I’ve reported about fishing on the American River in Sacramento a few of times. A couple of times Shad fishing and once Striper fishing. I regularly follow the forums on Fish Sniffer.Com. Recently I’ve become concerned about what’s happening on the American River Parkway.
Most Fishermen go after Shad and Stripers early in the morning or late into the evening. A lot of the recent posts are showing signs of a growing danger in that area. One, I would suspect, stems from our current economy. An increasing number of homeless are taking up residence along the parkway. Many, it seems, are using robbery to obtain items to sell or to maintain their drug habit.
In recent days, I’ve noticed an increase number of posts stating fishermen walking to the river in the early morning hours being accosted by knife welding indigents. It’s a shame that, to fish, you have to carry defensive weapons and sometime brandish them just to indulge in a sport we all love.
There was one post where a guy was walking to the river in the dark and had he not seen the red tip of a cigarette, he would not have noticed a guy hiding in the bushes beside the trail. Another problem that’s happening is, these “crack/crank heads/tweekers”, a direct quote from the forum, are breaking into cars and trucks while the guys are on the river fishing.
These incidences are occurring all along the river from Nimbus to Howe Avenue and beyond. This is not the only problem. There have been numerous Mountain Lion sightings, Rattlesnake encounters, an occasional American alligator, Nile crocodile and a herd of baby sasquatch. OK, that’s a little off, but what I’m saying is, be careful out there.
My last question is,” Why isn’t the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department addressing this problem”? They have to know. There have been, as of this writing, 4444 readings of this one forum alone. Where’s a cop when you need one? I forgot, Arnold is cutting the budget so there will be less law enforcement on the streets. Not the police’s fault they have less men. They just won’t have time to protect us lowly fishermen from being accosted by homeless druggies trying to steal our equipment. All it’s going to cause is more packing and someday, one of them will get shot, then what?
Just a personal opinion.
Shoreman
Shoreman - Sure hate to see what I read in this post. I totally agree with your thoughts here. No one enjoys participating in our outdoor activities we pursue when worried about violence coming to call. Take care, my friend.
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