Bridgewater, Va. – The North River that runs alongside Bridgewater College’s campus has made it easy for the Fly Fishing Club to hold events and fly fishing lessons in the past. 

However, in the midst of a pandemic, even with the convenience of having a river right by campus, the Fly Fishing Club has struggled to hold events throughout the 2020 fall semester. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fly Fishing Club steadily held monthly events or meetings, but since the pandemic outbreak, they have not met at all. 

“We’ve had seniors that graduated last year and some students that stayed with online learning, so it’s been tough finding people to even create events for the Fly Fishing Club,” said Professor History and Political Science Jim Josefson. 

Josefson is the advisor of the Fly Fishing Club, where he and other students in the club teach inexperienced fly fishers how to fish and how to make the flies used to catch the fish.

Josefson explained that even allowing people to set up appointments if they wish to learn or simply go out and fly fish has not generated interest and thus no fly fishing events or sessions have been held this semester.  

“We’d love to continue and get back on track in the spring, we just don’t know what the future holds,” said Josefson. 

“We live in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, and there’s plenty of stuff to do,” Josefson said. “So get out and go explore and adventure with the landscape around us.”