More Trash Talkin'

There's been a lot of trash talkin' on the blog here of late and it's been primarily about that big, ugly, nasty, visible trash.  However, as all of us in the fly fishing community very well know... there is another kind of trash.  It's called micro-trash and a good example is those cut-aways of our leaders and tippets.  If these innocent looking tag ends get into a river, stream, or the wild, they can stay there for hundreds of years.  Also, fish and other aquatic creatures can ingest them leading to severe problems or worse.

I really like the products the folk at Fishpond make.  All of their products seem of high quality and designed for efficiency.  Fishpond makes a micro-trash container that can be fastened on the wading belt or somewhere else while we are on the water or trekking through the wild on our way to the water.  These containers are fairly inexpensive and work like a charm. 

For years, I've tried to discard my tag ends by slipping them in a baggy or vest pocket, but that's difficult and not very successful at all.  If there is any moisture on your fingers the tag ends tend to hang on for dear life.  With the Fishpond micro-trash container you basically scrape the tippet or leader off of you finger.

An alternative is a 35 mm film container.  Simply take the container and cut an X in the lid and you have a handy dandy micro-trash collector. 

Whether it's the film container or the Fishpond Micro-Trash Container, we can keep a lot of unwanted stuff out of our precious streams and waterways.