Back in the Outdoors

COVID-19 shouldn’t get you down

You hear it on the news every day; social distancing, stay home, wash your hands. It’s all good advice to get the corona virus curve to go down. It will work too if we all take that little bit of effort to maintain that social distancing and more.

But if you look around, you’ll see that some people are getting back in the outdoors. The other day I took a drive just to get out of the house. I had no contact with any people, didn’t stop at any stores, and never got out of my car till I was back in my garage at home.

One place I wanted to take a look at was Tampier Lake. It’s not far away. Surprisingly the Cook County Forest Preserve lake was open for fishing. Parking lots were open and each had a handful of cars, nicely spaced away from each other.

People were fishing. Anglers were by themselves or with one or two others. Everyone I saw had ample space between them. Social distancing was being practiced. And several of the people were wearing facemasks. This was a good thing.

A friend of mine sent me an email the other day. He got out to go fishing. His nickname is Husker. Fishing small subdivision ponds is one of his favorite pastimes. Some spots are a short walk from his home while others might be just a short drive.

Husker is an angler who frequently fishing waters like LaSalle, Heidecke and Braidwood Lakes. He’ll fish Lake Michigan and our local rivers like the Calumet, DesPlaines, Illinois, Kankakee and DuPage. Access to so many of these bodies of water is closed now but that’s not the case for many local ponds.

The email from Husker had a couple photos a crappie and bass that he caught and released from a small pond that’s near his home. What a great way to get back in the outdoors. He had the lake all to himself. Saw no one else that day. I guess it’s safe to say that Husker agrees that COVID-19 shouldn’t get you down.

Just as it’s okay to go out of the house for take-out food for dinner or visit a grocery store, it’s ok to visit a local pond or the forest preserve to do a little fishing. But don’t gather a large group to join you. Remember to keep your distance from others. Avoid contact with others. Go ahead’ give yourself a break and carefully, get back in the outdoors.

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