Didymo reported

[Stevie-B]

This is for those who fish or will fish the Gundpowder River in MD. I stopped in at one the fly shops in the area and the shop employee told me that Didymo was reported in the upper reaches of the river. So next time you fish it, remember to was your gear.

 

[jerseygeorge]

Steve- My boots are in clorox and water as we speak. Fished the Delaware this weekend. They have rock snot in the east branch and main stem. None so far in the west branch. While I did not personally see any, I believe it blooms with more sun and increasing temps.

NY State has done a good job of posting signs with maps at all of the access areas. It is our responsibility to do the right thing.

 

[Padraic]

Here's some background on what Didymo is. (It's not a rapper, as you might have originally thought) There is a section on preventing the spread as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didymosphenia_geminata

 

[Mike]

Yes, Md. has confirmed this report and is suggesting that anglers consider switching back to rubber boots (feltless). The news release also says that a new soft soled rubber boot is now available that provides good grip.

Now here is where the advocates for stream protection may have to take a deep breath and do the right thing. Anyone for banning felts? Yes, one can treat felts with Clorox, etc., but do you really trust all anglers to do this?

 

[jerseygeorge]

Mike-

Short answer, no. Personally, I will go to Korkers. You have a choice of felt, rubber and the studs. Freezing kills rock snot, so I will only have to take the felts out, put the inserts in the freezer for a few hours, and the problem is solved.

I think you are saying the best answer is to get rid of felt, and I think you are right.

Geo

 

[TimMurphy]

Mike wrote:
Yes, Md. has confirmed this report and is suggesting that anglers consider switching back to rubber boots (feltless). The news release also says that a new soft soled rubber boot is now available that provides good grip.

Now here is where the advocates for stream protection may have to take a deep breath and do the right thing. Anyone for banning felts? Yes, one can treat felts with Clorox, etc., but do you really trust all anglers to do this?

Dear Mike,

Maybe the yuppie gadabouts who brought this crap to our shores should have to pay for it?

It's not an "American" disease, we didn't bring it here so why should I give a sh*t?

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[jayL]

Tim,

I say we go to war. Seems to be the way these things work.

 

[Padraic]

Aquastealth soles wouldn't hold this algae, not after you clean it with clorox. Easier to clean than felt anyway.

 

[LarryFine]

The “right” thing to do is ban fishing NOT felts…

…or is the resource less important than the fishing opportunities?

When you are wading you are disturbing the alga so it ISN’T just on the stream bottom contaminating ONLY your felts soles. The Didymo diatom is microscopic and can get into a lot more than just felt like for example: the laces, leather, and fabric of wading shoes. Add to that the fabric on your waders or wet wading gear, flies, leaders, leader knots, furled & braided butt leaders and any thing else that comes in contact with infested waters.

Are y’all Cloroxing that too?

How about ducks & geese and those dogs getting their retrieving training? What about watercraft? Are you scrubbing down your boat, anchor, along with Fido & Donald?

I doubt it.

Anything less than a total gear scrub down is about as much a guarantee as perforated condom or a border wall.

The shoe washers and felt banners are just fooling themselves and anybody who will listen into believing they are preventing anything because THEY are unwilling to do the most effective thing which is NOT fishing infested places. They are also not willing to buy a complete separate set of wading gear and everything else so they can be POSITIVE they are not spreading Didymo.

Hand washing hasn’t eliminated the common cold and gear washing won’t eliminate Didymo because nobody will be 100% effective at doing it. It’s like the other fly fisherman’s fantasy bubble that gets burst daily but never acknowledged: not all fish caught & released by fly fisherman live to be caught another day. Sorry if I ruined that one for you too.

As for me I’ll just skip the Didymo waters for now and keep using my felts everyplace else. I’m not going to break my neck with rubber or AquaStealth (which I find to have WAY less traction) while trying in vain to prevent the spread of something I know will end up everywhere despite how hard you try to prevent it.

Try fishing someplace else or buy a second set of gear if you REALLY care.

 

[Squaretail]

I have to admit, what Larry wrote did come to mind. I will still do my part if I fish infested waters but it seems it will only help slow the spread, not eliminate it. Even if I were to get a different set of wading gear the waterfowl will still swim and fly.
Good lord I can only imagine that crap on my homewaters.

 

[Mike]

LarryFine raises a good point. We biologists are all getting second sets of gear, such as boots, nets, etc., so that besides treatment options, we can also just always have a set drying out.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

while Larry does have a point, when i read his post, he comes off as thinking we dont care. If we didnt care why would we spend countless hours restoring streams? :roll:

 

[Stevie-B]

Mike,

Is there any talk of creating an herbacide or something to control it?

 

[LarryFine]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
while Larry does have a point, when i read his post, he comes off as thinking we dont care. If we didnt care why would we spend countless hours restoring streams?

Sal:

While my intention is not to pick on you or imply my response is directed at you; most fishermen I know do restoration work so the habitat improves which subsequently improves the fishing…for them. Have you or anyone you fish with ever done work on a stream you DON'T fish just because it's good for the habitat? Before you ask; yes I have, many times. That doesn’t make me a better person or degrade any of your noble local efforts but my point is what’s more important, the fishery or the fishing?

I have also heard many folks espouse the opinion that they are against public funds being used for improvements on streams that are on private property which again adds fuel to my opinion that "Resource First" really only applies to the PFBC. How many out there make a donation to the CAP fund? I have heard arguments against from some because they couldn’t direct the money to their favorite local stream.

Most of us C & R because we feel it is the right thing to do for various reasons but lets face it; if we REALLY cared about the fish especially the little ones we know we’ll catch in our favorite brookie streams; we wouldn’t fish in a lot of places we do or maybe not at all.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not advocating banning fishing or anything that radical but it seems to me that a lot of fishermen take the convenient route when it comes to conservation as in what’s the least disruptive or least expensive option for THEM.

To me; the resource comes first because without it there would be no fishing. I HAVE multiple sets of gear but to be honest; I really don't believe it will help prevent the spread of Didymo for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post. Instead I have made a conscious decision to leave the Didymo infested streams to the biologists to study and to those that just HAVE to continue fishing there. There are LOTS of other places for me to go which is the same reason I just move on when the no trespassing signs appear or the fishery just needs a break.

My ultimate point after all of this drivel is: do we really care enough to do the right thing when it comes to Didymo or are we just fooling ourselves while taking the easy way out, because we still want to fish the Gunpowder?

I also guess another part of me just doesn’t want to see guys in felt soled waders getting the evil eye from the AquaStealth shoe scrubbing crowd like the Prius gang scorns SUV drivers. I just hate it when some high & mighty convenient conservationist points the finger of blame at everyone else when they themselves are also contributing but just won’t admit it because they are adorned with the latest “green badge of honor”.

So scrub away if you feel that is the answer but don’t look down your nose at me in my felts when the inevitable happens. Remember; I’m the guy NOT fishing the Gunpowder.

Blame the ducks!

;-)

 

[Padraic]

"While my intention is not to pick on you or imply my response is directed at you; most fishermen I know do restoration work so the habitat improves which subsequently improves the fishing…for them. Have you or anyone you fish with ever done work on a stream you DON'T fish just because it's good for the habitat?"

Yes. And I have donated to Watershed Associations where I have not fished simply because I thought they had good programs etc. And I am not alone in that.

For someone who says, "don't look down your nose at me because you are wearing the latest green badge" you come off badly.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Larry,

I apologize for my comments. As it happens so many times with the internet, it can be so impersonal when reading a post that the points, or rather emotions of the words get lost in the mix.

I agree with everything you said. I have fished the Gunpowder years ago but havent since. I really plan dont plan on fishing it now that didymo has been reported on it.

I also agree with you points on fisheries. I have said many times in the past that some brookie streams should be no fishing and used as studies to monitor brook trout populations. Also as a conservation effort to keep naturally reproducing brook trout in the state when global warming and other factors such as agriculture and acid rain (or what ever) threaten a watershed. Iam not saying all waters but some. It would be nice to see at least some waters all around the state like this.

I have donated to CAP and feel that the cause is a great one. It doesnt effect me either way what fisheries they plan to use the money on because I travel alot. Besides that having any more publicland is always in our best interest. I do love just sitting by a lake and eating lunch.

I do agree to some extent about public funds going to public streams first. There are some fisheries here in Lancaster that are in dier need of support, all of which are on publicland. If we choose to fix privately owned streams first, no one will get to use the resource. I do agree in the resource first which is why I have mixed emotions on that subject.

What I dont agree on is that

I have also heard many folks espouse the opinion that they are against public funds being used for improvements on streams that are on private property which again adds fuel to my opinion that "Resource First" really only applies to the PFBC.

While they put out an article about a meeting they had explaining resource first, it has been the very lack of concern about stocking over our wild trout fisheries rather than putting money into them that concerns me. Always has and always will. I understand the view about lost revenue, maximizing fishing oppurtunites and catering to masses. All of these are conflicting with the resource first policy they are now trying to put in place. There has always been alot of talk on this board about "realist" and "idealist" ways of thinking. Why is it the realist point of view that want stocked fish to rip off one by one as fast as we can? Isnt that an idealist point of view. I can picture 2 guys fishing a hole long before stocking., one says to the other......."I wish we could load the stream with bigger, more aggressive fish that way we could catch one every 30 seconds." To me that is idealism at its finest. The realist go and look for less crowded conditions and catch a fair amount of fish .....without stocking. I wait and see though, its now in the PFBC court to stick to thier guns and make me have faith again in them as an organization.

Sorry again Larry I wasent trying to point you out or chastize your view. In fact I agree full heartedly....its just hard to read these posts sometimes and get the persons demeanor from them. :-D

 

[LarryFine]

Sal:

I'm glad we agree although I wasn't trying to win an argument or convince anyone to give up fishing! No apology was required as I only wanted to try and clarify MY opinion which can be as wrong as anyone else's and often is.

I also possibly made a weird analogy when I mentioned the PFBC & Resource First. I didn't mean it as an endorsement of the absolute application of their mission statement. I probably should have said "resource first only applied to the extreme non-fishing conversationalists out there".

I choose my path based on my own convictions as I'm sure the you do. I really didn't intend for my replies to become a "I care more than you do" kinda thing. I just think that there is a lot of misinformation and optimism going on with this Didymo thing and I sadly know in my heart that if it's in the Gunpowder it won't be long before it shows up in South Central PA.

Good fishing isn't an entitlement nor should it only be available to those that give or have the most. To me those that are willing to give UP the most will be the ones most richly rewarded.

I just bothers me that we always waste so much time looking for someone else to blame when the mirror is so convenient.

;-)

Good fishin!

 

[JustFish]

think we all can agree that finger pointing is for children and I feel that most of the people on this site are for getting to the root of the problem and doing what we need to do.

I agree with LarryFine on the idea of just not fishing that body of water. That is the only way you can be 100% sure that you are helping to eliminate the spread, not contribute.

I had just recently broke my leg and will not be on the water to August. My coordination is tough enough with felt let alone rubber in the water. Most guys I see, especially the older ones are wearing felt anyway. Point is is that the spread of this isn't going to be halted b/c felt isn't worn anymore.

In my profession gross decontamination is part of the work day. It is highly intricate and takes time and a lot of patience. You may be getting most of it off but are you getting all of it off? I think from Pad's link it said the spores were microscopic? If so the risk of you spreading is still there regardless of what bottoms you wear on your shoes. Now don't get me wrong obviously with felt bottoms your going to collect a lot more. But like I previously said I won't be fishing those waters anyway.

In regards to people misreading posts, I think we need to read and ask questions first and not be so quick to jump down each others' throats. The internet is impersonal and if you have never met that person you don't know what one's idea of joking is vs. another's on here. I have replied to several posts that I took as attacks and the reponse was that I don't have a sense of humor. If you met me you would know I love busten chops and like mine beeing busted back. But on hear I think a little more care should be taken. I am here to share my knowledge with you and to absorb yours.

Sorry for the long post guys. I got a screw in my leg last Wednsday and have extreme cabin fever. My surgeon told me I have the same injury T.O. had when he was in Philly but mine is worse. I have been in LALA land due to the pain killers the past week. I am yearning to get out and fish and I still haveanother nine weeks to go. PLEASE SYMPHATHIZE!!!!!!!!!! For you guys going to the jam goodluck and I hope that you guys do well there and have a good time. Maybe next year for me! It would be better if I met a lot of you guys. It would make for easier interpitations of posts!

 

[Padraic]

Justfish,

Not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to extend my wishes for a speedy recovery. I especially hope the pain subsides quickly. My own accident involved very little pain, which I am very grateful for. I hope you find a way to spend the time off the water profitably. I've been reading about US history. It's a great way to gain some perspective on current political fights.

 

[JustFish]

Thanks Padraic,

History channel, military channel, discovery channel and tying flies has been easing the pain and boredom a bit. Thank you for your post, it made my day a little better.

Thanks again.