Anglers cast virus worries aside

– The whoosh and splosh of fishing lines break the silence of a sunny morning on the banks of an English reservoir as dozens of anglers cast their rods in search of trout, and a few precious hours of escape from the coronavirus crisis.

Days after Britain eased its lockdown restrictions, the bucolic scene at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford, central England, is being played out all across the country as fisheries are allowed to reopen their gates for the first time in seven weeks.

Oxford

“Today is just a lovely thing to be able to do just given the current state of everything,” said Patrick Quelch a part-time primary school teacher.

“You obviously think about the whole Covid-19 thing and how it’s affecting people ... But when you’re out here, it’s an escapism, isn’t it? It’s time to not think about other things.”

Quelch was one of the first in a long, and socially distanced, line of anglers queuing to access the lake.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the public to stay at home on 23 March as the spread of the coronavirus threatened to spiral out of control. On 13 May, fishing was one of the few sports permitted to restart as Britain inched toward normality.

Since then, the phones haven’t stopped ringing for Will Barnard, fisheries manager at Thames Water which runs the 400-acre site. His team have been working flat out to set up a system that allows anglers to return safely to what, for many of them, is much more than just a hobby. – Reuters