Fishing Industry Unites to Clean Waterways

As I strolled the bank of Nancytown Lake in North Georgia, picking up worm cups, drink bottles, tackle packages and more and stuffing them into a big black bag, I was glad to know that my modest clean-up effort was one piece of something much larger. Throughout that week, at waterways across the nation, companies, agencies and individuals were participating in the Million Pound Challenge by cleaning up rivers, lakes, ponds and creeks.

The Million Pound Challenge, which took place during National Fishing & Boating Week June 6-14, was established by the American Sportfishing Association, which is the trade association that unites the fishing industry. More than 30 companies ranging from tackle manufacturers to media outlets, committed to supporting the campaign, with many paying employees for a day of work to clean up waterways instead of carrying out their normal tasks.

PRADCO Fishing, which owns and operates Lurenet and most of the lure brands represented on Lurenet, stepped up in a major way. On Thursday June 11, the job of PRADCO Fishing employees was to pick up trash around a waterway, making many areas much nicer for anglers and other area users.

“It was such a great experience that PRADCO Fishing had more than 200 teammates in the U.S. and Guatemala pick up 4,918 pounds of trash (nearly 2 ½ tons!) around waterways last week,” said PRADCO Fishing General Manager Bruce Stanton. “We aligned with the American Sportfishing Association’s Million Pound Challenge and gave all teammates a paid day in the field on Thursday to pick up trash in waterways in multiple states and countries."

PRADCO Fishing’s headquarters are in Fort Smith, Arkansas, so many employees participated in organized clean-up efforts at sites in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Remote employees were charged to select a local clean-up site and were sent gloves, bags, a grabber, a scale to weigh the trash collected, and an event t-shirt. More than 25 sites got cleaned up by PRADCO Fishing teams.

“Our team took a day away from their normal work routine to give back to their communities,” said Heather Chaffin, Vice President of People & Culture for PRADCO Fishing. “Working together, everyone felt a strong sense of purpose and fulfillment while supporting stewardship and conservation. We had great success covering our local areas, and I look forward to building on this in the future.”

I selected Nancytown Lake and adjacent Lake Russell for my own clean-up effort because both are popular bank fishing destinations on the Chattahoochee National Forest. Nancytown gets stocked with trout early in the season and is especially popular during that time. Realizing the Forest Service has limited resources, I figured those banks could use a little cleaning.

“It’s very rewarding to work for a company that values sustainability and puts it into action and not just words.” Stanton said. “Our teammates appreciated the opportunity to give back and to demonstrate stewardship with our natural resources.”

PRADCO’s participation in the Million Pound Challenge was a continuation of the company’s ongoing commitment to stewardship. One of the June 11 clean-up sites, Wells Lake, has been getting quarterly clean-ups by PRADCO team members for the past five years. Wells Lake is a highly popular public fishing lake in the Fort Smith area, and PRADCO Fishing has adopted the site, organizing and staffing the clean-up days and assisting with youth fishing events.

In addition to companies and agencies that committed to participation in the Million Pound Challenge, the awareness campaign, including promotion on the fish-logging/social media app, Fishbrain, helped get many individuals involved. More than 5,000 pounds of trash were logged on Fishbrain from app users.

Rebel Lures ambassador Jeff Forester learned about the clean-up effort and thought about the amount of trash he regularly sees around some of his home waters. He and a fishing buddy, Matt Hankins, planned a 5-mile creek float in their kayaks to fish a bit and pick up trash. The creek was muddy from recent rains, limiting fish-catching prospects, but together they collected approximately 75 pounds of trash, which they logged on Fishbrain.