FFIM

For those heading to YNP this year:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/yellowstone_national_park/yellowstone-announces-felt-sole-ban-new-boat-season/article_a720020d-a9fa-5c4c-86c7-4075acf31d5f.amp.html

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"You never miss the water until the well runs dry" - traditional blues

good.

I don’t fish the Park as much as I used to. As a matter of fact I don’t believe I’ve actually fished the Park since 2011......so I can’t truly say this will affect me much at all.

The Park streams are mostly.......at least the ones I normally fish......
Sand bottoms, so rubber is actually just as good as, or better than, felt anyway.

Felt is also useless, or actually dangerous, on mud.....
So I don’t use felt on the Spring Creeks either. Rubber or studded rubber is a much better choice there, too.

Dave M

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"Fish the West every year. Life is short; and you'll be dead a long time." Chris Hutchins--2009

Somewhat confusing. In recent years the trend has been more accepting of felt as fishery science seems to point to the transmission problem being lower than expected. Some states (Vermont I think) have actually reversed the ban. Could this just be the gears of big government simply grinding slowly?

For myself I have felt with studs, rubber with studs, rubber only, so no issue with most any regulation.

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You see that dimple way over there? Well I couldn't hit it with a cruise missile.

I don't know what the thinking for the Yellowstone ban was, but I think the felt/no felt argument in general comes down to a risk assessment.

For those places that put felt bans in place due to fear of Didymo, I think there is a lot more understanding of Didymo, where it is native, and how it spreads than was the case when it first emerged as an issue.

But there are a ton of other aquatic species that could be moved on wet felt that a place like Yellowstone might worry about. Concern about zebra mussels is increasing as they have reached Montana; New Zealand mudsnail is already in the park; whirling disease may be of concern.

The precautionary approach is not to use felt. I know it is possible to treat felt with hot water, freezing, or chemicals, but I don't harbor any illusions that 100% of us will do so.

I've used studded aqua stealths for my two Yellowstone trips without any problems. I also did quite a lot of wet wading last year in sneakers.