It’s just fishing.

[ThePharmacist]

https://www.anglingtrade.com/2020/04/01/the-coronavirus-elephant-in-the-fly-fishing-room-is-it-ok-to-fish-and-should-we-be-promoting-fishing-1

Kirk Deeter is the man. I really like his take on our current situation:
“ One last point of punctuation. It’s just fishing. Sure, we hold it sacred, special, and it is part of all of us… but it’s a recreational activity. Think about the doctors and nurses and EMTs and others in New York City, and what their professional lives look like right now before you drive 100 miles to a river to get your Ya-Ya’s out, or load up your Instagram feed, or whatever, by pulling on a tiny animal through a graphite stick and a strand of monofilament… and then consider whether or not that’s an insult to people who are literally laying their lives on the line right now. Symbolically, if nothing else, solidarity means staying home.”

 

[dryflyguy]

For sure!

April has always been my favorite month of the year to fish.
Every thing is really coming alive along the streams right now

And love fishing to nice size bugs that hatch during the daytime:
grannoms, quill gordons and hendricksons.
Just doesn't get much better IMO.

But this is a world wide crisis.
And I won't be fishing anytime soon

 

[Jaybird]

Couldn't agree more ....

 

[gulfgreyhound]

+1 GG

 

[wbranch]

I've been wondering will the closed trout streams that open on April 18 be crowded or will people use some sense and either stay home entirely or if they insist on going will they refrain from close contact with strangers?

 

[PennKev]

ThePharmacist wrote:
https://www.anglingtrade.com/2020/04/01/the-coronavirus-elephant-in-the-fly-fishing-room-is-it-ok-to-fish-and-should-we-be-promoting-fishing-1

Kirk Deeter is the man. I really like his take on our current situation:
“ One last point of punctuation. It’s just fishing. Sure, we hold it sacred, special, and it is part of all of us… but it’s a recreational activity. Think about the doctors and nurses and EMTs and others in New York City, and what their professional lives look like right now before you drive 100 miles to a river to get your Ya-Ya’s out, or load up your Instagram feed, or whatever, by pulling on a tiny animal through a graphite stick and a strand of monofilament… and then consider whether or not that’s an insult to people who are literally laying their lives on the line right now. Symbolically, if nothing else, solidarity means staying home.”

I think some valid, practical considerations regarding limiting the spread of the disease are touched on in the linked article and should be considered. Particularly how travel and patronizing businesses might create unnecessary risk.

However, from a moral standpoint, I'm not 100% in agreement that we should be depriving ourselves some release from the stress of the situation because others cannot afford themselves the same luxury. We should take every precaution to avoid worsening the situation, but i do not think that rules out fishing entirely. It is right to show empathy to those in professions with a high risk right now, but empathy does not mean making ourselves unnecessarily miserable as a show of support. Due to the duration of the crisis, I think it is probably actually good to keep doing enjoyable activities as long as they can be done while avoiding the spread of the virus. For me that means that if I can go and fish and return home without entering any businesses or interacting with anyone, then I am comfortable doing it. Perhaps if the situation becomes more dire in my area or the area I intend to fish, that will impact my choices. However, that is a day to day evaluation that needs to be done.

 

[hunter1]

Spot on. I'm home following the state guidlines. I only pan fish from my dock.

 

[dryflyguy]

Even though I would certainly love to be chasing grannoms in central PA, I just can't justify driving 2 -3 hours right now.
And I think that was the main point of the OP.

However, if I lived close to where I want to fish, it would certainly be tempting to go out for some "fresh air"

 

[RLeep2]

I agree with Kev from an objective standpoint. All the same, I just polled my inner sense of fairness and being "responsible" and it has serious reservations. But that may be more of a sign that I need to go into therapy than anything to do with asserting what is actually right or wrong...

As Kev says, it is a day to day thing to be re-evaluated PRN. If I get squirrely enough from being cooped up, I may change my tune. Right now though, I can't see it.

 

[wbranch]

Agree with everyone else. There is a wild trout stream within 20 minutes of my home. I may drive over next week one day and if it appears to not be inundated with other guys I'll probably suit up and make a few casts.

 

[GeneBeam]

Mentored Youth Trout Day is this coming Saturday, I am thinking that we will hear something within day or two about fishing, if it is a go or called off.
I might go trout fishing at two places within ½ mile of the house but on most opening days, I have seen too many people and I just might wait until the pressure is off. I can at least drive by and see the number or people fishing.
That being said, I’m leaning toward what Kirk Deeter stated in his article. I just can’t see me, just to get some release from the stress, with the luxury of go fishing when some doctors and nurses are probably not having the luxury of a day off.

 

[rrt]

Took an afternoon drive that took me, wife, granddaughter, and dog along LJR. No worries about C-19 there; cars all over the place. Parking lot at the gorge was not just parked full; it was overflowing. The trailer park, really a mini-town, was probably at 3/4 of capacity, with people standing around closetogether in groups. But, Huntingdon Co. has nearly no cases of coronavirus, so I imagine people there aren't too worried about getting it.

As some mentioned, I can't see any risk in fishing places like WB mentioned: I haven't heard of getting C-19 from fish.

The mentored day should be all right; it won't be as crowded as the trout opening day. I probably will not go to the sportsmen's pond where I normally go to observe the first day family joys because I think it might just be too crowded. I will miss that. I have enjoyed seeing families fishing together with success there on previous opening days.

When this first started, I was one who believed it was being blown out of proportion. Oh boy, not now. It is horrifying to think that something like this could occur in our "advanced" world.

Hope you all can stay safe.

 

[dryflyguy]

rrt -

I know a lot of the people from Greene Hills campground.
Many are retired, and basically "live" there from april thru october.
Good place to be right now......

 

[PennKev]

GeneBeam wrote:
I just can’t see me, just to get some release from the stress, with the luxury of go fishing when some doctors and nurses are probably not having the luxury of a day off.

As I've said, I think it's important to take precautions to not spread the virus, but I'm not going to sit around fretting and feeling guilty about being in a safer, less stressful situation than other people.

We need to take precautions to avoid making the situation worse, but I dont think its terribly wise to deprive ourselves of any enjoyment or recreation. We're realistically looking at a couple more months of this to some degree. We need to be smart about how we act, but that also includes not wearing ourselves out with guilt, worry, etc.

 

[tomgamber]

PennKev wrote:

... We're realistically looking at a couple more months of this to some degree.

We need to be smart about how we act, but that also includes not wearing ourselves out with guilt, worry, etc.

This is not going to end. What happens when everyone does go back to work. You're looking at that curve going right backup.

This is going to be a forever thing. Flu season, Corona season (or whatever they'll call it), allergy season...these are all just going to be a part of human life for the foreseeable future. The idea that this is just going to go away is absolutely inaccurate and naive. The upside is hopefully people will have a better sense of simple hygiene that may help to minimize the spread of all viruses. Once we figure out who has immunity and who doesn't and why, it should be under control but it will not go away.

The last part about being smart and still enjoying life I totally agree with.

If you could guarantee you wouldn't come into contact with another person this would be a great time for a long drive that you've been avoiding because of time and cost. Gas hasn't been this cheap in a long time!

 

[ryansheehan]

tomgamber wrote:

PennKev wrote:

... We're realistically looking at a couple more months of this to some degree.

We need to be smart about how we act, but that also includes not wearing ourselves out with guilt, worry, etc.

This is not going to end. What happens when everyone does go back to work. You're looking at that curve going right backup.

This is going to be a forever thing. Flu season, Corona season (or whatever they'll call it), allergy season...these are all just going to be a part of human life for the foreseeable future. The idea that this is just going to go away is absolutely inaccurate and naive. The upside is hopefully people will have a better sense of simple hygiene that may help to minimize the spread of all viruses. Once we figure out who has immunity and who doesn't and why, it should be under control but it will not go away.

The last part about being smart and still enjoying life I totally agree with.

If you could guarantee you wouldn't come into contact with another person this would be a great time for a long drive that you've been avoiding because of time and cost. Gas hasn't been this cheap in a long time!

Just have a better cover story!
Fine for driving

 

[poopdeck]

Long drives for no reason are not on the Governors approved list. I just returned home from a banner day of fishing. No I don't feel guilty, no I don't symbolically feel I screwed anybody since I believe we should all be working right now. We are going to have to learn to work with it at some point. Somehow I managed to go through the entire day without infecting anybody or becoming infected. I wasn't even wearing a face mask. Bet you guys running around looking for toilet paper can't say that.

Get out, enjoy the nice weather and the great fishing guilt free.

 

[moon1284]

If you want to work I'm sure there are plenty of places to volunteer.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/coronavirus/up-to-700-volunteers-needed-at-alternative-care-site-at-glen-mills/2345068/

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/call-for-coronavirus-volunteers-to-nyc-yields-army-of-health-care-workers/2355148/

https://www.chesco.org/4437/Coronavirus-COVID-19-How-to-Help

 

[tomgamber]

So the cheeky comment about cheap gas is what you chose to focus on. This explains so much.

 

[poopdeck]

I love how a different opinion gets people to assume one does not work or volunteer.

I focused on going out fishing while abiding by the law of the land while not jeopardizing myself or anybody else. Sorry if that offends your sensibility.

Trust me when I say I'm not trolling, looking for an argument or anything else. I have a different opinion. One that's not looking for a noble peace prize or accolades because it sounds good on Facebook. I'm just a realist and everybody needs to just get on with life. We can live with COVID19 and we can fish with it without adding to the problem and most importantly, we're all going to have to sooner or later.