LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – June 2020

EDITOR’S NOTES by Chester Moore – June 2020
May 24, 2020
INSIDE FISH & GAME by Roy and Ardia Neves – June 2020
May 24, 2020

A Letter of Hope

SPRINGTIME IS DEFINITELY here and the warmer temperatures are a welcome sight to all. Not only are these warmer temps a good thing concerning Covid 19, but they also make fishing much easier for the average bass fisherman. There are plenty of bass up shallow, and they are biting.

With so many people out of work due to the current situation, the lakes bays, and rivers are full. The parking lots at many reservoirs are overflowing to the grass. There are more people fishing on a Tuesday at Lake Sam Rayburn than there used to be on a crowded tournament weekend. If you are among the multitudes who are fishing, remember that we still have certain guidelines to follow.

Like it or not, it is what it is, and we need to be thinking of others at this time. You can currently still fish in most areas, but be sure to practice the proper social distancing and hand washing procedures.

If you aren’t one for the crowds, there is a good chance that fish can be caught much closer to home than you may realize. Most of the canals, ditches, and ponds in our area hold numbers of bass.

There are also bayous and rivers that can be fished as well as some area marshes. If a trip to the lake isn’t an option, yet you find yourself going stir crazy, grab a pole and head to the nearest water hole to try your luck. Obviously, you need to make sure that you aren’t trespassing.

Once you find a place to fish, take time to enjoy your surroundings. Appreciate the fact that you are able to be outdoors and thank God for your blessings. While we are not supposed to be intermingling with others during this time, we can still interact with those members of our family who live in our house.

You may find that the teenager who never wants to fish is now interested, since there aren’t many other things to do. Use this bad situation as an opportunity to bond with the members of your own household. If you are fortunate enough to catch a few fish, bring them home, clean them, and have a fish fry. Explain to your children how God provided us with fish so that we can have something to eat.

In Romans 8:28 the Bible says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

During this time, I encourage you to trust in God, realize that He has a plan for your life, and that He is in the business of bringing good out of bad. Sometimes all that we can change is our perspective or our attitude, and that can make all of the difference in the world!

Brian Johnson

(www.duckdogtrainer.com.)

Light Is Winning

I DON’T KNOW if you’ve ever heard of the HBO show “True Detective,” but its original season was based on a novel by Carter Dickson that I read in Professor Bowden’s Detective Fiction class back at UT entitled The Long Bright Dark. The book was as much a study of the rebirth of Rust Cohle’s idealism as much as a gripping mystery. His final line to his partner, Marty Hart, always struck me:

“You see all those stars peaking through the night sky? Once, there was only dark. If you ask me, the light is winning.”

I believe that right now, that sentiment is apropos for what we as a nation and a people are experiencing. We are beginning to see the light beginning to peek through this very dark period in our lives and history. There are two vaccines going through the beginning of clinical trials.

In most of the major hot spots around the country—New York, Los Angeles, Austin, San Antonio, Seattle, the curve is showing signs of flattening. Though the toll of COVID 19 is staggering, it is nowhere near the grim projections of a month ago.

Even so, there is still a malaise in this nation. In all my life, I have never felt such a sense of misery and gloom among Americans as I do now. Not after 9/11. Not after some of the great national crises we have endured.

You and I know the power of hope (as Andy Dufresne once said, “Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best thing. And good things never die”).

I sense—without a bit of hyperbole—a lot of people have forgotten the enduring, fierce, unrelenting tenacity of hope.

It’s something that is simple, but very germane to the idea of hope to which we as anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen and women can relate. I am proposing an article at fishgame.com (available now) about a fishing trip that Captain Dan Land took with a couple of young anglers and the magic of the experience. On back-to-back casts, they each caught a 30-inch-plus trout on Baffin.

Imagine that!

With the rest of the world mired in the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu, these guys went out on one of the legendary fishing destinations on the Texas Coast and had a trip to remember. Shelter in place may save you physically, but we are more than flesh and blood. We are souls. We are spirits. Staying home will help us survive, but we need to live too.

Calixto Gonzalez

(Saltwater Editor)

Editor: Cal, wrote me this email and I found it quite inspiring. So, I thought I would share with all of you, since it’s a message of high positivity for all of us.

 

Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com

 

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