Appeal Tribune
❚ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020 ❚ 1B
Outdoors
Learning to fish under
coronavirus rules in Oregon
Henry Hughes fishes along the Alsea River amid the pandemic. PHOTO COURTESY OF HENRY HUGHES
Henry Hughes
Special to Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
When our department meeting at
Western Oregon University was can-
celed on March 12 over concerns of CO-
VID-19, I figured it was a good excuse to
go fishing.
There were few known cases of the
virus in Oregon at that point. We
thought the cancellation was just a pre-
caution.
I emailed my colleague, Jackson Stal-
ley:
“Fishing?” I asked.
“Yes, indeed!” he replied.
We met that afternoon with a hug be-
fore heading to a Willamette Valley pond
to catch stocked rainbow trout waking
up after a winter slumber. We shared a
flask of whiskey and caught a 25-inch
rainbow that weighed 8 pounds.
It was the last time fishing would feel
normal.
I began Oregon’s spring fishing sea-
son when COVID-19 was just a whisper.
I began Oregon’s spring fishing season when COVID-19 was
just a whisper. A few weeks later, fishing has become a
completely different experience, one in which social
distancing is required for a pastime that could be outlawed
at any moment.
A few weeks later, fishing has become a
completely different experience, one in
which social distancing is required for a
pastime that could be outlawed at any
moment.
As most of Oregon’s parks and public
lands have been closed down to recrea-
tion, fishing, at least for now, remains
open and viable except on parts of the
Columbia River. But it has required get-
ting used to — the rules changing by the
day. The Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife has stressed fishing in small
groups, or solo, keeping at least 6 feet
from each other and staying close to
home. Many boats ramps are likewise
closed.
“Getting outdoors and fishing is a
healthy way to get fresh air and exercise
during this difficult time provided the
rules are followed,” ODFW director Curt
Melcher told the Statesman Journal. “If
we do see anglers are not abiding the or-
der and endangering themselves and
others, then we may need to modify
fishing seasons.”
It has turned fishing into an altogeth-
er different experience.
Two weeks after our department
meeting was canceled, Jackson emailed
and suggested we return to the same
trout pond. This time we took separate
cars and boats. We didn’t hug, and any
toasting over big fish would be done re-
motely. With Jackson paddling on the
other side of the pond, I drifted quietly,
casting a streamer. Although I enjoy
fishing with others, there’s also some-
thing meditative and soothing about
angling alone. A muskrat swam within
inches of my boat, and I paid closer at-
tention to the redwing blackbirds sing-
ing in the cattails, and the osprey diving
to seize a hapless trout. Osprey are par-
ing up and rebuilding their nests this
time of year.
Back in the real world, things got
worse. There were several cases of CO-
VID-19 in Polk County by March 25. Peo-
ple we knew had symptoms, a student
at WOU tested positive. Almost 20,000
had died worldwide.
My friend, Mark Van Steeter, texted
me: “Meet on the Alsea tomorrow? Wa-
ter looks right.”
Mark, a geography professor, knows
a lot about world health issues. He’s also
a great steelhead angler, and when he
says the conditions are right, I pay at-
tention. The Alsea is also a short drive
from our homes.
See FISHING, Page 2B
About those projects you’ve been putting off
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
“Depression is the inability to con-
struct a future.”
In times of self-isolation and social
distancing, it will serve us well, I think,
to ponder that line by the late Rollo May,
an existential psychologist … and do the
latter to avoid the former.
May probably was speaking clinical-
ly, but his words have a practical appli-
cation.
To that end, maybe we should spend
our collective enforced exile optimisti-
cally preparing for the future.
Nothing major, you understand; no
building a boat in the basement, if you
have one, or a canoe in the carport, in
my case.
Think small with projects that rein-
force the belief that we’re going to come
out of the current time in solitary in a
better place.
We’re talking stuff that you planned
on doing before the current reality inter-
vened, mini-projects that are forward-
looking.
Such as those $%#&@ chest waders.
Leaky chest waders
There is an annoyingly small but per-
sistent leak somewhere around the boo-
ty seam where the neoprene meets the
waterproof – used to be - fabric on the
left leg (or is it the right?, been awhile).
Thinking about the future, those
waders will be essential for fishing and
clamming trips.
In fact pre-coronavirus, there were a
couple of outings on the docket for May
and June.
Other tasks that in normal times you
do in panic prep, usually the night be-
fore you load the truck, are great time-
fillers.
Does that Coleman stove need some
maintenance before summer camping?
Drag it out of storage, oil and gas it up
and see.
What was it dad taught you?
The lever goes up to light, after a min-
ute, down to burn.
Well waddaya know?
Still got it.
Even though you’re sitting in your
back yard, the sight of that sputtering,
then that steady, hissing, bright blue
flame lights the promise of adventures
to come.
Ditto for the old-school lantern.
Those silk mantels look shot, proba-
bly from thumping and bumping over
that road between Sisters and Three
Creeks Lake a couple of years ago.
Let’s just make sure the spares are
handy to install when you get to the
campground. And check it out that
See MILLER, Page 2B
Projects can help remind you of better
days in the past, and better days still
to come. SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL