Fish Story : Children Hooked but the Whoppers Got Away

Jason Redford fished out a dead duck. Shaun Alegria hooked a rusty tin can. Robert Lopez pulled in two soggy socks and a withered rug.

Fishing at Harbor Lake can test a fisherman’s patience.

“It is fun, but I can’t seem to catch a fish,” said Jason, an excited but frustrated 8-year-old from San Pedro. “I did get the duck, though.”

About 400 children from parks and day camps throughout the South Bay lined the shores of the 100-acre lake in Harbor City last week in hopes of catching the big one. While Thursday’s fishing derby was dwarfed somewhat by an unsanctioned contest to extract inanimate objects from the lake, 12 youngsters did hook at least one fish each.

“The secret is not to put too much bait on the hook,” said 10-year-old Steven Tucker of Torrance, who caught three perch as dozens of envious anglers struggled to bait their hooks. “If you put too much bait on them, it is harder to snatch the fish and get them.”

The murky lake has been stocked this year with 4,000 catfish, the only fish in the lake that officials say can be eaten. The lake, like many in the Los Angeles area, has been contaminated by the insecticides DDT and chlordane in storm runoff, but the catfish will likely be caught before they can absorb the contaminants.

None of the children caught a catfish. Instead, they pulled in mostly carp and perch. The fish were covered with mud and sand and most were no larger than four or five inches. One boy managed to hook a 3/4-inch mosquito fish while a day camp volunteer landed a 10-inch bass--the largest catch of the day.

“The water is too dirty and polluted to eat it, but I could show it to my mother,” said Lisa Harrison, a 16-year-old volunteer at Rosecrans Recreation Center in Harbor Gateway who was proud of her catch but too squeamish to touch it.

The fishing derby, sponsored by the Harbor City-Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, the Isaak Walton League and several harbor-area Lions Clubs, brought together day campers from Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City and Harbor Gateway as well as children from other communities who read about it in the newspaper.

“This is something that gives them a chance to do something that they might never get to do otherwise,” said Wallace Woods, director of Leland Park in San Pedro. “Many of them are from single-parent homes and don’t have a father to take them fishing.”

While some parents joined their children for the derby, most of the anglers were supervised by park counselors rather than cheerleading moms and dads. George Becker, the derby’s judge, said that is part of the event’s appeal.

“It is good that their parents aren’t here to pressure them” Becker said. “If they catch something, good, but if they don’t, it isn’t a big deal.”

While some of the youngsters complained that the lake was “mucky” and “full of junk,” most of them reveled in the chance to poke sticks in the water, toss stones at sunken tin cans and submerge their sneakers in the mud.

Five-year-old Shaun Alegria waded shin-deep into the lake to get closer to the fish, while his sister, Anastasia, stood patiently on shore watching the end of her motionless rod.

“I saw some guppies around here,” Shaun said. “But no fish are coming.”

Six-year-old Andrew Ramirez of Torrance walked off with top honors--two box-seat tickets to a Dodgers game--for pulling in a 7-inch carp, the largest official catch of the day. (Harrison’s 10-inch bass did not qualify because the derby was limited to children between the ages of 5 and 12.) Winners in several other categories got fishing rods.

Ken Malloy, who heads the harbor-area chapter of the Isaak Walton League, said the environmental group that has been working with various agencies to clean up the lake and preserve nearby nature areas. The fishing derby is a key link in the group’s effort to gain support for local environmental causes, he said.

“We believe if we can get the kids fishing, then we’ve got them hooked,” said Malloy, whose group chopped up more than 50 pounds of mackerel as bait for the novice anglers.

“If the kids start to think about things, they will say to themselves, ‘What is the point of catching fish if you can’t eat them?’ ”