I know I have more than 10,000 monthly readers on the web and one or more of those readers work for the Department of Aquatic Resources. Just 3 days after posting last months report where I complained about not being able to charter fish, along with that and an influential phone call, the charter fishing ban was lifted. I wasn't the only one working toward lifting the restriction but hope I had something to do with that.
But we're not out of the woods yet. I also wrote about how the 14 day quarantine is killing the charter fishing business and how to get around it with pre-flight testing. Pre-flight testing wasn't my idea; I stole that idea from Alaska. Just a few days ago, Hawaii adopted a similar policy and is scheduled to implement it starting August 1st. Yea!
I instantly started emailing people about the rule change from the mainland who wanted to fish with me but couldn't (or wouldn't) because of the Covid 19 rules. Some bookings are coming in now but some others are still waiting to see what's going to happen due to infection surges happening around the country. I can't blame anyone for wanting to be cautious.
It doesn't look like July will be any good for charters but August is already starting to fill with people from the mainland. I'm not expecting things to get back to normal any time soon. Not even by the end of the year. Then winter comes and so does the flu season and most likely, more Covid 19. I don't think vacation travel will be the same for quite a while.
