Proper decon to kill potentially invasive species

[Six-Gun]

Last time out, I noticed a lot of tiny snails in the water I was fishing. They could be nothing to worry about, but I don't want to chance it. Though the heat here is Las Vegas dries stuff out at over heat levels in short order, we are not immune to aquatic invasive species problems as evidenced by the zebra mussel infestation in Lake Mead.

What is the proper/preferred way to decontaminate boots and waders?

 

[BrookieChaser]

I hose my boots and waders off with freshwater. Then let them sit in the sun and dry.

I'm of the consensus that a waterborne invasive species will not survive once the garments have dried.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, completely drying the gear will do it. Keeping in mind it can take weeks for felt soles to fully dry.

I've heard of people freezing it, not sure if that works.

Bleach works. I'd dry everything else, which dries quickly. If you have felt soles, get one of those little plastic tubs. Fill it a few inches deep with bleach and water mixed. Set shoes in so that it covers the felt. Leave for 20 minutes or so. Then rinse good with water. That oughta do it.

 

[Six-Gun]

Thanks, guys. Message received and applied. My present boots are Simms Guide Boots with the StreamTread/Vibram outsole. Here in the desert, they dry extremely quickly since they have no felt, but I also did due dilligence to scrub them down with a hard-bristle plastic brush to remove the caked-on mud that could hold microcritters. I set them out to dry as suggested, but minus the bleach since there really is nothing to leech into on these. In the future, I do want to get a set of cheap felt boots as spares, so I have definitely noted using bleach in the future.

 

[JackM]

With felts, it wouldn't be overkill to bleach, rinse and then thoroughly dry afterwords. They aren't mutually exclusive processes. This way, if the drying isn't thorough, you probably are going to be OK.

 

[jdaddy]

There are much better anti-microbial agents out there that are much less caustic to your gear and friendlier to the environment than bleach.

While you are in LV just toss them in the driveway for about 10 minutes and you will be good to go, lol.

 

[Six-Gun]

jdaddy wrote:

While you are in LV just toss them in the driveway for about 10 minutes and you will be good to go, lol.

I hear ya! I am spoiled rotten in that I can spray down the back patio and within 15 minutes, walk outside without a worry that I'll track wet prints into the house. People think I'm exaggerating about how fast stuff dries out here. Fishing gear dries amazingly fast, even into the boot liners.

 

[pcray1231]

No felts, dry atmosphere. Just clean the mud off with water, and let em dry for a day or two before using them here. I don't think you're gonna track anything from LV.

That said, once here is where you have to be a little careful, going from stream to stream. Didymo is the one that's currently getting headlines, and we're trying not to spread it to streams that don't yet have it, or at least slow that spread. And our streams are pretty close, so it's not uncommon for anglers to fish several within a day or two.

 

[Six-Gun]

Any recommended action when travelling from stream to stream to mitigate the didymo? Turth be told, I do plan to do some nomadic fishing the day that I head up to Clinton Co. I figure I owe it to the state to make an effort to either avoid places that have it or decon to the best of my ability while fishing different waters.

 

[pcray1231]

http://www.fishandboat.com/water/habitat/ans/didymo/faq_didymo.htm

Cleaning instructions are on the above link. Generally, waders are pretty easy to wash. Even without felt, boots are still the danger, as even the uppers, laces, etc. take longer to dry and have lots of nooks and crannies which make cleaning more difficult. Some just have multiple pairs of boots and switch out.

To my knowledge, the only stream KNOWN to contain didymo up that way is big Pine. That said, we're just getting a handle on it, and it's likely more streams have it than is known.

 

[Six-Gun]

Sweet - the detergent solution sounds like way to go since it's pretty impactical to keep hot water on my all day long.