New Zealand Mud Snails and felt sole boots

[JackM]

So a semi-porous material is worse than a less-semi-porous material if you don't decontaminate it? Gotcha.

 

[afishinado]

JackM wrote:
So a semi-porous material is worse than a less-semi-porous material if you don't decontaminate it? Gotcha.

When researchers looked at this question it became obvious that felt presented disinfection problems that other materials did not. The main reason for this is the nature of the felt material. Felt is constructed as a dense mat of randomly woven fibers. It has large interstitial spaces that can be a perfect trap for any small material. Gates, in the study referenced above, did extensive work to determine the relative ability of various wader materials to trap WD spores. In her experiments, felt trapped 100% of the WD spores that it was exposed to while rubber trapped none. This is dramatic evidence that felt soles present a much greater risk of transport than rubber soles.

However, as already noted, there are effective methods for killing didymo and it is logical to assume that felt can be disinfected using these techniques. Unfortunately, research from New Zealand shows that disinfecting felt soles is much more difficult than might be expected. Quite simply, the nature of the felt material is such that live didymo cells could easily penetrate the interior layers of the felt soles but treatment methods for killing didymo are ineffective at disinfecting these inner layers. Thus, even after following recommended decontamination procedures, it was likely that felt soled boots were still spreading didymo.

Careful experiments were then conducted to judge the efficacy of the various treatments for killing all of the live cells that might be trapped on waders. The results showed that most of the recommended treatments were effective at killing all of the cells found on most parts of the boot but that felt soles were an exception and it was difficult to achieve a complete kill of didymo trapped in felt soles. Specifically, the authors concluded:
• Felt soles present a greater risk of transfer than the other materials tested.
• Soaking in a disinfectant solution is far more effective than spraying (spraying was deemed to be totally ineffective)
• Even after 20 minutes of soaking, the disinfectant does not fully penetrate all areas of the felt sole
• Complete drying of felt soles is very difficult – soles can remain damp for weeks
• Heating the boots to 45°C (113°F) for at least 20 minutes will disinfect the soles

 

[JackM]

Send me a free pair of new boots and I'll become sanctimonious as well.

 

[flyfish1955]

You know if I really thought you'd wear them, I would buy you a pair of rubber soled boots. However with your "the hell with the environment attitude" it would probably be a waste of money.

 

[krayfish]

Is that you Larry?

 

[flyfish1955]

Yep. Who's this?

 

[JackM]

Size 11. PM for address.

 

[krayfish]

I'll give you a hint........ I netted your 26-27" brown near Benner Springs one day in the pouring rain (maybe 1995-ish), I got you to love the Delaware River and by the way..... Josh says "HI". LMAO.

 

[flyfish1955]

Oh yea I do remember. Haven't seen you in quite a while.

 

[krayfish]

Working at an insurance agency in Hershey and fish a couple times a season. Josh said he sees you out every now and then. You still hate the over-rated Delaware? I do 95% of my fishing in that area.