Clean, drain, and dry your fishing gear

A wet net, a pair of muddy waders, and a livewell that still has an inch of water in it are enough to move plants and tiny animals into the next lake. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service publishes a three-step routine for that problem and a fourth step for anglers. The campaign name most people have seen on a ramp sign, Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers, describes the same routine. This page restates those steps. It is not a statute, and it is not a claim that every state enforces them the same way.

We read the Fish & Wildlife Service “Clean, Drain, Dry” story and the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers prevention page on Oct. 27, 2026.

What you are trying not to move

The Service describes aquatic invasive species as plants, animals, or other organisms moved into a place where they can harm the environment, the economy, or health. The ones anglers and boaters move by accident include plants snagged on a trailer, mussels stuck to a hull, and larvae small enough to ride in bilge water. The Service’s “protect your waters” story lists ordinary paths: attached to a boat or trailer, carried in a livewell or motor, dumped with leftover bait, tangled on fishing line, or stuck to the soles of waders. It also says one organism, or in some cases a piece of a plant, can start a new population.

You do not need to identify the species to interrupt that. You need to stop giving it a ride. Zebra mussel larvae are the example the Service uses for why draining matters: they are nearly invisible in water you meant to empty later.

Clean

Before you leave the access, take off the plants, animals, and mud you can see. That includes the trailer bunks, the anchor, the net, the boots, and the dog if the dog went swimming. Rinse. The Service recommends high pressure and hot water on hulls and equipment when you can do it safely, and low-pressure hot water, at least 120°F, in interior compartments. A motor flush with hot water for two minutes, or whatever the motor’s own manual says, is the step they describe for the engine.

Hot water is doing two jobs. A rinse knocks organisms off. Heat often kills what the rinse missed. The Service says to keep 120°F water off your skin and to check that the equipment can take the heat. If you cannot use hot water, or if it would damage something, a tap-water rinse plus a real dry still helps. The Service does not recommend bleach or other chemical disinfectants on boats and fishing gear. Chemicals can damage equipment, harm you, and harm the place you dump them, and they are not reliable against every invader.

Do this at the ramp or the pull-off, while the mud is still mud. Dried plants woven into a trailer frame are harder tomorrow.

Drain

Pull the plugs. Empty the motor, the bilge, the livewell, the bait bucket, and any cooler that sloshes lake water. The Service wants that done before you leave the access, not at a gas station on the highway and not in the next lake. Draining is what removes the organisms you cannot see.

A plug left in “so the carpet stays wet” is the opposite of the step. If you use a livewell to hold fish you are keeping, empty it before you tow, and do not refill it with water from a different lake. Fish you are keeping belong on ice. That is a food-safety question as well as an invasive-species question. See keeping fish cold.

Dry

Dry everything for at least five days, or wipe it dry before you use it again. The Service is explicit that many organisms survive in standing water, which is why a damp net in a gear tub is not “dry enough.” Five days is the interval they publish. Wiping is the alternative when you will fish again sooner. Wiping means dry, including the seams of waders and the mesh of a net, not a glance.

If you fish two lakes in one day, you cannot claim the five-day dry. You clean, drain, and wipe between them. That is the “every water body, every time” line.

Dispose, the angler step

The Service adds a fourth word for people who fish: dispose. Unwanted bait, worms, and fish parts go in the trash. If you keep live bait, drain the lake water out of the bucket and replace it with spring water or dechlorinated tap water. Never dump live fish or other organisms from one water into another.

That last sentence is the one to remember when a child wants to “let the minnows go” at the end of the day. Those minnows may be legal bait where you bought them and a problem in the pond you are standing next to. We have not published baitfish rules by state. The species pages on this site are about bag and size limits for fish you catch, not about which bait you may use. Read the agency booklet before you carry bait across a state line or from a river into a trout stream.

What this looks like with ordinary gear

Waders and boots. Mud in the tread is habitat. Rinse the soles, feel the inside of the boot for grit, and hang them so they dry instead of sealing them in a tote. Our trout gear guide and wading safety guide are about wearing them. This page is about not wearing yesterday’s lake into today’s creek.

Landing nets. Knotted mesh holds plants. Rubber and smooth bags rinse faster. Either way, they do not get tossed in the boat still dripping if the next stop is a different water.

Tackle boxes. A box that fell in the bilge is wet equipment. Open it, dump the water, and let the lures dry so you are not carrying a film of lake water in the foam.

Boats and kayaks. Hull, trailer, livewell, bilge, anchor rope. The Service’s motor-flush step applies if you have a motor. A kayak still has a cockpit that holds water. Sponge it.

None of these steps change a bag limit or a license. They sit next to the pre-trip checklist as the last item before you drive away.

State rules can be stricter

We publish fishing limits, license fees, free days, and deer seasons for five states. We do not publish a comparison of aquatic-invasive-species laws. Some states inspect boats, some require plugs to be pulled, and some restrict bait. Those are real legal systems, and they are not all the same. Treat the federal steps as the minimum habit, then read the state agency before you assume the habit is all the law requires.

The states we do cover still have agency pages for the fishing rules, and those booklets are where a bait or transport note would show up:

If you think you have found a new invasive species, the Fish & Wildlife Service says to note the exact location, take a photo if you can, and report it to the right authority or through the USGS sighting form linked from their clean-drain-dry page. We are not copying that form’s address here in case the form moves. Use the link on the Service’s page.

What we will not tell you

We will not tell you that a particular lake is “clean” and can be skipped. The Service’s wording is every water, every time, because you cannot see larvae. We will not tell you a chemical soak is a shortcut. The Service advises against that for boats and recreational gear. We will not tell you that wiping a trailer with a handful of grass counts. Visible plants come off, then you rinse and dry.

The links below go to waders, boots, nets, and tackle boxes because those are objects the steps apply to. Buying new gear is not the step. Cleaning the gear you have is the step. If you do buy a net or a set of waders, rinse them before they ever touch a second lake, including the day you take them out of the package and straight to the water.

Questions people ask

What does clean, drain, and dry mean?

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says to clean off visible plants, animals, and mud, drain water from motors, bilges, livewells, and anything else that holds water, and dry everything at least five days or wipe it dry before reuse. Anglers are also told to trash unwanted bait and fish parts.

Is this a state fishing regulation?

It is federal guidance for every water body, every time. States can add their own transport rules. We have not published a 50-state legal table. Check your state agency before you move a boat.

Can I dump leftover live bait in the lake?

No. The Fish & Wildlife Service says never to dump live fish or other organisms from one water into another. Unwanted bait, worms, and fish parts go in the trash.