You’re probably thinking “funny cartoon Dave, but that could never happen!” On the other hand, with everything that is going on these days stranger things ARE happening…all the time.

The other day, I ran into my old neighbor. While catching up, he said he had been watching a lot of news and all the media hype got to him, which is no easy task. He didn’t realize how bad his personality had suffered until his adult son told him to stop biting everyone’s head off every time they tried to talk to him. To his credit he cut WAY back on watching the news and his outlook got much better. I don’t watch hardly any news myself and can say it’s a great anxiety reliever.

Of course, it’s hard to lower your of anxiety if you feel isolated and out of touch. After doing some brief research about the 1918 Pandemic I realized this thing was going to take a while; far longer than I would be able to stay isolated indoors. For my own health and peace of mind I tried to find a reasonable, logical approach and decided to use the strategy Sweden is employing. A brief paraphrase from the article; “recognize that the world is only in the first stage of dealing with a long, uncertain battle with Covid-19 so Sweden is keeping much it’s of society open while training people to observe distancing guidelines — is the only realistic way to cope in the long run.”

So far, I’m staying healthy plus spending a reasonable amount of time out of the house and on the water. To do this, I have my supplies. Some are visible and obvious like face masks and hand sanitizer. However, my most important “supply” is extra patience and lots of it! If a store is too crowded, I come back another time. If a car is driving crazy, I get out of its way. If someone is in a hurry and putting off the “human tuning fork vibe” I give them distance and let them go first.

We had some pretty good fishing in June along with lots of pictures to share. Thanks to everyone for sending these in. With the cool weather continuing, fishing conditions are looking pretty good for July. Personally, I’m hoping to hit some Mt Hood Lakes in my float tube, chase carp for the first time on the Columbia and maybe try for Spring Chinook on the upper Sandy River. This barely scratches the surface of what’s available but it’s good to have a plan plus a back up plan; if your first choice doesn’t work out you can still enjoy some time outdoors. Mainly, I’m going to stay positive and keep my fly in the water as much as possible. Fish will be caught!

Unfortunately the High Rocks Banquet Room will not be open for our meeting so we won’t have one in July. To make up for this we will get more fishing info and opportunities posted on the website, so stay tuned. Also, our Forum is a good place to share ideas and information.

Last year our July Fish A Long at Round Lake was our best attended fish a long ever (or at least for the last several years). It was a great time but as you can imagine, Fish A Longs or club initiated fishing trips will have to change for a while. It makes to most sense to travel alone or in small groups of 2 or 3 but we can still get out there!

Also, if you have any suggestions for the club or need any info, please get in touch.

Dave Kilhefner (Dave@kbi-ins.com)