Clear Creek, which is an outlet of Clear Lake that flows into the Winnebago River, runs along Twelfth Avenue South and is experiencing increased overflow along with high numbers of carp and other.
While fishing in the outlet isn’t anything new, some residents living along Clear Creek are having problems with the repugnant smell of dead fish being left on the banks by fishermen using bows and arrows and spears.
“You can hardly walk around there because of the smell,” said Tammy Boes-hart, who has lived along Clear Creek for 27 years. “It’s not the kids that go in with their little fishing poles to have fun, it’s the ones who are there with their bows and take the sport out of fishing.”
A pair of 12-year-olds, Kristian Cordes and Gabe Craighton, both of Clear Lake, have fished out of Clear Creek with fishing poles on a daily basis this summer. They, like Boeshart, are growing tired of the dead fish and other litter being left on the banks by other fishermen.
“They’re just taking advantage of the fish,” Cordes said. “It’s good fishing right now because of all the rain, but this is a little creek and they just come here and take the sport out of fishing.”
Both youngsters said they’ve seen fishermen taking fish out of Clear Creek with bows, spears, nets and in some cases even with their bare hands. However, instead of taking the fish home with them, the fish carcasses are left on the banks of the creek to rot.
Scott Grummer, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said spear and bow fishing in Iowa is legal, but harvesting fish with nets is against state law.
Grummer said the issue has received special attention from the DNR this summer and is one that has reoccurred during seasons of high water flow.
“The way we are approaching it is that we’re just trying to educate the kids,” Grummer said. “DNR staff is taking extra time to go out there and talk to them and make sure that they understand the regulations.”
The only regulation being broken, Grummer said, is by the fishermen who are leaving their fish on the banks of Clear Creek. This practice is essentially the same as littering.
“They’re definitely in violation of littering but some of the young fishermen are just not in the know and don’t realize that they need to utilize what they’re harvesting,” Grummer said. “We try not to come down with a heavy hand because that’s not going to help with a 10-year old. We’re just trying to educate them.”
In all of the times Cordes and Craighton have fished out of Clear Creek, they have rarely seen the fishermen who use bows or spears take their fish home.
Even though the DNR is taking extra time to help educate those who fish out of Clear Creek, some feel more needs to be done in the form of special depositories and daily patrols.
“Whoever is responsible for monitoring that area needs to check every single day,” said Donna Miller, who has lived along Clear Creek for nearly 40 years.
“Do you know how bad, and how long, a dead fish smells for?
“That’s what we’re up against here.”
50423 wrote on Jul 27, 2008 6:49 PM: