On a beautiful Sunday morning, a group of fishermen gathered in West Newbury to clean up the Rocks Village shoreline along the Merrimack River. About 20 people showed up, eager to clean up this great fishing spot for shad and stripers. By 8:40 a.m. more than a dozen large bags of trash as well as some larger items were picked up waiting to be hauled off.  A great team effort.

I want to thank everyone who showed up to help out. Many club members were there as well as some prospective members. I especially want to thank Eric Roach for organizing this project and for taking the lead every year. His strong commitment to the environment shows everyone that he is not only a fishermen, but a steward trying to preserve what little fishing areas are left. I would also like to thank the Home Depot and Lowes home improvement stores for donating the trash bags.

Just a reminder that when you go out and take something with you it is usually lighter coming back. And if you see trash when you leave, please pick it up. In the Girl Scouts we have a motto: “Girl Scouts always leave a place better than they found it.” I would like to see that motto used when we fishermen go out and fish. Thank you.

Tight lines,
Georgette

P.S.  Please bear in mind that there is poison ivy in this area.  Your webmaster once did a good deed by removing a long section of fishing line tangled in some weeds–and got quite a rash from it!