FISHING
COVID-19 walk-in-only restrictions meant hardly any visitors at Shadow Cliffs Regional Park, in normal times a popular Bay Area fishing destination. The editor and his sister barely encountered a human presence on a sunny November Monday. (CHRIS COCOLES)
THAT LONELY FEELING NO WALK-IN COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS LEAVE BAY AREA FISHERY QUIET AS A GHOST TOWN By Chris Cocoles
P
LEASANTON—On a normal mid-November day like this, Shadow Cliffs Regional Park would likely be far more bustling. Hiking trails would be full of joggers, dog walkers and even horseback riders. Shady picnic tables would be a perfect spot for a local
employee’s lunch hour. Toddlers would be running around with their doting parents close behind. The lake’s sandy beach would be an ideal spot for a late-fall, early-winter suntanning session. And, of course, a fairly recent California Department of Fish and Wildlife trout plant and another pending by Shadow Cliff’s concessionaire, East Bay Regional
Park District, would make the lake a perfect location for an angler to wet a line, which is why I showed up here. Instead, COVID-19 restrictions led to an outing that felt more surreal than spectacular.
WALK-IN PARADE In the summer when I fished at Lake Chabot, another popular Bay Area
calsportsmanmag.com | DECEMBER 2020 California Sportsman
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