I have been to the city of Manaus, Brazil, the gateway to the Amazon, three times – well, actually six times, because we’ve stopped there on the way in and out of the jungle on each fishing trip. It is a bustling yet friendly city, a once-wealthy home to barons of the rubber industry and now a free-trade zone.

As I sit isolated at home in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, 2019 seems more than just a few months away – it seems like another lifetime. It was an epic year when I fished more than usual at home, and still managed three trips to Mexico, a trip to the Amazon, freshwater and saltwater adventures in Alaska, and long weekends at Grosse Savanne and Table Rock.