These are some strange and worrying times, but I will do all I can to keep this blog going and hopefully provide a bit of fishing related cheer and info for you kind readers

Whatever does or does not happen in the coming weeks and months, one thing I will not be doing on this blog is turning it over to the the mass of information and indeed misinformation out there about the coronavirus. As much as I enjoy a good fishing related debate etc. on Facebook, I am choosing to ignore anything on there about the coronavirus, indeed I will be stringently unfriending and unfollowing any people on Facebook who perpetuate the ever increasing circle of misinformation by persisting with sharing potentially bogus information and spreading general hate or bad feelings. As much as it seems that there can’t be much of anything 100% definite about this pandemic, I’m going to stick with the BBC for my news updates and information, and I’m going to keep this blog very much fishing related. I may not know as much about fishing as a lot of you out there, but I am entirely confident that I know more about fishing than I do the coronavirus!

Wherever you are and whatever you do, please stay as safe as possible and also do what you can to help your fellow human beings out. It breaks my heart to think of elderly and potentially very vulnerable people missing out on essential food and household items because of this panic buying thing that a percentage of us seem to go out and do the moment there’s any sort of crisis related information flying around. If it’s not an inch of snow bringing the country to a standstill and people emptying shelves with a bit of cold weather, it’s the sort of unprecedented situation we are in now which I am sure will bring out the best but also the worst in humanity. Hell, I’ve been panic buying bass fishing lures for years now, but I have every faith that my actions have not remotely impacted upon the wellbeing of my fellow man!

I don’t know where we are headed, but I live close to the sea in a very special part of the world with a lot of coastline and estuaries to wander around with rod and reel in hand, and the kind of fishing I so love to do is a pretty unsocial activity which I believe is very good for my health and mental well being. It feels like spring might have finally sprung - famous last words?! - and I’m going to get stuck into this coming bass season as hard as I can whilst also being sensible about what’s going on. I don’t know how many of you here will be able to get out and about or indeed if we might end up with tight restrictions on moving around, but this is me sending out as many positive vibes as possible.

I can think of a number of different ways in which what is currently going on might impact negatively upon my work, but whatever might or might not happen to me and my family is also happening to countless others. I worry greatly about a few family members of a certain age who have had serious health issues over the last few years, so here’s to getting through this as safely as we all can. Please be sensible, please be considerate, please stay calm, and please come back here when you need to think about something else. Allow me to empty forth the contents of my fishing brain for you upon these virtual pages during these troubled times……………………

Addition - If you do end up stuck at home and you have never listened to podcasts, might I implore you to do so? You can find podcasts on anything and everything these days, and recently I came across what is fast becoming one of my favourite podcasts. It’s called the 10ish Podcast and more often than not it’s a great listen and usually very funny into the bargain. I am putting this addition up because I just finished listening to a recent episode of the 10ish Podcast, no. 76: ALIENS: Most Credible Close Encounters in Modern History. Listen to it below if you could do with a good laugh and a bit of cheering up. You can find most podcasts on Spotify (as per the link below), but as good as Spotify is for music, if you want to automatically download podcasts and have them go into various playlists and so on I don’t think it’s much cop. I use the outstanding and free Overcast app on my iPhone for subscribing and managing and listening to my podcasts.