Covid Hit Us All
By Heather Harkavy
The year of COVID. This journal is a time capsule. Year by year it will build on the experiences that took place. The changes that happened. This was the year that COVID rocked all of human-kind's worlds. Everyone had their own experience. You could no longer gather indoors. Life slowed down. Many turned to the fresh air of nature. The fly fishing industry, along with many other outdoor industries, boomed. Companies became back ordered for months as they couldn't keep up with demand. On the other end, the travel associated with fly fishing shuttered and the travel industry disappeared almost entirely. Lodges shutdown, guides struggled hard without their source of income, and travel agencies pretty much closed their doors, ourselves included. Here are personal accounts of COVID experiences across four of the five locations F4C hosts trips in.
Edwin Medina North East Bight, Guanaja
Edwin is one of the guides at Fly Fishing Guanaja, and has been guiding for the past 14 years, since he was 16 years old. "I haven't been many places but this is paradise to see the ocean flow in front of me, the sky flash down all day long, mountains around it-it's a great life. If there is something called paradise, this is it.! love being a fly fishing guide because I get to do something that I have loved to do since I was a little kid. I get to do something on the water and put a smile on someone else's face. It means a lot to share that joy." Although mainland Honduras was hit hard by COVID, the Bay Island of Guanaja with its humid, salty air, open land, and smaller population was not affected as badly. Edwin was allowed out one designated day a week during quarantine to gather proper supplies. Errands on his day out would include foraging in the mountains for fresh fruits and iguana, hitting the grocery store for basic necessities, and jumping on the boat to catch some fresh fish for dinner. The essentials included plantains, bananas, limes, yuca, iguanas, snapper, land crabs, etc. He lived off of the resources and skill sets his island provided him with, and for that he was thankful.
Edwin is one of the guides at Fly Fishing Guanaja, and has been guiding for the past 14 years, since he was 16 years old. "I haven't been many places but this is paradise to see the ocean flow in front of me, the sky flash down all day long, mountains around it-it's a great life. If there is something called paradise, this is it.! love being a fly fishing guide because I get to do something that I have loved to do since I was a little kid. I get to do something on the water and put a smile on someone else's face. It means a lot to share that joy." Although mainland Honduras was hit hard by COVID, the Bay Island of Guanaja with its humid, salty air, open land, and smaller population was not affected as badly. Edwin was allowed out one designated day a week during quarantine to gather proper supplies. Errands on his day out would include foraging in the mountains for fresh fruits and iguana, hitting the grocery store for basic necessities, and jumping on the boat to catch some fresh fish for dinner. The essentials included plantains, bananas, limes, yuca, iguanas, snapper, land crabs, etc. He lived off of the resources and skill sets his island provided him with, and for that he was thankful.
Photo: Knox Kronenberg.
"The community takes care of each other. It's one big family. Everyone shares and no one goes to bed hungry no matter how tough it gets." When we asked how a year off affected the fishery Edwin said "After a year of rest on the fishery, this past year was some of the best permit fishing Guanaja has ever seen." The beauty and lifestyle of Guanaja is very relaxed. Not to discredit all the bad, but Edwin believes it was good to give the world a chance to slow down and rest. To live a little more like the locals of Guanaja.
Napoleon Sequoia Avalos Cano Negro, Costa rice
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Napo has been fishing his entire life and guiding for the past 36 years. Tarpon are his career, his passion, and his family. The opportunity to connect people from around the globe to the fish he loves the most has made showing up at the office every day at 5 a.m. easy. Last year, all of these things were swept away as COVID presented itself. Tourists no longer visited Costa Rica, and for the first time in 36 years he did not have the daily joy of introducing someone to his favorite game fish. With only two weeks of guiding last season he financially struggled, but thankfully this year is back with proper precautions in place and a booked out season. "When I do not have fishing I take care of the river by collecting garbage and removing trees that fall on the river. This past year without work I took the time to protect the river and habitat of the tarpon". |
Photo: Heather Harkavy
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Junior Jaques Abaco, Bahamas
Photo: Knox Kronenberg.
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Junior is a Fish for Change student and will be a Trip Leader this upcoming season, has grown up in Abaco. " have been living here all my life. I like the sense of community. Access to the ocean. The freedom this island provides. The ability to access nature without it being overrun by people." Days before his senior year in high school, the place he calls home was hit by Hurricane Dorian, a catastrophic category 5 hurricane that uprooted his life, along with his entire community. The first half of his senior year was spent on a neighboring island, Nassau. The second half was spent in COVID lock-down back in Abaco. After high school, Junior began working in construction. "There is so much rebuilding to be done. Even over two years later. Construction seems to be the top job on the island right now." Between a hurricane and COVID it is hard to make progress on your goals as you constantly pick up the pieces. The light at the end of all this darkness is happening. Junior has been offered an opportunity to shadow a lifelong guide on the island, lshy, which will hopefully become another step forward towards his dream to become a guide.
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Alexander Hernandez Campeche, Mexico
Alejandro is 20 years old and the son of the family that runs Campeche Tarpon. Campeche is located in the Yucatan Peninsula on the south-east side of Mexico and is known for its baby tarpon. The beauty of this lodge is the father-son duo behind the scenes who always go above and beyond. Their passion for what they do shines through. "Getting to share every angler the immense love my father and I have for our home is just the perfect situation, we feel very proud and honored." Their company shut down for almost a year during COVID's initial lock-down. One of Campeche's regulations when COVID first began was shutting down the boardwalk and fishing ports completely for six months. "It was a very difficult experience to go on, however, giving another perspective, life in the mangroves got a break from all of the activities and when the fishing started, even the commercial fishermen realized that it was good for the living creatures. If there was a lot of fishing before the pandemic, now there's even more healthy and hungry fish to catch."
Photo: Mason McPherson
Alejandro is 20 years old and the son of the family that runs Campeche Tarpon. Campeche is located in the Yucatan Peninsula on the south-east side of Mexico and is known for its baby tarpon. The beauty of this lodge is the father-son duo behind the scenes who always go above and beyond. Their passion for what they do shines through. "Getting to share every angler the immense love my father and I have for our home is just the perfect situation, we feel very proud and honored." Their company shut down for almost a year during COVID's initial lock-down. One of Campeche's regulations when COVID first began was shutting down the boardwalk and fishing ports completely for six months. "It was a very difficult experience to go on, however, giving another perspective, life in the mangroves got a break from all of the activities and when the fishing started, even the commercial fishermen realized that it was good for the living creatures. If there was a lot of fishing before the pandemic, now there's even more healthy and hungry fish to catch."
Photo: Mason McPherson