Recently, my brother, who lives in South Florida, sent me a photograph of a tarpon he’d caught off Islamorada. “I practiced socially distant fishing,” he said. No need for a mask. There was no one else aboard his boat, let alone on the water. “The lack of boats on a Sunday morning was eerie,” he told me. In a neat trick of maritime multitasking, Andy piloted the boat, fought the 110-pound fish, photographed it and released it.
I confess to a twinge of envy. I live in Washington, D.C., an inconvenient distance from good, fishable waters, and I don’t own a boat. Anyway, my favorite fish are trout, which are far from an urban pursuit. Usually during this time of year, I’d be streamside in Devon, England, casting for browns,…