Meandering Angler: Virtual fishing with video, books

I’d much rather go fishing, but when I can’t I enjoy reading about it. If you need a way to pass the time while you’re in self-isolation, I highly recommend reading the “Sean Stranahan Mysteries” series of novels by Keith McCafferty.

Each novel is set on a well-known Montana River and presents a murder for Sean Stranahan, artist/private eye/fly-fisherman, to solve. In the first in the series of eight, “The Royal Wulff Murders,” a fishing guide reels in the body of a young man on the Madison, the Holy Grail of Montana trout streams. The dead guy has a Royal Wulff trout fly stuck in his lower lip. Local Sheriff Martha Ettinger suspects foul play. She and Stranahan investigate.

You can probably get them at Readers’ Books (when they open), but they are also available on Amazon and there is a Kindle version for each.

If you’re not a fan of murder mysteries, then check out three books by Scott Waldie set in the fictional Montana village of Travers Corners. With fly-fishing as a general theme, these are tales of ordinary people, small town friendships and tall tales. All three also have Kindle editions.

If you get tired of reading, you can always switch to videos, of which there are a ton.

If you are total fishing nut, the most obvious choice is FishingTV (fishingtv.com). This is a pay-for-view option on which you can subscribe for a monthly fee starting around $6. You can then choose the videos you want to watch and view them on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV or several other options.

There are lots of free options as well including websites, like globalflyfisher.com, from which you can link to videos.

I get regular mailings from several fishing tour companies, including one called Untamedangling.com. They appear to specialize in exotic fish in exotic places. For example, one of the latest is about fishing for giant arapaimas in the Amazon.

You can also actually choose to go fishing, and do it in a way that is provides for considerable isolation.

One of my first choices would be the upper Sacramento River near Dunsmuir. Even without shelter-in-place orders, the stretch of river that runs from Lake Siskiyou to Lake Shasta, along Interstate Highway 5, is surprisingly isolated. There are lots of access points to which you can drive. You can walk, wade and fish by yourself. I’ve rarely seen another angler there.

I mentioned last week that you could fish off the bank at some lakes in our region also, but check to see if they are actually open.

David Hurley, who writes the Hurley Chronicles for USA Fishing, published a list of open and closed lakes this week, which showed Lake Berryessa and Lake Sonoma as open, but Clear Lake closed.

There are some guides and fishing services hoping to be open for business and taking extra measure to conform to healthy distancing. My friend Dan Troupe, who guides in Montana, is offering 50% off his usual rates between now and May 15. Dan is an excellent guide and offers floats on the Missouri River, the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Upper and Lower Clark Fork, the Marias River, Sun River, Big Hole and Jefferson. If you’re interested, contact Dan at dantroupe@uplandangler.com.