Gone Fishing; Teenage angler finds comfort on the water while social distancing

Teen uses free time to fish

A teenager is using his downtime during the coronavirus pandemic to go fishing.

TAMPA, Fla. - The ‘safer-at-home’ guidelines allow for local residents to get outdoors, and when you live in a coastal community sometimes that means your favorite hobby is still okay.

Niko Kaiafas is a teenager who lives in Pinellas County. "During this whole quarantine process, the downs are you don't really get to go out and get to see your friends at all," he said. "But since I live in this community... I get to roam around and fish."

And since we're more than half a month into the lockdowns, he fishes a lot.

He was an avid angler before this and was always wanting to cast a line into the water, but school and sports took up a lot of his time.

Now, he’s in virtual school, which means his day can be different. Kaiafas said he wakes up early and goes fishing since he lives near the water.

While most teens are spending their time on social media, their cell phones or streaming videos, Kaiafas prefers to be outdoors. "It's way better to get out on the water (and) do something you love," said Kaiafas.

As for social distancing, he said, "It's good to be by yourself."

And in the school of life, fishing teaches patience, and there's a lot of things you need to be patient for in life.

If you feel sick:

The Florida Department of Health has opened a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions around the clock. Questions may also be emailed to covid-19@flhealth.gov. Email responses will be sent during call center hours.

LINK: Florida's COVID-19 website

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