Felt Soles For Your Soul

[EddieRay]

Really, so when didymo shows up why do they immediately insist that it was brought there on fishermens boots ?

I'll tell ya why, because it's convenient and another window for manipulation. They know the majority will buy into it if they keep repeating it long enough. Have any of the hotshot biologists even taken an aquarium and a boot and TRIED to transfer it ? I'll bet it isn't as easy IRL as it looks on paper.

There are studies. Whether one chooses to believe them or not, or question the validity of the study methodology, is up for debate. The attached article quotes one of the original didymo studies and a more recent one. The study links are highlighted in the article.

http://www.stopans.org/Science_of_felt.php

[Wayne SW/MO]

Eric, FYI you have to take the boots off first. 3/4 inch, hmmmm?

I heard or read that they thought there was some Didymo below Powersite, but I don't know if it was confirmed. There was spot there that cut line like a razor blade, or zebra's.

[Chief Grey Bear]

* Do not transport any LIVE FISH, BAIT, OTHER CRITTERS, PLANTS, OR WATER from one body of water to another.

Great post Dano. We should all be following that advice!

Really, so when didymo shows up why do they immediately insist that it was brought there on fishermens boots ?

I'll tell ya why, because it's convenient and another window for manipulation.

Or that for the last few thousand years it has not been spread by any other means. Hell they haven't even pegged this one on the Herons yet. But you guy's hadn't thought of that one. I am surpised you haven't blamed them for Aids.

[fishinwrench]

I don't "do" herons, so I think I'm safe there.

[Al Agnew]

My fly fishing buddies got the non-felt boots, and hated them. They just haven't come up with a material that works as well as felt yet. I still use felt, but I have one set of wading boots that stays in Montana and only gets used on Montana rivers, and another set that stays in Missouri. I also pay attention, and if I thought there was diddymo or other really bad stuff in the stream I was in, I'd do a thorough cleaning.

A number of years ago, before I knew what diddymo was, I encountered it on the Boulder River in Montana. Nasty stuff. But...with all the anglers that were fishing the Boulder and then going to a bunch of other Montana rivers (and this was back when everybody used felt) you'd have thought it would have spread all over southern Montana. But it didn't, and after a couple of years it actually disappeared from the Boulder.

I'll switch over from felt in a minute as soon as the replacement is effective, because there's no doubt that felt transmits bad stuff. But until then, I'll be careful about where I use it and how I clean it.

[Greg]

This is an interesting subject. I've got a pair of felt sole simms I'm currently using. I'd planned to replace them soon with the new generation of sticky rubber boots. Just not sure after reading some of these comments.

On the one hand I agree with the Chief totally. We should be leading the way (as sportsmen) in preventing the spread of this invasive. Even if felt soles aren't totally responsible for didymo spread - I think there's enough evidence that it's part of the equation. And that should be enough.

However to risk serious injury? Wow that's a game changer if they really don't work nearly as well. I sometimes wade in some treacherously slick areas. And a serious injury doesn't just affect me - I have a wife, kids, 2 dogs (LOL), and an elderly mother that all depend on me...............

Greg

[flytyer57]

Having gone from felt to vibram, I can say that I really have not noticed a big difference. I have not waded the White or the Norfork with felt, but there are some pretty slippery limestone rocks on Crooked Creek that I have waded with felt. Trust me, nothing is going to save your a** on that stuff. It's slippery and that's all there is to it.

Having said that, I am glad to be making the switch away from felt. With all the hype and reports that say felt is the problem, I see no sesnse in being the last holdout on switching.

Now to find some way to make my vibram soles a little less slippery on that cottonpickin limestone.

[fishinwrench]

Myself I only wear waders/felt sole boots on 4 Missouri streams, I only make it to Arkansas about once a year on average and I've pretty much quit fishing Taney completely (not that I don't like it, I do, but it's a haul for me and if I'm driving that far I'd just as soon go somewhere that horns don't blow and run me off the stream as soon as I get there.

I'm self employed and live a pretty simple life, I don't go traveling all over the darn country...unless it's a special occasion I fish fairly close to home, so I'm not gonna go out and buy new boots that are a hindrance and risk a fall just because some of you nation-wide travelers might bring something home from one of your spendy cross country jaunts.

Hell I can't afford health insurance and don't have much of a nest egg built up, so if I break a wrist, or worse, because of a bad step in a place where I'm used to being able to navigate without too much caution, it could put me in the poor house.

I don't know how financially secure everyone else here is, but loosing 4-6 weeks worth of work could have me wearing those Vibram boots to bed at night in a van down by the river eating hotdogs and instant potatoes.

[Al Agnew]

Rocks can be so slick that even felt won't help much, but felt is still better than the other stuff. But I gotta say...if you're really worried about falling down and breaking something, the first thing you need no matter what soles you're wearing is a good collapsible wading staff. Mine has saved my bacon many times. There isn't much that's more difficult to wade than the softball to basketball size, rounded, algae covered rocks of a lot of western rivers including the Yellowstone. Add to that high volume, fast water that's knee to thigh deep, and a wading staff is a necessity. This past spring, I didn't bring the wading staff one day when I was only going to be fishing a wide, shallow riffle that I'd waded across numerous times before. I was halfway across when a foot slipped off the top of one rock and wedged into a gap between two rocks, and I lost my balance. The wading staff would have kept me stable and upright...as it was, I got a high ankle sprain that took more than two months to fully heal.

[drew03cmc]

Rocks can be so slick that even felt won't help much, but felt is still better than the other stuff. But I gotta say...if you're really worried about falling down and breaking something, the first thing you need no matter what soles you're wearing is a good collapsible wading staff. Mine has saved my bacon many times. There isn't much that's more difficult to wade than the softball to basketball size, rounded, algae covered rocks of a lot of western rivers including the Yellowstone. Add to that high volume, fast water that's knee to thigh deep, and a wading staff is a necessity. This past spring, I didn't bring the wading staff one day when I was only going to be fishing a wide, shallow riffle that I'd waded across numerous times before. I was halfway across when a foot slipped off the top of one rock and wedged into a gap between two rocks, and I lost my balance. The wading staff would have kept me stable and upright...as it was, I got a high ankle sprain that took more than two months to fully heal.

Wrench, I feel you about not being able to afford health insurance and having ZERO nest egg built up. It absolutely sucks and in this economy, I am doing what I can with what I have. I travel to fish when I can and I enjoy it. I am hoping I can find a job that pays better someplace that is cheaper to live.