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A couple of winters ago I wrote about my disappointment at seeing so much litter on our area lakes while out ice fishing. If you recall, I mentioned the old 1971 Keep America Beautiful ad campaign that featured the "Crying Indian." To this day I can still see the belching smoke stacks and the paper bag loaded with fast-food refuse hitting the pavement and bursting open at the feet of that old Indian. I guess that public service announcement resonated with me, because it's the only "Don't Litter" message I think I received growing up in the late sixties and seventies. Remember when you'd regularly see drivers at stop-and-go lights dump piles of butts from overflowing ashtrays right onto the streets? I rest my case.

I've always been hypersensitive about litter. I hate litter. If my nine-year-old is reading this, I want him to know that Daddy says it's okay to hate some things - litter and French mimes wearing collarless striped shirts are two things that quickly come to mind.

Oh look. I'm pressing my flattened palms against the inside of an invisible box. My eyes grow large with surprise and my mouth forms a circle. Help me. I'm trapped. Perhaps if I squint and attempt to walk against this phony hurricane-force wind, I might be able to escape ... KER-POW! Right in the ol' kisser.

I referenced that old littering column because we're fast approaching the time of year when many of us ice-out anglers enjoy fishing for bluegills and crappies along the shorelines of our favorite lakes. And with that said, I must once again shamelessly exploit the distinct advantage this weekly newspaper column provides me to remind all of you shore anglers out there (yes, I'm a seasonal shore angler myself) to leave our shores and waters in better shape than you found them.

For the past dozen years or so, we've all witnessed a steady increase in the number of shore anglers fishing the local lakes and rivers. That's great. It's wonderful to see so many folks out enjoying the spring weather and catching numbers of fish. What is not so good to see is the increasing amount of trash littering those same shorelines. Cleaning up after one another and ourselves out-of-doors is such a fundamental thing, you wouldn't think the topic would warrant much attention this day and age. Well, many of us have seen the trash and it truly is heartbreaking to see.

So the next time you head out to do some shore fishing, make it a point to survey the area when you decide to leave and invest a quick couple of minutes to clean up. I regularly use those small plastic shopping bags and pack out what litter I find. Tie knots using the loop handles and toss them in the garbage can at home. No fuss, no muss. Like I say, it only takes a couple of minutes and you'll feel better for doing it. (Recycle what you can, of course.)

Sacre bleu! I just had a disturbing thought. What in the world would I do if I saw a mime roll down the make-believe window of his invisible car and toss out an imaginary pop can? I'd better take a couple of deep cleansing breaths and find my special Happy Place.

Dan Brown's weekly outdoor column is brought to you by Frankie's Bait and Marine, in Chisago City, and St. Croix Outdoors, in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

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