Posted on March 29 2020
After cancelling my long anticipated bonefishing trip, my wife and I made the decision to cut short our time in Florida and head back to New York, which has since become the hotbed of the Covid-19 pandemic. We did this primarily to be where we have the best medical insurance and a long term relationship with our doctors. Hopefully we will not need to take advantage of either resource.
Our home is located on a 13 acre parcel of land south of Syracuse. My fishing camp "The Lordville Estate", while located in downtown Lordville is at present surrounded by six vacant homes. Both our home and the camp provide the isolation necessary for self quarantine.
Since arriving home on March 20th, I have divided my time between the two abodes. My wife and I have each made one shopping trip to refurbish our food supply and other necessities. The bulk of our time has been spent crossing off items that have been on our "to do lists" for far too long. We have worked both inside and outside getting plenty of fresh air and exercise. We have not seen our children, grandchildren or close friends.
Frankly, the work we have done around the house has provided a welcome respite from the addictive nature of the news surrounding the Covid-19 virus. As a person who does not watch television, I am amazed at the amount of time I have spent listening to information provided by both the informed and unfortunately the uninformed. It seems clear that we, as a country, were frightfully slow to react, and failed to have available the necessary testing and contact tracing procedures to contain the virus. As a result we are now faced with a long uphill fight aimed at mitigating the damage.
How does this fit into the Angler 119's fishing reports? I'm not sure. As a wade fisherman who can live in relative seclusion right on the river, I can fish. The New York DEC is in fact encouraging people to do so. At the same time all nonessential commercial ventures in both NY and PA have been ordered closed and Delaware County has asked people not to come. This includes fly shops, lodges and guiding services. The river is lined with second homes, many of which are owned by people from the greater New York City metropolitan area. Will they have fled NYC and brought the virus with them to Delaware County? It seems clear that individuals who make day trips (alone) to fish the river will pose little threat to themselves and others. Putting three people into a drift boat for a day or sharing lodging with a group is another matter. If people find pleasure fishing vicariously through my reports they may provide relief from the unending pandemic reports ( a good thing). If, however, the reports encourage groups of anglers to come who fail to practice social distancing, the reports may do more harm than good.
I guess I'll kinda see how things feel before filling up the internet with meaningless babble. After all it's territory none of us have ever been in before.
By the way. If any of you are curious the rust covered refrigerator and the hot water heater (now both 29 years old) both started up from their long winter's nap like they were still in their respective warranty periods.
You have mentioned before that you appreciate the positive feedback, (I started reading your reports just last year) so I’m commenting just to tell you how glad I am to see them resume, and how much I look forward to them continuing.