First off a big thanks to two fisherman who live out of state! Fishweewee and Notaro. These guys traveled from abroad to help out and thanks for the laughs Ben. Also, Notaro thanks for helping tug that pile of gill netting off the beach. Now I know Im really out of shape. I feel like I got ranover today after tugging that thing off the beach. Also, to all they other locals like Ed, George, Dave, Dennis, R.J., Durbin, Ben, and Thanks to Steve Medeiros from RISAA for coming over to Newport to snap a few pictures of Dennis grubbing thru the bushes looking for trash. He was looking for a Habs 3oz whos he kidding. Great time had by all and everyone made a diffrence. Hope to see everyone in the fall for another clean up. Thanks
SWE Crew/Newport Fishing Club
The Saltwater Edge and Newport County Fishing Club joined together on Saturday, April 17th to help out and clean up areas of the city. As a group we chose to clean up a few areas that local fisherman know and love. At about 9:45am the cars started pulling in and before long we were all jumping in someone’s vehicle for the short ride to the first stop, Ledge Rd. The crew consisted of 8 people from as far away as Western Connecticut and Boston . We all grabbed our gloves and trash bags, made a plan to meet back in an hour or so, and set off cleaning up the area. The trash consisted mostly of bottles, cans, bags, broken glass, empty bait boxes, fishing line, broken lobster traps, gill nets, and other odds and ends. We stayed at Ledge Rd. for about an hour and a half covering from Baylies Beach all the way around to Doris Dukes. In comparison to the other areas covered, this area was the worst as far as trash goes. We all met back at the road and couldn’t believe the amount of trash we gathered. One key find at this stop was Durbin Wells with his catch of the day, a Roberts Ranger in green in pretty good shape. See it’s not always trash you find right!
The next stop was Wetmore Ave. which is located just south of the Breakers Mansion off Ruggles Ave. This is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Cliff Walk which runs along mansions like the Marble House, Rose Cliff, and thru tunnel systems near the old observation building and under the Tea House. The town has done a great job of cleaning up the over grown areas on the path providing more room for people to walk without losing view of the mansions and rocky shoreline. We started right at the parking area cleaning up more bottle and cans. Then we decided to break up into small groups and started just south of the Breakers and made our way south on the Cliff Walk toward the Tea House. The garbage in this area was nowhere near as bad as Ledge Rd. Mostly smaller items with the occasional milk create or washed up debris. Finding smaller items was great because it provided a little time for people who never fished this area to pick the brain of Newport County Fishing Club President, Dennis Zambrota. Dennis is a Newport native and has fished the local water for years. He had some great stories and hints on when and where to fish so the guys who did come left with some great knowledge of the fishery. We then made our way back to the vehicles, snapped a few pictures, swapped stories of the findings, and before long it was time for everyone to head home to finish up the “honey-do lists”. Overall, the clean up was a success and we hope to have more participants in the fall when we do another clean up. On behalf of The Saltwater Edge and Newport County Fishing Club, we want to thank everyone who turned out and helped make Newport a cleaner place. We would also like to thank the City Of Newport for providing bags and gloves for the event. Thanks to all who helped and contributed to this great event. Thank You!