Quote Originally Posted by sandm View Post
thinkin the same thing. been on the water for a long time- not as long as some others but... I would bet $1 that per capita, there are just as many a$$hats sporting wakeboats as fishing boats. there are a TON more fishing boats out there so it would make sense you see more but I bet if you level the field, it's similar.

I think RC is really onto the past root cause. we never ventured to many other bodies of water other than the couple lakes we frequent but I knew several fishermen that were going to tournaments all over the place. I would suspect that they have spread more than wakeboat owners in history but at this point it doesn't really matter. both boat styles are just as capable of spreading them and should be treated the same IF you are going to run a cleaning station.
State of Utah goes through all boats, including kayaks for invasive species checks. If you fish, they will go through all your tackle. They also look at anchor lines, inflatables, etc. if you have been on Lake Powell. As others have mentioned, this is about keeping mussels out of other lakes, since they are not showing up. Only one other lake has had suspected contamination and after 5 years, they have now marked it clean. They run road blocks outside Lake Powell in the summer and you have to show your mussel inspection certificate or you get a hefty fine. However, I was down at the lake this weekend and it is a big fishing tournament weekend and there were no decontamination people or inspectors in Hall's Crossing Marina (the least busy of the marinas currently open). Eventually mussels will spread to enough lakes that they will give up, but for now, if you only run your boat in waters outside of Powell, it is minimally invasive and you just have to answer questions. If you go to Powell, you are inspected before you leave and are required to decontaminate either before you leave or before you launch in your next lake. If you show evidence of contamination during the inspection, you must be decontaminated prior to leaving. I had fragments of quagga shells last year and they required decontamination of my cooling system, but for some reason didn't require me to decontaminate my ballast system.