Felt Soled Waders Banned In Mo Trout Waters!

[ozark trout fisher]

The Conservation Commish I talked to said it will be a "State wide water ban" not just trout waters.

Well that is good news. You have to give the Missouri Department of Conservation credit for being proactive about this, and not waiting until we are already infected to do something about it!

[3wt]

Good point Outside Bend.

3 wt - the article you linked seems to confirm that felt-soled boots ARE a legit transporter of didymo. Read it toward the bottom.

I'm due for some new boots anyway. I'll get the rubber ones. I've always hosed my boots and waders off, and dried them real good out in the sun or set by the furnace, but never went to the lengths of soaking them in any disenfectant or bleach.

It would be great if all the wader boot manafacturers would get on board with this and quit making ANY felt-soled boots and also pull all of their felt boots off the market. But that wouldn't look too good on a profit/loss statement.

Didn't mean to imply anything accept that the article concluded that felt is indeed a culprit. Sorry if I was confusing.

My only real issue is that they're doing this in september not at least one year in advance with warning. The cost is a bummer. But it's worse for guys that jumped on a good deal at closeout time for this gear (right now) and now will have to pony up more cash.

I look forward to any solution that MDC is coming up with to avoid an all out wader boot mass purchase.

If I do end up with new boots I'd definitely look @ the corkers. If they do invent a antimicrobial felt substitute, I'm sure it will be better to swap out the soles than to buy new boots again.

I also really like my william joseph boots. Maybe they can be resoled.

[Outside Bend]

The actions of man caused this, building the dams with bottom discharge causing cooler waters that are hospitable to didymo.

You don't get an infection because your body temperature is 98.6 degrees drew, you get an infection because you're exposed to a pathogen. The White River doesn't have didymo because it's cold, it has didymo because it was exposed to didymo.

Why is it that people HAVE to spend the extra money on wading boots now? They seem to think that all outdoorsmen are made of money, or at least those that fly fish...It is a joke that I am darn sick of.

The average angler spends about $80 bucks per fishing trip, and rubber-soled boots don't cost much more than that. If you're unwilling to give up a fishing trip though, start a penny jar. If you put one in every day from now until March 1, 2012, you'll have plenty of cash for a new pair of legal wading boots. If a penny a day is going to break the bank, you should probably rethink going fishing in the first place.

Oh well, I don't fish in the winter much, but when I do, I wade. Felt for me. until they are pried from my feet. I have spent the money on them, and to be told now that you can't use them is criminal. That is like a school selling a text book, Volume 1, for full price, in April, then in September telling students they need Volume 2 by Christmas. It's terrible.

It's not criminal, it's life. And just like your analogy, throwing a tantrum over how unfair it is won't change the facts- be it that you need Volume 2 by Christmas or that felt soles can infect fisheries with invasive species.

No one forced you to buy felt soles in the first place, you made a choice. Choices have ramifications. Missouri's not the first place to ban felt soles, and the issue's been known for nearly two decades. If you bought felt soles knowing they were being banned elsewhere, but hoping Missouri wouldn't, I don't have much sympathy for you. The writing was on the wall, and you chose to ignore it.

[jdmidwest]

I thought Norfork Fishery was declining because of low water flows and low O2. Or was it the runoff from the new subdivision that was built near the dam? I also thought the Didymo problem was in the Bull Shoal tailwater.

[moguy1973]

The average angler spends about $80 bucks per fishing trip, and rubber-soled boots don't cost much more than that. If you're unwilling to give up a fishing trip though, start a penny jar. If you put one in every day from now until March 1, 2012, you'll have plenty of cash for a new pair of legal wading boots. If a penny a day is going to break the bank, you should probably rethink going fishing in the first place.

I think you'd need to put in a little more than a penny a day. There are only 182 days until march 12th. It would me more around $0.50/day after taxes/shipping for an $80 pair of boots.

[drew03cmc]

You don't get an infection because your body temperature is 98.6 degrees drew, you get an infection because you're exposed to a pathogen. The White River doesn't have didymo because it's cold, it has didymo because it was exposed to didymo.

The average angler spends about $80 bucks per fishing trip, and rubber-soled boots don't cost much more than that. If you're unwilling to give up a fishing trip though, start a penny jar. If you put one in every day from now until March 1, 2012, you'll have plenty of cash for a new pair of legal wading boots. If a penny a day is going to break the bank, you should probably rethink going fishing in the first place.

It's not criminal, it's life. And just like your analogy, throwing a tantrum over how unfair it is won't change the facts- be it that you need Volume 2 by Christmas or that felt soles can infect fisheries with invasive species.

No one forced you to buy felt soles in the first place, you made a choice. Choices have ramifications. Missouri's not the first place to ban felt soles, and the issue's been known for nearly two decades. If you bought felt soles knowing they were being banned elsewhere, but hoping Missouri wouldn't, I don't have much sympathy for you. The writing was on the wall, and you chose to ignore it.

In typical OB fashion you pick and choose what to use. What I said was that the White River chain has didymo because the water temperatures, post dam construction, are now conducive to the spread of didymo.

Wow, you are even more condescending than you were before, but that is okay, I am used to it. Yes, new boots aren't THAT expensive, but for a state to mandate that you MUST wear rubber soles is pretty shady, and a way to get more tax dollars out of us.

I bought felt soles four years ago without knowledge of bans, and bought felt soles because I didn't want to bust my butt on the slick rocks in our spring creeks. From what I hear the rubber soles aren't nearly as good as the felt on the slick stuff, especially shelf rock. I am not asking for your sympathy. Even if something happened that most people would be sympathetic about, you are one of a dozen people here that I would tell to take your sympathy and shove it.

[Gavin]

And who's on your hit list Drew? Please...do tell...I'm waiting...

[Al Agnew]

Guys, here's the deal...according to every study and every biologist you talk to, felt soles are the most likely culprit in the spread of didymo and some other bad stuff. In some places, the didymo is worse than in others, maybe due to differences in water chemistry, but it can be bad, and you really don't want to take the chance. Not everybody is going to be conscientious about doing the extensive washing of wading boots that's necessary to kill it. So the only real solution is to ban felt. So at some point, you have to ban it. When do you do so? When is EVER a convenient time? And once you make the decision, which is certainly not an easy one (and to say it's a way to get more tax dollars out of us is REALLY a reach...I'd like to know just how that works) do you give everybody two years or so to replace their boots, knowing that in two years it might be way too late?

Yes, it sucks on several levels. The expense of buying new boots. The lack of alternatives that are as good on slick rocks as felt. But what other choice do we have?

[fishinwrench]

Yes, it sucks on several levels. The expense of buying new boots. The lack of alternatives that are as good on slick rocks as felt. But what other choice do we have?

The choice to make our own choices is kind of a big one for ME. Some people choose to do most or all of their fishing within their respective region and now have to pay a price (monetarily and in their safety) or be inconvenienced because of guys that choose to travel all over and fish a different river every week.

They are obviously the ones with all the expendable cash..... so just trust them to buy boots that wont spread the deseases they contract by dipping their feet all over the world, and leave the poor homeboys alone. Truck stop prostitutes carry protection...why can't fishermen be trusted to do the same, without government intervention? Pretty soon you wont be able to crawl into bed with your wife without a condom on.

How's THAT for a Saturday morning analogy?

From another angle.... I gotta wonder if neoprene water shoes like all the party floater chicks wear are going to be regulated upon as well? My G/F is gonna be lifted if she has to give up her favorite shoes. That gal takes her shoes pretty serious, lemme tell ya!

[eric1978]

...why can't fishermen be trusted to do the same, without government intervention?

Because they won't. LOL

I'm on the fence about this one. I love my felt, and I hate Vibram soles or any other rubber soles. They're worlds apart when it comes to traction on greased cannonballs and slickrock. You might as well be out there barefoot without felt. Rubber soles suck, studs or no studs, I don't care what anyone says. I've used them, and I've busted my butt with them and nearly broken an ankle several times.

On the other hand, if the only way to protect the streams is to ban felt, then I'm begrudgingly for it, because if you leave it up to the "people," they'll just do whatever they darn well please, just like they always do, and we all know it. I'll continue my habit of listening to scientists when it comes to matters of science. You guys can theorize all the conspiracies you want...this decision isn't about money, it's about preserving what little nature we have left in this country. I'm gonna take the biologists' word for it, bite my tongue, and deal with the PITA of rubber soles. That is all. (That's my new closer...thanks J )