Fly Fishing Yuppies are Destroying Rivers with Their Boots

Mega gossip site Gawker picks up on yesterday's N.Y. Times Didymo/felt/rubber story.

It's a time honored tradition for manly men to grab a Jim Harrison novel, an Orvis hat and some felt waders to go fly fishing in America's streams. But their expensive gear is killing the rivers they love.

LINK

Comments

[say what?]

wait, my felt boots make me a yuppie now? Awesome!!!

What a bullshit link and story.

Besides Orvis makes rubber soles now also, so does that mean to be cool you need to fish in Chuck Taylor's? Oh, wait, beat me too it.

[eggman]

this might be the dumbest article ever

[paperback writer]

Hysterical how we as humans are so egotystical we think we can destroy the earth. We are a Feckin' ant colony for chris' sakes. Species migrate...thats what they do, sure we speed it up with ballast water from ships, air travel etc. No f'in wading shoe is gonna stop it. Geeesh give me a break man, ridiculous.

[Tom G.]

Yuppers Ballast and other things than boots are a the biggest culprits!!

[AP]

I know many people who have switched to rubber soles on their wading boots and love it. I will probably do the same when I have to buy my next pair, next year.

However, saying all fisherman who sport felt boots are doing it for show and are considered Yuppies is ridiculous. Especially the comment about how rubber soles wouldn't look good for our fishing photos. I didn't realize all of us who wear felt boots lifted our feet up to show off our prized felt boots while holding our recent catch of the day for a snap shot. And since when were felt boots more expensive than rubber ones?

This article is a bunch of bullshit. I can see why felt is a problem as it absorbs so much, but there are many other people other than fisherman who can track this organism into other waters.

If they are trying to promote rubber and ban felt they are definitely going about it the wrong way by posting articles full of crap and generalizations.

[Joe]

Most of us Yuppies are pushing or past 60 by now. If you want to call us names please find a new one.

I am still using felt soles. I clean them thoroughly after each day. I do the same with my waders and gravel guards to which a parasite could just as easily hitch a ride. I would like to see more information on effective cleaning methods that will not harm the materials being cleaned. Hopefully the industry will develop better rubber soles before the bans on felt take effect.

[Dylan Rose]

What an absolute heap of steaming shit. Any fly fishing hackers out there know how to upload a virus these "Gawker" retards?

[john]

What an asshole.

[Appliance repair guy]

There be a whole lot of crevices/nook's/ cranny's in and on all boots, felt or rubber soles..
all sounds like a way to promote new boots.. I have a fat wife and six kids to feed.. Will
Obama give me a trade-in boot stimulous package? or should I just say fuck off to the next
fag rollin eyes at my boots'`

[Sagejesse]

Do we really need to try and defend ourselves? Yes, felt has a much higher percentage chance of carrying a hitchhiker, even after a good washing. The dydimo organism grinds deep into the felt and a scrub may not remove it, even more scary it can survive a very long time with the smallest amount of moisture. We all know felt stay wet for awhile. We are doing this to SLOW the spread. We can never stop it. Make the change because it's the right thing to do. We aren't all LL Orvis yuppies. We care about our water and want to protect the resources that are sport and heritage is based on. Obviously the guy who wrote the article doesn't h, ave a clue what he's talking about. We've know about this for many years and the TIMES just ran a story so everybody wants to weigh in. Simms stopped making felt a year ago for a reason, and the rest of the industry is following suit for the most part. This just shows progression and intelligence of eco-conscious companies and anglers, and I'm sure there will be many more in the future, so embrace the change that the fly fishing industry is sure to lead the way among anglers. Notice how the article did not mention the many non-fly anglers that wear waders. We all have different reasons why we fish, but I assume we all want to protect those reasons by making sure our resources remain healthy. Do your homework read up on the invasive speices, how it spreads, how to treat your gear, and where it is near you. We should all be working together on this one. It may be sterotypical to say that the fly fishing industry has better eco-ethics then other anglers, but I am willing to wager, statistically that is true. So we need to play that roll and offer a good example. We do have a growing problem on our hands and while some our pissed about having to replace the new pair of $150 boots they bought 2 years ago, and still using them, its getting worse. Give back to the water that has given us all so much. It's time to make the switch!

[Yuppie]

What a douche, I'd like to hold his head under the water with my felt boots while I smoke my fatty cigar and sip on some basil haydens. Yuppie my ass, this guy needs to do a little f'n research before he writes an article he knows nothing about.

And I'd also like to meet the tree hugging hippie, don't hurt animals chick.