Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Guess I'd have to maintain, it's a personal responsibility. Maintain your gear (boats, trailers, rods, line, waders, boots). Do what it takes to clean them between waters. Save your felt soles for known safe waters. Stay out of didymo waters. Prevention starts with you.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Quote:
Originally Posted by Betty Hiner
Guess I'd have to maintain, it's a personal responsibility. Maintain your gear (boats, trailers, rods, line, waders, boots). Do what it takes to clean them between waters. Save your felt soles for known safe waters. Stay out of didymo waters. Prevention starts with you.
Agreed.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Hi folks,
First, I do not represent a company that makes alternatives to felt soled waders, just an Electrical Equipment Manufacturer. OK, maybe banning all felt soled waders is a little extreme, but by your responses to this post you have helped me make my case. People are lazy, irresponsible, and basically don't give a ####. When you enter this country from a foreign destination you are required to fill out a customs form that asks, besides other other questions, if you have fruit , if you have been on a farm etc. What if one of the questions was " Have you entered a body of water in the country you have visited wearing felt soled waders?" If you answer yes, and customs pulls your still damp felt soled waders out our your duffel bag, is it all right to let customs confiscate them? I think it would be ok. Anyone that can aford a $5000 to $10,000 trip to another country to fish should not give a darn about a $300.00 pair of waders. We have to do something, the importation of invasive species into this country is going to ruin this sport for all of us.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
All waders, fishing gear, boots etc are inspected at Quarantine entry and exit points in both Aus and NZ. Regulations and requirements re cleaning are posted on brochures, and signs at all NZ affected river access points. Sterilizing solution is supplied to anglers free at tackle shops in NZ.
The point was made though that not all of the solution penetrated the felt.
Even if a totally sterile environment could be created, some natural critter would spread the algae on feet or feathers. Best we can do at this point is whatever we can to slow its spread from one river, or country, to another, and one part of a river to another.
It is way too devestating and serious a problem to trust anglers (and other river users) to do "the right thing". That would be disastrous.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
I don't think you have to go through customs when you travel in/out of Arkansas.
I tend to think of fly anglers as the cream of the crop of sportsmen/women. There are more good conservationists among fly anglers than any other group of hunters/fishermen I have encountered.
But I saw something yesterday that made me remember that there are still a lot of jerks out there in straw hats and breathable waders carrying fly rods.
I was fishing a blue ribbon stream in MO. In blue ribbon water, you can keep one trout/day and it must be over 18". This very polite, clean-cut looking gent in a panama hat toting a Sage rod comes wading out of the stream as I was going back in for some evening fishing. He said hello and complimented my Weimaraner. I said thanks and then noticed his stringer. I asked how he did. He hoisted his stringer containing 1 Brown Trout over 20" and 2 Rainbows over 15". I said that was sure a nice Brown, but what are those other 2 for? He laughed and walked away. I walked upstream just a bit and here comes a woman about his age, well outfitted, carrying a single 16-17" Rainbow on a stringer. She too complimented and played with the dog. Very polite. Then she walked on downstream to join her companion...the guy I just met with 2 fish over limit. And hers was under length. (no cell service in that area) They chatted for a bit about my dog and then walked up to their car...
...which was parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF the blue ribbon sign at the access that specifies the creel and fishing regs for that stream. :(
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Supports my point about not trusting people to do the right thing?
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Saying you have a point, but not that it carries the argument.
I have a fundamental problem with the whole notion of government "not trusting people to do the right thing." WHOSE "right thing?"
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
OK I certainly wouldn't want to argue this... Just having seen the absolute devastation that didymo causes in NZ, I am prepared to cut the authorities a little slack if they overreact. In this country we have been complaining for a long time about underreaction from Fisheries on several important issues. I think that when they finally do show an interest and try to protect us from something bad, who cares if it is a bit draconian. We can put up with that, but I'd sure as hell hate to have didymo in any of my precious streams. I'm sure you would agree with me, and I was only making the points about Sports intention of the original post, and that you cannot afford to trust the integrity off all anglers on an issue like this. It only takes one out of a million to totally destroy a fishery for all of us and our descendants. Remember there is no cure for didymo.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
Yes, but you act like it only exists in NZ. Not true at all. We have it in many of our famous trout waters now here in America. And it isn't ruining anything. It's a minor problem that seems to come and go. It's not DDT...then again, neither was DDT according to the science. Our biologists are worried about a LOT of things, but the d-word ranks pretty far down most of those lists even where it is present.
And here's a thought: if draconian rules are put in place to "save our fisheries," will we still be able to fish there? And if not, what's the point?
This stuff all has to be weighed and balanced. Knee-jerk reactions to "boogey men" NEVER work out very well. And if folks weren't still going to NZ chasing high quality trout fishing adventures, the big D would still be stuck in NZ for the most part. So it must not have done such terrible things to the fishing there, or folks wouldn't still be ponying up thousands of dollars to fish over there for a few days.
Re: Spread of Didymo and other stuff
AWWWWWWWW to bad you didn't have cell phone service! :(
They needed to be caught :D