FIRST CAST: CURTIS NIEDERMIER
that spring
when we all
went fishing
Finding good news throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been about as hard as
finding toilet paper back when shelter-in-place orders were first taking effect. At
this point, if you’re still struggling to track down TP, you might want to try
Amazon. And if you’re still struggling to find some good news, allow me to offer a
couple of examples.
The first was published at StarTribune.com on May 5, in advance of the
Minnesota fishing opener (it’s a holiday, dontcha know?). In “Explosion of
Minnesota fishing licenses among teens adds new wrinkle to opener,” Tim Kennedy
reported that sales of special youth resident fishing licenses for 16- and 17-year-olds
were up 99 percent in Minnesota. Say this in your best Al Lindner voice: Holy buckets,
that’s a whopper of an increase.
I think it’s great that more young people are discovering a safe, fun alternative to
the typical spring sports and activities they might otherwise be participating in if
their schools weren’t closed. Now we need to figure out how to retain some of those
young anglers once the typical demands on their time return.
Minnesota isn’t the only state that’s seen an uptick in angler participation,
either. KATV in Little Rock recently ran a story called “More people fishing leads to
nationwide bait and tackle shortages.”
While reporter Parris Kane points out how manufacturing and distribution
chains that have been mired with delays are partially to blame for the shortages,
overall, the positive takeaway is that more people are going fishing.
I know it’s true because I’ve witnessed it during my own fishing trips. Some of our
local public access sites were flooded with people fishing throughout spring.
Thankfully, most of the families I saw were practicing social distancing while doing it.
Fishing was an important activity for my family during Kentucky’s shelter-athome
period. This was the first spring in a long time that I wasn’t on the road covering
tournaments. I took advantage of the unexpected time away to take my wife and
kids shore-fishing for bream and bass. The positive distraction that fishing provided
and the memories we made are the silver lining I’m hoping to take away from the
pandemic.
As the father of young children, I’ve thought about how I’ll explain this situation
to my kids when they’re older. My daughter, who’s 3 1/2, might always remember
staying home with Mom and Dad for all those weeks, but right now she doesn’t
understand why. And my son, who just turned 1, will never recall what it was like to
live through it.
When I explain it to them, I’ll tell them how our brave healthcare workers and
first responders saved so many lives. I’ll tell them how we had to come together by
staying apart. I’ll tell them about planting tomatoes, daily walks and near-daily
video calls with Grandma and Poppa. I’ll also tell them about our fishing trips. I’ll
show them photos of my daughter wading on a gravel beach to hunt for shells while
Daddy fished, and videos of my son giggling when he touched a bluegill’s tail. I’ll
talk about how, even though the pandemic was awfully tough on everyone, for one
spring we all just went fishing to help cope with the challenges.
That’s not the kind of story you read very often in the news, but it’s the way I
hope they remember it.
Curtis Niedermier, Editor-in-Chief
Bass Fishing Magazine
Editor-in-Chief
Curtis Niedermier
Production Manager/
Graphic Designer
Michelle Dowling
Associate Editor
Justin Onslow
Senior Designer/Illustrator
Matt Pace
Field Editor
Matt Williams
FLWFishing.com
Senior Editor
Kyle Wood
Digital Editor
Jody White
Staff Videographer/
Photographer
Rob Matsuura
MajorLeagueFishing.com
Sr. Director, Digital Media
Joel Shangle
Sr. Manager, Digital Editorial
Rachel Dubrovin
Sr. Manager, Digital Content
Development
Josh Gassmann
Digital Content Editor
Ellise Verheyen
Digital Content Editor
Olivia Fissel
Staff Writer
Mason Prince
President and CEO
Jim Wilburn
Executive Vice President and
General Manager, MLF
Don Rucks
Executive Vice President and
General Manager, FLW
Kathy Fennel
Vice President of Marketing and
Business Development, MLF
John Acosta
Vice President of Operations, FLW
Dave Washburn
Director of Account Services, FLW
Jenn Sonnek
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FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | JUNE-JULY 2020