Bear Safety when fishing

I have decided to write this article as my son Joshua and one of his friends have had close encounters with bears recently. I also have had encounters with bears but the bears have always been a fair distance away. My son who last weekend was hiking down a short trail that leads to a lake encountered the small black bear pictured in this article. My son paused and took these photos when the black bear was still some distance away. The bear then got down from the stump it was standing on and started towards Joshua. At first Joshua stood still to see what the bear’s intentions were. When the bear kept coming in his direction Joshua started jumping up and down waving his arms and yelling “GO BEAR GO BEAR” and the bear obliged and ran off into the woods. My son’s friend was charged by a large 300 pound black bear on the upper Chilliwack River, (Near Vancouver, BC) knocked down and his roe bag pulled from his fishing vest before the bear high tailed it into the woods.
According to the statistics that I found, from the year 2000 until now (2011) 14 people have been killed by brown bears (grizzlies, brown, Kodiak) and 17 people have been killed by black bears, including a 5 month old infant that was taken from her stroller in Fallsburg, New York. These are the statistics for fatalities, many more bear attacks happen every year but the people survive. Fishermen account for many of these attacks both fatal and non fatal. Fishermen are often in bear territory and need to know the basic rules on how to avoid confrontation with bears.

To read the complete article on bear safety for fishermen with itemized points
click here http://www.justsportfishing.com/Bear-Safety.html

Ralph Martens

http://www.justsportfishing.com/

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You can buy great gifts for fishermen at our online store on our main website . The images here are just a few of the many graphics available at www.JustSportfishing.com/store.html . We have T-Shirts, mugs, water bottles, clocks, pillows and more. All have great artwork by the artist Ralph Martens .

The "SPORT" of Sportfishing

The question that has come to my mind lately is what happened to the "SPORT" in sport fishermen or sportfishing. Lately I have observed too many incidents of fishermen who feel they need to go home not only with a fish but with always trying to go home with their daily limit. Then theirs the guy using the wrong gear, crowding you, and casting across your line. Lastly lets not forget the guy who leaves his bait container and empty beer can behind when he leaves.
Don't get me wrong I love to occasionally take a nice hatchery Coho or Rainbow home for the Barbecue and I don't begrudge anyone who takes a fish home. But there seems to be a group of people who are fishermen for food first and sport second. These seem to be the same people who take fish that are wild, to small, or a wrongly identified species. Then there is the guy who pulls out salmon that are so dark that I wonder who could possibly think about eating it. For God sake leave it in the river to spawn. There needs to be a renewed respect for the fish, the environment, and for your fellow fishermen.
As Sport fishermen we have a duty to educate ourselves with the rules and laws of the areas in which we fish and obey them. We must tell the fisherman next to us "you cant keep that", "that's an illegal hook", "sorry there is a bait ban on this river", or "Take your garbage with you". You don't have to be a jerk about it just politely tell the person "hey that's not acceptable here". Who knows maybe its his first year of fishing and he's not only learning the rules of fishing but also the etiquette of fishing. Fisheries officers can't be everywhere at once and each fisherman has a responsibility to the sport to educate each other and the newer fishermen out there. Maybe if we all put some effort into it we can put the "SPORT" back into sport fishing.
Ralph Martens

editor
JustSportfishing.com

And now on a lighter note a funny video