Jess:

Thanks for the report.  If I had to bet, I would say that the trash was left by a non-member.  Some lakes do get fished by non-members, like owner's invitees.   Sometimes, they get fished by trespassers, despite best efforts by the club and the owner.

In fact, I ran into non-members fishing Athen NE last year.   I had to politely ask them to leave.  It's rare, but it happens.

Doesn't Athens NE have that gas production (or the like) road that circles around the dam - I kind of wondered if that could be the source of the non-member fishing (and perhaps trashing) in this case.

It is definitely a possibility considering the amount of oil and gas traffic that passes by the lake. Hypothetically, If I were to illegally fish a lake, however, I would probably not leave evidence right beside the boat launch. Maybe it is trespassers and I'm overestimating their intelligence. At any rate, a little PSA reminder doesn't hurt. 

Thanks for the reminder to our members about our trash policy. We have a zero tolerance policy regarding any member or member guest leaving any trash. Leaving trash is cause for membership termination. Our suggestion is to call or email the club office if you see something that should not be at any club property. Give us a chance to remedy the situation internally. We will speak to the last reservation or two to review our policies and to gently remind them the importance of following club rules and policies.

If you were to arrive at a property and find a person or persons fishing, again call the club office. Of course politely asking the relationship of the party fishing to the property owner can be a good idea, but I don't want any member to get in an uncomfortable situation. Call the club office and allow us to work with the property owner to figure out rather the person is an invited or uninvited guest. It is never our intention for you to find anyone fishing the lake you reserved. This goes against our lake rest procedures and understanding we have with our landowners.

In conclusion, please use the fishing report section to tell our members about the fishing. If you see something that you feel is "not right" please call us, but please don't use the fishing report section to share these concerns. Many of our landowners read the fishing report section and we want our reports to stick to the fishing. We want to know if you found anything about the property not up to par, but please tell the club through email or phone. It takes just one remark in a fishing report to offend a landowner and thus cost us the lease opportunity. If you have any questions regarding your thoughts about this, please call and we would be happy to explain in greater detail.