Mussel prevention - does Colorado really have no specified drying time?

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Endurance

Endurance

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I was looking at mussel drying time for a Colorado boat. I find their "clean, drain, and dry" requirements here: http://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/BoatWatercraftCleaning.aspx
As I read this, it looks like they just want you to "Allow everything to completely dry before launching into another body of water. " In the heat of the summer, that could be an hour and everything would be "completely dry." Is this all that really all our neighbors in Colorado require?
 
Interesting. But isn’t Colorado better at manning their ramps and having specific launch times? If so each boat launching can actually be checked for dryness? At least that’s how I am thinking it might be...? It’s also interesting how each place differs. I remember two years ago in the summer I was launching at the Gorge, luckily it had been 30 days of dry time even though I knew the regulation was 7, but the guy on the ramp said that the Gorge requires 30 no matter the time of year because “there isn’t anything to back dry times prior to 30 days...”
 
When I brought my Bayliner back to Colorado to do some work on it, I also went to Lake Granby for a day trip. I told them it had been in POWELL and had the inspection paperwork, with the seal attached, that had been over 50 days since POWELL and they ran me thru the full decon anyway. I guess some places take the mussel issue more seriously than others. It may be due to it being an I/O. Sq
 
Colorado requires a full decontamination of any boat that hasn’t been tagged in Colorado.

They don’t care about drying times. No tag, no launch.

And they won’t honor any other state’s protocol.
 
I wish for no mussels, if it means some restrictions, I’m all for it. It’s easier to make alterations to schedules, launch times than dealing with an infestation.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
I wish for no mussels, if it means some restrictions, I’m all for it. It’s easier to make alterations to schedules, launch times than dealing with an infestation.
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So you’re ok not being able to use your boat from 10/31 - 5/1?

I wish for no mussels as well. But that isn’t likely. And there are ways to allow access to the lakes and reduce likelihood of infestation.
 
Ryan said:
So you’re ok not being able to use your boat from 10/31 - 5/1?
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If that would've meant not having mussels in Powell.... sign me up. If preventing future infestations is unlikely than why are we even half-assing it? So far Colorado is successful in prevention, Utah is not, and even worse is Utah hasn't seemed to learn from their past mistakes. The last three times I've been to Strawberry anyones dog could launch completely unchecked. Same with Jordanelle multiple times this summer. There needs to be a healthy balance between certain launch times, manned ramps, and a cooperative public. So until something better comes around I'd take Colorados approach any day, before Utah figures something out it will already be too late. Multiple unchecked boats have launched in clean areas, and there were plenty of very close calls that were caught prior to launches.
 
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The reason I was looking into Colorado "clean, drain, and dry" requirements is that I have a son who owns part of a private lake in the Denver area. The lake owners want to decide on their own protocol for coming into their lake from infested waters.

If Colorado is putting all their eggs in one basket on the launch side of things, that might be great for public lakes. But Colorado might be missing the boat (as in the infested boat) when it comes to private lakes where lake owners set their own mussel protocol. Private lakes are much more common in Colorado than in our more arid states.

I would agree that you don't think of private lake owners as the doofus jet ski operators you see at public lakes. Still, you lose one private lake to mussels and you infest everything downstream of that lake.

My son is leaning toward pushing to have his lake follow both the Utah approach of taking care of mussels as you leave an infested lake as well as the Colorado approach of decon no matter what. Let's hope other private lake owners are as responsible.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
If that would've meant not having mussels in Powell.... sign me up. If preventing future infestations is unlikely than why are we even half-assing it? So far Colorado is successful in prevention, Utah is not, and even worse is Utah hasn't seemed to learn from their past mistakes. The last three times I've been to Strawberry anyones dog could launch completely unchecked. Same with Jordanelle multiple times this summer. There needs to be a healthy balance between certain launch times, manned ramps, and a cooperative public. So until something better comes around I'd take Colorados approach any day, before figures something out it will already be too late. Multiple unchecked boats have launched in clean areas, and there were plenty of very close calls that were caught prior to launches.
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I think Utah has very little chance of containment. And I prefer Colorado’s system to yours.

That said, Colorado’s system is incredibley expensive, and is still suspect as even though there are set policies, the way they are enforced is anything but consistent.

I guess I am just very pessimistic on the whole issue. There is no way that an “honor system” will work. That has already been proven.

But I also have seen enough holes in Colorado’s program to make me believe it is not sustainable due to cost, nor will its inconsistenties keep the lakes clean.
 
I’m right there with ya @Ryan. We’re all preaching to the choir and our dead horse is now covered a foot thick in mussels. And @Endurance I would just advice your son to run his lake better than privatized Strawberry is run. The apple doesn’t fall far so I’m sure he has a good head on his shoulders. There can be a good balance.
 
Ryan said:
reduce likelihood of infestation
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You hit the nail on the head, but we would like to eliminate the chance of infestation not reduce it. Sacrifices are required I'm afraid, anglers that want to fish year round should start a Gofundme for inspections year round.
 
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Nature is extremely pervasive, and we in Colorado are probably only delaying the inevitable, but delay it we must. These creatures have moved from the Great Lakes to our backyard in a relatively short period of time. I too am pessimistic regarding our human ability to prevent/protect/control God's creation from doing what it does.
 
I have found the system in Colorado to be a sensible and fairly effective way to attempt to deal with the mussels. I have had very good experiences at Horsetooth (Larimer County), Boyd (Colorado Parks), and Chatfield (Colorado Parks). At all three locations I have had multiple occasions to have my boat inspected and “cleaned”. I have a boat with three separate ballast tanks. The longest the procedure has ever taken is one hour. The process is fairly thorough with hot water with temperature confirmation on each tank, engine and even at times the whole bilge.

We used to boat at a municipal lake that depended on dry out quarantine duration that would render the boat unusable for up to a month of the season. I find the state’s and Larimer County’s approach much more accommodating for boaters and fishermen in state that already has a fairly short boating season.
While the ramp hours do become fairly restrictive after 10/31 there are still some options for those who want to brave the elements.
Any system can fail if people want to cheat. I knew of a guy that bragged about how he put wing nuts on his bow eye U-bolt so that he could more easily remove it to release the tag cable without breaking it. When I protested he told me that it was all just a bunch of BS and no one was going to tell him when and where he could use his boat. The mussels spread due to those people.
 
Randy Helzer said:
I have found the system in Colorado to be a sensible and fairly effective way to attempt to deal with the mussels. I have had very good experiences at Horsetooth (Larimer County), Boyd (Colorado Parks), and Chatfield (Colorado Parks). At all three locations I have had multiple occasions to have my boat inspected and “cleaned”. I have a boat with three separate ballast tanks. The longest the procedure has ever taken is one hour. The process is fairly thorough with hot water with temperature confirmation on each tank, engine and even at times the whole bilge.

We used to boat at a municipal lake that depended on dry out quarantine duration that would render the boat unusable for up to a month of the season. I find the state’s and Larimer County’s approach much more accommodating for boaters and fishermen in state that already has a fairly short boating season.
While the ramp hours do become fairly restrictive after 10/31 there are still some options for those who want to brave the elements.
Any system can fail if people want to cheat. I knew of a guy that bragged about how he put wing nuts on his bow eye U-bolt so that he could more easily remove it to release the tag cable without breaking it. When I protested he told me that it was all just a bunch of BS and no one was going to tell him when and where he could use his boat. The mussels spread due to those people.
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I hope you turned that guy in to the authorities. It’s those kind of people that screw up everyone’s enjoyment of our lakes. Sq
 
Randy Helzer said:
I have found the system in Colorado to be a sensible and fairly effective way to attempt to deal with the mussels. I have had very good experiences at Horsetooth (Larimer County), Boyd (Colorado Parks), and Chatfield (Colorado Parks). At all three locations I have had multiple occasions to have my boat inspected and “cleaned”. I have a boat with three separate ballast tanks. The longest the procedure has ever taken is one hour. The process is fairly thorough with hot water with temperature confirmation on each tank, engine and even at times the whole bilge.

We used to boat at a municipal lake that depended on dry out quarantine duration that would render the boat unusable for up to a month of the season. I find the state’s and Larimer County’s approach much more accommodating for boaters and fishermen in state that already has a fairly short boating season.
While the ramp hours do become fairly restrictive after 10/31 there are still some options for those who want to brave the elements.
Any system can fail if people want to cheat. I knew of a guy that bragged about how he put wing nuts on his bow eye U-bolt so that he could more easily remove it to release the tag cable without breaking it. When I protested he told me that it was all just a bunch of BS and no one was going to tell him when and where he could use his boat. The mussels spread due to those people.
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Gee, a 1hr clean Or 30 days dry time. That sounds like a good approach to me .
 
Like most things, it is a bit more complicated than that for decontamination.

Stern drives are quick. So are fishing boats.

Boats with ballast not as much. It always takes my boat one hour. Which I’m willing to wait. The trouble for anyone, regardless of boat, is when you have one or two boats in front of you.

Colorado doesn’t take appointments.

Or when you are there and the machine runs out of diesel fuel to heat the water.

Or they don’t have the key to the shed where everything is kept.

Or they left one of the hoses at the ranger station and there isn’t anyone to go get it.

Or they don’t have the correct fitting to attach to the ballast intake.

Or they literally run out of seals.

I’ve had all of the above happen at one time or another. And more.

And I’m willing to wade through the problems. But everyone isn’t.
 
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