Social Distancing for Fisherman

In the midst of this horrible pandemic that has literally shut the world down, as an outdoor enthusiast you may be going crazy stuck inside because of social distancing. Thankfully there are a ton of things that you can do during this quarantine to prevent yourself from losing it.

Social Distancing at Home

If you’re sheltering in place, there are a number of great things that you can do at home to improve yourself as a fisherman and keep yourself occupied.

Maintenance 

Since you’re locked in your house for the foreseeable future now is a great time to take care of all your equipment like you’ve been saying that you would for the past year. Want to learn how to take care of your reels? Lucky for you I wrote a blog post about that very topic, check it out!

Aside from reels, you can patch holes in your cast net, work on your boat, organize your tackle box or any other work you need to do to get your equipment in tip-top shape.

Learning

Time on the water is the best way to become a better fisherman. However, if you’re stuck indoors the next best thing is to absorb as much information as possible. Read books and magazines (many are available online since libraries are closed), listen to podcasts, watch TV shows (although keep in mind that many times they can be more focused on promoting a product rather than techniques) and watch Youtube.

As far as Youtube goes, all the TV stars have content there, but I would focus more on local knowledge. Channels like SaltStrong, or my pal Brent Schirmer offer great content that isn’t just entertaining, but also very informative. While both of these channels are based out of my area, (Tampa Bay Area), they offer information that is applicable across the state.

Tying Flies

If you’re a fly fisherman being forced to practice social distancing, one of your best options is to tie flies. Re-upping on your favorite bugs is a great way to rebuild your arsenal and get creative with designing new options!

I have a number of blogs discussing how to tie popular flies such as schminnows and clouser minnows. These posts are easy to follow not terribly long, perfect for beginners and experts alike!

Other Forms of Social Distancing

So you just can’t stay home and have to get on the water. Well fishing is a way to do this, however in this instance there are some major caveats. They are as follows:

• Avoid public places
• Stay away from people
• Avoid touching things unnecessarily
• Be smart

I have been able to fish because I have only been going out with my dad, in this case, we’re on lock-down together and so there isn’t a risk of one of us giving the disease to one another as we’re not leaving the house.

We not only have a private marina, but also catch our own bait. We’re not going into a bait shop and interacting with another person or exchanging currency and we’re not dealing with a crowded public marina, there is no interaction between boaters at my private ramp.

Best case, if you have a dock in your back yard to launch a boat from or fish from then you have nothing to worry about.

Spoiler*: To be fair, the photo on the left was in Chassahowitzka before things kicked off here with the virus in America.

Be smart. Be safe. Pray. We’re going to make it through this.

Until next time, Tight Lines.