Washington State has closed fishing until May 4 on more than 7 million acres of public land; Oregon put the kibosh on recreational hunting, fishing, crabbing and clamming to non-residents, due to concerns about travel to Oregon to participate in these outdoor activities; for now, there’s no fishing, diving or boating in Florida’s Keys; meanwhile, free-wheelin’ Texas has declared fishing an essential activity; but what about California, home to more than 1 million resident fishing licenses?

Because of pandemonium during the call this week, the California Fish and Game Commission abruptly canceled a teleconference Thursday morning of more than 500 participants amid cries of “make fishing great again!” and “fascists!” before it could consider authorizing a limited ban on sportfishing in some areas, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The statewide heat got so hot that fishing was one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s points during his Thursday briefing,

“I’m passionate about fishing myself and I’m getting inundated by people that are concerned that we’ve canceled the fishing season,” the governor said at his daily COVID-19 briefing. “That is not the case, we are not canceling the fishing season in California.”

He added the state wants “to delay, not deny, the season,” according to KTLA.

Trout fishing season begins the last Saturday in April and runs through Nov. 15 every year. Opening Day, aka “Fishmas,” is Saturday, April 25, in Mono County.

As California more likely proposes a county by county system,  it could be a model of what to expect as the state goes back to work.  This is pure conjecture on my part, of course, but eventually we will have to find a way to safely ease our “shelter in place” restrictions.

When the meeting is rescheduled it will be posted on the commission’s website.

See you on the river (eventually), Jim Burns