felt soles in BC?
 

Anyone know off hand if we can still wear felt sole wading boots in BC. Heading out in a few weeks and was gonna lend out my old backups.
Thanks

Yes you can. No restrictions here.

Sorry for my ignorance, but why are felt soles an issue anywhere?

They could hold critters or plant life in them

Felts absorb water and the micro organisms that live there. It can take weeks for felts to completely dry and thus organisms from one water system, whirling disease is of particular note and its spread from system to system is a driving impetus for many jurisdictions in the US banning the use of felt soled wading boots. There is an interesting read here. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/felt.html

I should have thought about that! It makes sense, and yes, I can see it being a real issue. Think zebra mussels.

Not just in the US - Parks Canada has banned the use of felt-soled wading boots in all mountain parks now, in reaction to whirling disease.
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ab/wat...gulations#2017

Good to know.

I get the logic behind this however... It can take a long enough time just for wading boots to dry out and if they can hold water, then they too can harbor organisms from that water. Saw this one fishing show where the group fishing traveled to 3 or 4 different streams in a one week adventure. I guarantee their boots were still wet from the previous streams they fished. That said, do you guys soak your wading boots in some kind of disinfectant after use?

Here's a solution...

http://www.rockymtnflycasters.org/ar.../disinfect.php

I have switched to studded rubber soles. They aren't as good as felt soles, but much better than I had anticipated.

Stopping the spread of whirling disease is important but I also think angler safety needs to be considered. Current vibram technology is nowhere near as good as felt even with studded soles. Patagonia's aluminum bars are a step in the right direction but more needs to be done. I predict boots will go through the same kind of technological revolution as waders did when we leaped from neoprene to gore tex. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Perhaps. I am just glad they didn't close those waters entirely. I heard from Parks staff that it was considered.

And to be fair - have you actually compared Vibram vs. felt soles? If you haven't, you might find the difference less than you imagined. Hard to build a legitimate safety concern around a surprisingly small difference.

The primary concern is mud/silt from the riverbed---that is where the organism lives. Rinsing any physical contaminants is the most important thing you can do, followed by thoroughly drying the gear.

This is why felt is the worst offender: the mud/silt can be driven deeply into the felt and it can retain the water to keep the organism alive. Because of the high pressure due to walking driving the mud and water into the sole, even disinfecting cannot penetrate the depth of the felt without using something like a pressure washer.

I agree the felt poses the greatest risk because that stuff probably takes weeks to dry out completely, but wading boots without felt still pose a risk. There are probably some people who think that just because they don't have felt bottomed boots that they don't need to worry about anything, but that's not true. The organism can harbor in mud, aquatic plants and standing water, so if your boots retain water, they should be cleaned and dried thoroughly before entering another body of water whether you have felt soles or not.

Felt
 

What about people washing quads in the streams, pounds of silt from the previous streams they sullied. A fellow walking in felt soles vs. a creep doing donuts in the river with his quad? They have the wrong target.

Wap

Riding your quad in the river to get it full of silt and washing it in the river is just as illegal as wearing felt soled waders ... although I trust the fine is probably higher for the quad.

All responsible anglers wash their waders and boots with a bleach solution when moving between water bodies.

When is BC going to announce whirling disease in the Elk River watershed?
 

Should be shortly.

There, fixed it for you.

Don't forget your fly lines and flies. In B.C. there is didamo ,a nasty algee in most waters. So you need to use new flies or wash your lines and flies with at least soap before leaving or entering B.C.And get you boats and trailers steam cleaned. Your boots need to be left in a weak bleach solution for a few hours to make sure algee and bacteria are dead if you have felts.
Bjay