Felt sole ban in Alaska

[bonefishwhisperer]

I will be sure to ask Sarah about the ban if I see here when I go back...could be at my 30yr high school reunion this summer...

[Silver Creek]

There is no chemical treatment that is safe for gear and safe for the environment. Chemical treatments eventually damage gear plus any residual will enter the watershed when you go wading the next time. Bleach for example is an oxidizer and damages gear. Any spill or drips in your vehicle will damage upholstery and carpets.

I e-mailed both Simms and Patagonia the following question, "What decontamination methods for Dydimo, NZ Mud Snails, Whirling Disease, and Zebra Mussels are effective and approved by you for your Waders and Boots? Are these methods safe for your gear and are the damages from these methods covered under your warranty?"

Simms never answered. Patagonia said that they recommend no chemical treatments. They recommend inspecting, cleaning with H2O and a scrub brush, and drying wading gear.

Patagonia helped fund this California study on wading gear for NZ mud snails that tested how long chemicals took to kill mud snails and what damage those chemicals did to wading gear.

http://www.scwa2.com/documents/NZMS/...eport%2003.pdf

Although the study showed that chemicals killed the NZ mud snails, they also damaged gear. At this point, there is no chemical treatment that is authorized as safe by Patagonia for gear and it will void your warranty. Simms never responded with an approved chemical treatment that would be covered by their warranty.

I think if you take a few trips a year, chemical treatments between watersheds will cause minimal damge. But you do so at your own risk.

[Silver Creek]

I finally heard from Simm's. They approve of washing with fresh water just like Patagonia. Since they mention bleach, I have asked if the warranty covers exposure to bleach.

"Thank you for contacting Simms Fishing Products. Washing your waders and boots down after every use with fresh water is really the most effective way to prevent the spread of ANS. Some people do use a mild bleach solution on their boots, but even this has not been proven to 100% stop the spread. For more information please visit

http://simmsfish.blogspot.com/2009/0...-contacts.html

[Donat]

This is a good description of Didymo and some pretty easy cleaning methods, but like anything else you can lead a horse to water but you can't make the horse drink.
http://www.gmtrout.com/untitled89/index.html

[fishdog54]

All,

Can someone tell me why the outright ban? Why can't we use a little common sense here? Why could't you use your felts on a single river/creek until they're worn out? Can you turn in your hardly used or in some cases a pair that is new in the box (never worn) felts and get a discount on a new safer pair? I want to stop or at least slow down the spread of this stuff as much as the next person but why not let folks use felts as long as they stay in the same creek? For example here in Penna. I fish Penns Creek enough to actually make it feasible for me to own a pair of felts that would only be worn there. What's the problem with this scenario? The manufacturers could sell their remaining stock of felts (at a discount?) and I could use up the brand new pair that I already purchased. Many of us have always kept a back-up pair (BRAND NEW) for emergencies!!! Is there something I'm not getting here? Please, someone enlighten me!!!!! BTW, I do know that Pa. has not acted on any of this yet and don't know what , if any plans they do have.

Best regards, Dave S. (fishdog54)

[AlbaSurf]

Disclaimer: I know nothing about felt soles or wading boots, so please pardon my ignorance. I just have a couple questions, not about the legal side of anything, but about tactics to decrease transfer of organisms between watersheds.

Wouldn't it be pretty effective to let the felt boots dry out completely between different bodies of water? If these organisms live in water, it makes sense that depriving them of that water, and then maybe scrubbing them, when dry, with a copper brush or blowing a hot hair-dryer on them would take care of them pretty well. (Or do they just hibernate and spring back to life when submerged again?)
Or, if you are using them in freshwater, wouldn't letting them soak in saltwater for a while kill all the little freshwater-critters? And salt in that minute quantity wouldn't be harmful to a stream or river like bleach would.

What do you guys think - would these techniques be at all effective?

[nighthawk]

Hey Alaska and all others that have drunk from this bottle how are you going to decontaminate all of the waterfowl that migrate and carry these critters from watershed to watershed?

Any decent responsible person that enjoys water sports will keep their gear clean. I cannot fix the bums out there and refuse to be punished for their actions. Nature has a way of taking care of her own without the intervention of some do-good type in a political office.

[branhap]

Whirling disease can live months out of water, and even through freezing temps for that same duration.

This is an older topic, and I'm not going to get into the politics of banning felt, because there is still plenty of locations on our gear that transfer water/organisms. In addition to other animals transferring it. The reason why felt has come under fire is that it has been found to carry the largest population of organisms on fishing gear, regardless of how a person tries to clean their equipment. For instance, a 24 hour soak in bleach for your felt boots only gets 70% penetration.

Of course, while I've seen plenty of people mention waterfowl as transferring harmful organisms between water ways, I've never seen a study on how many organisms a bird will carry if it is flying for say 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc. So even this form of reasoning doesn't completely jibe with me. I prefer to make my decisions on facts, not assumptions.

FWIW my boots are Simms Vibram soles as many rumors have been going around for the past couple of years about banning felt in Jellystone.

[nighthawk]

Whirling disease can live months out of water, and even through freezing temps for that same duration.

This is an older topic, and I'm not going to get into the politics of banning felt, because there is still plenty of locations on our gear that transfer water/organisms. In addition to other animals transferring it. The reason why felt has come under fire is that it has been found to carry the largest population of organisms on fishing gear, regardless of how a person tries to clean their equipment. For instance, a 24 hour soak in bleach for your felt boots only gets 70% penetration.

Of course, while I've seen plenty of people mention waterfowl as transferring harmful organisms between water ways, I've never seen a study on how many organisms a bird will carry if it is flying for say 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc. So even this form of reasoning doesn't completely jibe with me. I prefer to make my decisions on facts, not assumptions.

FWIW my boots are Simms Vibram soles as many rumors have been going around for the past couple of years about banning felt in Jellystone.

Whirling disease started here in Pennsylvania. Penn State University, the PFBC and just about any other center of higher education has come here to do extensive studies on the disease and how it is spread. Here is one source of reference:

http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hit...ng_disease.php

It has been a long time since I read the papers on this but I am certain that if you email the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission they will put you onto the proper source. I must tell you that i have neither the time nor the patience to do this for you since you make unfounded assumptions about me. You assumed that I don't use any facts. Just because I didn't post them does not make your assumption true. I don't make assumptions about you and I will thank you kindly not to make assumptions about me!

[branhap]

No need to take it personally. Just an observation. Even the site you reference, just says that water-fowl carry the disease from watershed to watershed, but nowhere on their site do they reference a single study to support the claim. Their two main references for information on whirling disease are actually not available any more. They take you to placeholder ad sites now. (To me that says quite a bit about the site that you referenced as being more politically driven than science based.)

Like you, I'm not one to drink the kool-aid. I prefer to see the data behind a claim, whether it be lead gear, or transport of diseases.

Paul