Tests Northern Waters for Gubernatorial Votes : Bradley Casts Line for the Big Catch

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley caught a striped bass and--he and his campaign workers hope--thousands of votes in next year’s gubernatorial election during a weekend fishing trip in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The mayor, when he wasn’t working the waterways south and west of Sacramento, was looking for a bigger catch.

Bradley, aides said, intends to bolster support among two groups of voters that his strategists said could have supported him more strongly during his unsuccessful 1982 gubernatorial campaign--environmentalists and black voters.

Bradley, who is expected to oppose Republican Gov. George Deukmejian in 1986, spent Saturday fishing and part of Sunday speaking to a politically important black church congregation in Oakland, where political leaders hope to increase the turnout for Bradley above that of 1982.

The fishing trip was the second outdoor event scheduled by Bradley’s staff this year as they work to change his image from that of a stodgy indoor workaholic to a rugged, environmentally concerned outdoorsman. The first event was a river rafting trip in the Sierra.

Mostly, the politics were conducted in an easy manner. And the fishing was not serious. Only four were caught from 4 p.m. until even the die-hards gave up in the fog and cold, around 1:30 a.m Sunday.

Barry Canevero, skipper of the three houseboats carrying the party of politicians, Bradley aides and press, amused Bradley with his stories of trying to return Humphrey the wayward whale to salt water. “The whale and I are good friends,” he said. “Nobody believes me, but the other day he winked at me.”

“That’s it,” said Bradley. “She’s Humphreyette.”

But Canevero and the other fishermen who conducted the excursion also discussed with Bradley difficult delta political problems that Bradley will have to confront in his expected campaign.

Canevero complained about the effect of the huge pumps, about 10 miles from Bethel Island, that pump water from the delta to the Central Valley and Southern California. He said the pumps have sharply reduced the delta striped bass population.

The delta is a vast storage area for two great water projects, the California Water Project, which delivers water to Southern California, and the Central Valley Project, which irrigates farms.

Water for these projects comes into the delta from Northern California rivers. As the water is pumped south, the delta water currents, which flow toward San Francisco Bay, are disrupted. Water is forced south, and skipper Canevero and others insist that it is destroying striped bass fishing.

Those objections, along with northern reluctance to give any more water to the south, have stopped southern plans to increase the importation of water from Northern California. As a result, Southern California business and political leaders fear there will not be enough water for future population and industrial growth.

Lost Support

Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Piedmont), who accompanied Bradley on the fishing trip, said Bradley’s 1982 support of a major water importation plan, the proposed Delta Peripheral Canal, cost him northern support for governor that year.

Contra Costa County Supervisor Sunne McPeak agreed, but told Bradley that a water proposal he made last week would help. Bradley proposed that Southern California make major conservation efforts before trying to increase imports of water from the north.

“I wanted to see the delta, see the problem, hear the discussion, see how it all fits in,” Bradley said after talking to Bates, McPeak, Canevero and others on the trip.

“I am really encouraged by Mayor Bradley’s position,” Bates said. Both Bates and McPeak strongly opposed the Peripheral Canal plan.

The mayor and the rest of the party were up at 6 a.m. Sunday for the next stop. A small boat took him to shore, where he changed into a dark suit and was driven to Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland, a predominantly black area of the city.

Bradley carried the area against Deukmejian in 1982, but his campaign aides said they hope to increase his margin in black neighborhoods next year by scheduling more appearances by Bradley.

The church’s minister, the Rev. J. Alfred Smith, is politically active and the church is frequently visited by political candidates.