The Editor’s Note

Lance Sawa shows off a trout he recently caught in Japan. His story this month about sharing fishing adventures with friends offers a ray of hope in dark times. (LANCE SAWA)

“Ugh, California is a mess. Heatwave, thunder & lightning storms; now more horrible wildfires. My whole house smells like smoke and my eyes are burning.”

received that text from my sister Charlene at 8:24 a.m. on a

IWednesday in August. Not exactly a great start to a day. The next day, my college buddy Steve sent me a photo of the smoke-filled sky at his family’s farm west of Fresno. “Look at how hazy it is due to all the fires,” that text read.

Since March our days have been filled with anxiety and uncertainty, mixed with fear, if not panic, about what the next obstacle will be.

I can’t help but feel bitter thoughts about the circumstances faced by some Californians who, while already fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest in our country’s splintered political cesspool, must now endure more dangerous fires that threatened their homes, and in some instances, their lives.

How much more can we all take? I don’t really want to answer that question right now. Maybe we can just find little rays of sunshine through all the smoke that might as well as be an allegory for everything we’re facing right now.

Let me offer our American Angler in Japan feature (page 41) from expat Lance Sawa, who shares two fishing stories, one from his youth growing up in Southern California, the other a recent trout and char trip with a friend in rural Japan.

I keep thinking about past fishing outings in California with my friends and how I want those simple pleasures in my life again. My oldest friend John – we met each other in kindergarten, over four decades ago – and I were recently swapping texts about going to Clear Lake together about 20 years ago, when we revisited past vacations we’d taken with our families there as little kids.

“We should try to do another Clear Lake fishing trip,” read one of my texts to John.

But now, as I write this I hope he doesn’t send a text about poor air quality and fire danger. I want John to type up a “Yeah! Let’s do it” confirmation. You need to have hope – now more than ever.

-Chris Cocoles