Old fishing line can be an environmental hazard. Most, if not all, anglers know that discarded or broken monofilament fishing line poses an environmental danger to birds, animals and fish. It may come as a surprise to most to learn that modern fishing line can last 600 years in the water.  To put it in perspective, if Columbus had monofilament fishing line available when he landed at Plymouth Rock in 1492, and if he had lost some of that line while fishing, it could still be another 77 years before that line breaks down.  Now that's a long time!  The challenge is to find a way to properly dispose of old or unwanted line.  

In an effort to help anglers reduce the amount of line left in Outing area lakes and dumps, Lake Washburn Association, in cooperation with the DNR Parks & Trails Division, has installed a fishing line recovery and recycling container at the Lake Washburn public landing, which is located just off County Road 48/Lake Washburn Road. All anglers who need to dispose of fishing line are invited to simply deposit their old line in the container (line only, please).  The line collected there will be shipped to Berkley Fishing Line Recycling in Iowa.  It will be reprocessed into a Berkley Fish-Hab, an artificial, underwater habitat structure made from the line and line spools, along with other post-consumer materials like milk cartons and soft drink bottles.

Lake Washburn Association maintains the container site.  

We encourage anglers to make a special effort to retrieve line accidentally broken off while caught on rocks, tree branches and other snags.  

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