upsetting.
That river is set in such a nice, beautiful area and people disrespect it and don't appreciate it. Needless to say we filled a plastic bag that I brought with me for that reason with trash.
Not only did the trash upset me the stream etiquette was horrible.

I had a guy walk up to the hole below me 10 ft away and then get out and walk upstream to the hole just above 10 ft away and start fishing. He was spin fishing and covering a lot of water fast. I couldn't believe what just happened and if my son wasn't with me I would have had a few choice words.
I don't know if this is common place down there or maybe I came across someone who doesn't care at all. Either way we all need to respect the people around us that are fishing and give them their space.
If I ever fish down there again it won't be on a weekend.

[ChemEAngler]

I have never been to Citico before, but have buddies that fished there. Their experience was very similar to yours. I don't know why so many of the people who fish like that also have the mentality that they can drop their trash where they fish. Not all spin fisherman are litterbugs, but most litterbugs are bait fisherman. Look at any of this areas primary tailwaters and you will see the same thing. Corn cans, night crawler containers, 6 or 8 lb test mono in a wad, a floater dangling from a tree limb, etc. It would be great it TWRA would allow volunteer patrol officers to help maintain a clean and quality fishery. I would be at the head of the line to sign up.

Travis

[lee0070]

Go there in October and fish the wild feeder streams. You will be alone. Some great fishing on the tribs.

[Troutman]

Ben, do any fishing on the lake? I'll be down there in a few weeks. Never fished Citico but most of those put and take fisheries get a lot of same treatment of the resource.

[Worrgamesguy]

Well of course the majority of trash is from spin fishermen because fly fishermen have little to no things to throw away :rolleyes: I've been a spin fishermen since I was 2 and my first trout was an 18" rainbow that almost pulled me out of the boat. I just hate how spin fishermen are stereotyped by fly fishermen, as spin fishermen stereotype fly fishermen. I'm on the fence, I do both now. Today was my 2nd day on the water and I caught a bluegill, surprising because my fly was a good #8 or #10. Gluttonous bastard...

[Shaggy]

I too love Tellico River and am always very saddened by the amount of garbage found on the river banks. I can only imagine how much is in the river. Something really needs to be done.

I would not say that all of the bait fisherman are polluters. Rather, all of the polluters are bait fisherman.

There are many bait fisherman there that are just as disappointed as we are about the littering.

[gmreeves]

I have picked up many of empty leader packs, strike indicators, empty tippet spools, and other various fly fishing sundry items along streams that I fish. I only fly fish and mainly hit wild mountain streams, but I still find trash. We may not do it as much, but we are still a source. Not all trash comes from bait/spin/fly fishers alone.

[Flyfishjeep]

I hope that no one is offended by my reference to spin fisherman and litter. The fact is though that there are not many fly fisherman in that area (citico), and so there are less chances for fly fisherman to have a negative impact. Most of the other fisherman that I spoke with stream side were nice and helpful. I just think I ran into a bad person and a lot of litter.

I hope this doesn't cause anyone not to visit that area. It is beautiful and worth exploring.

Troutman,
I did not fish the lake, there were people fishing from the pier and the grassy peir by the boat launch. There were also at least a dozen or more boats on the water fishing. I think the lake gets a lot of pressure during the weekend.
I need to get a trolling motor for my little aluminum boat so I can fish the lake.
Good luck on your trip and I hope to see some lunker pictures when you return.
We also need to get together and fish your smallie water one of these days.

-Ben

[BlueRaiderFan]

I fished the Ceany Fork the other day...Left my styrofoam cup on the bank. Didn't do it on purpose, just completely forgot that it was there until I remembered it about 30 miles down the road. We all make mistakes. I bet half the trash you see is due to similar happenings. It's like when a person cuts you off on the highway, I bet half the time, they aren't even aware that they did it. My motto: Pick it up when you see it and pick up more than you think you've ever left behind. I admit it's rare that I do leave something behind like that.