Cleaning Poison Ivy off fly line

[ISK]

Long story short:

While I was organizing myself I was letting my (flyless) line float downstream and then I would cast upstream to some rocks to stretch the line... When I looked up, I realized I was casting upstream straight into a patch of poison ivy - Im seriously allergic, so I just reeled up the line and decided for fish another day.. but I want to clean the line and use again...

I'm not sure if it is OK to use something like dawn dish soap in high concentration on the line -- any other suggestions as to rid the line of urushiol oil (poison ivy) off my line (courtland peach 444) ?? Many thanks.

pics for fun

 

[Bamboozle]

As a fellow sufferer who is also seriously allergic (two times to the hospital), I feel your fear.

Dawn is effective and while I don't use it to clean fly lines or anything else other than dishes, it won't do any damage if you use it once. I'd also venture to guess that my fly line cleaning soap of choice, Ivory bar soap would work as well with a couple of passes through a rag.

Technu or other urushiol scrubs would probably be better, but IF they would have an effect on a fly line I don't know.

Other suggestions:

Wear nitrile gloves when washing the line AND handling the reel and don't just do the "swishing in a bucket" thing but rather, pull the line you fished with or the whole line though a soapy rag and throw the rag away after each pass.

After a few passes, you could dump the cleaned loose coils of line into a bucket to rinse or pull the line through a rag that is just wet with plain water to rinse. Then pull it through a dry rag to dry it off.

After washing, I'd let it air dry someplace at minimum overnight.

I'd also wash the reel and and let it dry out. If the reel has backing and you don't feel compelled to strip it off, I'd make sure to let the reel dry out at least 24 - 48 hours if the backing gets soaked.

Another bit of advice, while carrying Technu or other available poison ivy wipes while fishing is a good idea, they all dry out after awhile, even in the sealed packages.

Get yourself a package of soap leaves similar to these and carry them in your vest or bag.

Just add some readily available water to a couple of leaves after any suspected exposure and wash your exposed areas and you can dodge a "poison" bullet most of the time. It has worked for me for years!

A word of warning, currently I have poison ivy on one leg. I can't figure out how in the world I got it on one leg and didn't transfer it from my hand (I didn't get it on my hand) since I NEVER fish in shorts.

The ONLY thing I can figure is I remember walking through a bunch of poison ivy when wearing thin pants that were wet with water & perspiration. It is documented that urushiol CAN penetrate through thin fabrics under those conditions...

...something else to worry about.

Good luck!

 

[wildtrout2]

Used to get it bad when I was a kid, now I could roll in it and not get it. There are some positives to getting older.

 

[salmonoid]

If it was me, to clean it, I would burn the whole rod, reel, and line (and stay out of the smoke, in case any of the urushiol was still around).

I just got over a batch on my hands where my fingers were so swollen up, I couldn't bend them more than about half an inch. I have an eagle eye for poison ivy and wasn't in it anywhere prior to getting it on my hands; however, I had put on a pair of gloves that I vaguely remember getting wet while working around poison ivy years ago, and I suspect some oil leached through the gloves to my skin.

 

[Bamboozle]

Used to get it bad when I was a kid, now I could roll in it and not get it. There are some positives to getting older.

Keep rolling in it and there is a possibility you MAY just be able to relive your childhood as there are more than a few experts that believe repeated exposure reduces immunity...

Another issue, people who are sensitive to urushiol are more likely to have an reaction to other plant resins, such as the oil from Japanese lacquer trees (used on furniture), mango rinds, and cashew shells.

I LOVE cashews but I can't eat them as on the way out, they make a certain part of my anatomy (coincidentally a noun often used to describe me) itch like nobody's business...

 

[Bamboozle]

I just got over a batch on my hands where my fingers were so swollen up, I couldn't bend them more than about half an inch...

Been there...

About 10 years ago, we got a freak October snowstorm which damaged around 25 trees on my property so bad that I had to drop them. STUPIDLY, I bucked the those 25 trees, some with nice hairy poison ivy vines running up the sides and could barely bend my fingers and arms for weeks...

My farmer buddy down the road still talks about how bad I had it THAT time...

About five years earlier BEFORE I realized what those hairy vines were, I cleared the path I took to reach the Susquehanna of some pesky thick hairy vines and got it REAL bad so I should have known better...

 

[wildtrout2]

Keep rolling in it and there is a possibility you MAY just be able to relive your childhood as there are more than a few experts that believe repeated exposure reduces immunity...

I learned early on how to identify it. I can spot it a mile away. I don't look for trouble.

 

[ISK]

@Bamboozle

I went with the - pulled the line i fished +50ft through a soapy rag several times and then into bucket of clean water after each pull.. I let it sun dry for several hours and tried fishing this evening - now i pray to the fish gods that I don't wake up with puffy eyes!

... I worked with a guy who also felled/bucked up a tree with a thick hairy vine on it - he was out for two weeks, had to go to the hospital etc etc..

I used to get it every summer as a kid. Every summer, everywhere - face, groin, underarms, back of the knee.. at some point I learned to ID PI/PO in all its variants and keep an eye out for it like a hawk.

If I had 3 wishes one would be to rid the world of poison ivy/oak

 

[Bamboozle]

I usually do a great job of avoiding it by washing whenever I suspect contact, but this through the pants thing is a first!

Good luck and carry soap!!

 

[redietz]

Used to get it bad when I was a kid, now I could roll in it and not get it. There are some positives to getting older.

I'm exactly the opposite. i could roll in it as a kid, but now I'm mildly allergic,

 

[redietz]

I LOVE cashews but I can't eat them as on the way out, they make a certain part of my anatomy (coincidentally a noun often used to describe me) itch like nobody's business...

Cashews and pistachios are both in the same family as poison ivy. It's not surprising tat if you're allergic to one, your allergic to the other.

 

[NRD]

FYI, If you get poison ivy and you see a bad breakout starting, get to your doctor for a prescription for Prednisone. That stuff is pure magic!

 

[ISK]

^^ I got prescribed prednisone so many times the Dr. said she won't give it to me anymore (but that was 15 years ago)

so far so good this morning!

 

[redietz]

^^ I got prescribed prednisone so many times the Dr. said she won't give it to me anymore (but that was 15 years ago)

Yep. Steroids are banned in sports for a reason.

 

[falcon]

When you come in contact with poison ivy its recommended to wash first with soap and water, So do the same with the fly line just wash with Dawn and water,

 

[Steeltrap]

I'd go with the Dawn as that stuff cuts off oil like nobody's business. And the Ivy poison is nothing more than a secreted oil.

Double up on latex gloves and wear a long shirt, mask, and have some sort of cover over your lap.

My wife mess's with her flowers every year and if she gets close to mulch that's been down a year with ivy in it .....it's always a trip to the Dr. to get a steroid injection.

I've slowly been converting the landscape to rocks. No mulch.