The following are guidelines for boating and various other and inland waterway related activities during the duration of Governor Baker’s stay-at-home advisory and essential services order.  Not listed here are the guidelines for marine (ocean) activities.

Inland boat ramps and canoe launches:

Inland boat ramps and canoe launches within state parks, forests, wildlife management areas, boating access facilities and other state owned properties managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts remain open for use by boats being launched by vehicles registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, except where the access has already been closed due to parking restrictions or other restrictions.

All other inland boat ramps that are currently managed by municipalities remain open subject to the discretion of the city or town. 

 User Guidelines: 

• Ramps remain open subject to available parking. A ramp will be considered closed if all parking is full. Illegally parked cars will be ticketed and may be towed. 
• All boat ramp and canoe launch users shall practice social distancing. Users should allow appropriate space for users of the boat ramp or launch and clear the ramp when users launch is complete. 
• Users should ensure they are ready to depart quickly from the ramp or dock as soon as their boat is put into the water. Users not actively launching their boat should clear the launch area.
• Upon return to ramp, users should load their boat as quickly and safely as possible and then clear the launch area. 
• Use of ramps for organized fishing tournaments, derbies, or any other type of gathering is prohibited.
• Loitering on ramps or use of ramps for any activity other than launching boats is prohibited.  Parking at ramps for activities other than launching boats is prohibited.
• Masks or face-coverings should be worn in public in accordance with the Department of Public Health’s advisory when social distancing is not possible. 

Recreational boating:  The safe operation of recreational boats is permitted under the following guidelines:

• Only persons from the same household should be together on a boat at one time.
• No gathering or groups of persons from multiple households will be permitted on boat ramps, docks, piers etc., and all users shall practice strict social distancing. 
• All recreational crafts shall remain a safe distance apart. Tying boats or other crafts together is prohibited.
• All recreational boating is subject to the discretion of local officials, harbormasters, and law enforcement. 
• All local rules, regulations, laws and Coast Guard requirements still apply.

For hire boating: For hire boating will not be permitted while the Governor’s stay at home advisory and essential services order is in effect. This includes:

• Charter and head boat fishing
• Sailboat rentals and lessons,
• Canoe, kayak, and stand-up paddleboard rentals,
• White water rafting and river tubing rentals,
• Whale watches and other pleasure cruises,
• Any other operation or use of a vessel that is not registered to the passenger.

Many thanks to Jim McGrath, Pittsfield Harbormaster, for passing this information onto us.

Some people are undoubtedly displeased with the Governor’s restrictions and mandates associated with Covid-19. From my perspective, I think he is doing the right thing. 

My parents lived through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920.  They had some interesting tales to tell, especially my mother Agnes. As a teenager, she was the only person on her street well enough to walk to town to obtain and deliver medicines and groceries for her neighbors.  Every other family on her street had the flu. 

Her own brother, my Uncle Clarence Cummings, had contracted it.  He recovered, but according to my mother never fully recovered and was as thin as a rail for the remainder of his life.  My Uncle Fred was on a troop ship headed for France during WW1 when after a couple of days at sea, it had to return to New York because many of the troops on it had died from the flu.  My uncle helped to stack the bodies “like cordwood” on the ship’s deck.  Boy, did he have stories.

I remember when the polio epidemic was on during the 1940-50’s.  People were frightened, and kids couldn’t go anywhere, beaches, movie houses, etc.  My own sister Emily was a victim of polio.  It affected her legs, and thanks to the Shriners Hospital in Springfield, was able to walk, albeit with a limp.

So, from my perspective, epidemics and pandemics are things to fear, and the governor can’t do too much to curb the spread of this one.

May is a good time to flyfish

While it is true that some diehard anglers fly fish all year long, many of them consider the month of May as the perfect time.  It is the time that many major insect hatches such as Ephemeroptera (Mayflies),Trichoptera (caddis flies) and Plecoptera (stoneflies) mature and rise from the stream bottoms and transform from bottom dwelling nymphs to dry flies.  Some rid their nymph shucks on the way to the surface while others swim to rocks, climb onto them and hatch there.  It’s the time that anglers call “the hatch”

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Above picture is of Dwayne Anderson making a beautiful cast.

That’s not to say that insect life and flyfishermen are not active in April.  There are some hatches like the Epeorus pleurali) (commonly referred to as Quill Gordons named after Theodore Gordon who developed an imitation pattern of it, or the Ephemerella subvaria (commonly referred to as Hendrickson named after a fly fisherman in 1918…..long story),and other aquatic insects that hatch during that month.  However; most of the time anglers have to use sunken flies (nymph imitations) to catch them.  During that period of cold water, the trout are a little logy and prefer to pick off these insects before they reach the water’s surface.

But it’s when the water temperatures rise to the 50/60 degrees Fahrenheit range that the major hatching activities start. Some insects hatch over a period of a couple of weeks, while other hatches are over in 3 days.  Although some hatches may overlap a little, fortunately, they don’t all hatch at the same time.  To avoid insect traffic jams, Mother Nature has schedules when the various types hatch, all summer long and into the fall.  By doing so, there is a constant supply of food for the fish and birds throughout the warm weather months.  Pretty smart on Mother Nature’s part, ey?

It’s amazing when you think about it.  Most mayflies spend 360 or so days of the year on the river or streambed.  Based upon their biological clock, they hatch out as sub-imagos (duns), molt into imagos (spinners), mate in air, drop their eggs in the water, stretch out their wings and die.  Some insects like the larger stoneflies will spend a couple of years under water before hatching.

During periods of hot weather with water temperatures exceeding 70 degrees and with low water conditions, the trout activity slows down.  Trout find it difficult to survive in water temperatures warmer than that and seek colder water tributaries and river bottom springs to survive.  (That’s why it is so important to maintain trees and canopy vegetation along the banks of the streams to provide shade to cool the water and help them survive)

Successful anglers have learned when the various flies hatch out as well as their size, coloration, idiosyncrasies, etc.  Although trout brains are no larger than peas, they are not fools.  If they have been feeding on a brown colored size #12 mayfly for days and then are presented with a sized #16 tan imitation, forget it.  They will just give the angler the fin.

Volumes and volumes have been written about these aquatic insects and the fascinating sport (or art, if you prefer) of flyfishing over the last several hundred years.  Tradition abounds in this sport.  For me, the thought of casting a fly imitation, perhaps developed by Theodore Gordon and successfully fished by him in the 1800’s simply turns me on.

If staring at a bobber for hours no longer thrills you, you may want to step up your game and take up fly fishing.  Don’t let the Greek or Latin names of the flies discourage you.  There are thousands of species of each type and there has to be some scientific way to identify them.  Call them brown, gray or green flies if you wish.  Neither the insects nor fish care.  You really only have to know about a dozen or so of them.

Fly fishing is not necessarily easy, it can be challenging and downright frustrating at times, but with determination and practice, you can do it.  Any when you do, the only regret you may have is that you didn’t take up the sport earlier.

Tight lines!