THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes / Pete Thomas : If Short Avenue Elementary Kids Want to Go Fishing, There’s a Catch

Everyone’s heard about kids skipping school to go fishing, but how about children who attend school so they can fish.

It began last December, when Mark Aguilera, owner of Purfield’s Pro Tackle in Marina del Rey, offered to take a group of youths fishing on his boat if they could prove they were attending school and keeping their grades up.

It was 10-year-old Jaime Gonzalez, admiring fishing gear in the store when he should have been at school, who sparked Aguilera’s idea.

Since his encounter with Gonzalez, Aguilera has about 30 students from Short Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, on his Purfield’s Pro Kids Team, with more working hard to get in.

They can fish free one or two times a month, provided they don’t mess up in school. “And so far every one of the kids has kept his grades up,” Aguilera boasted.

Carole Rosenblum, the school principal, wouldn’t go that far, but did say the program is doing a world of good for the children involved.

“I wouldn’t say their grades are exactly up to snuff, but they are kids that need help,” she said. “And they definitely need what he is trying to do for them.”

Rosenblum pointed out that several problem kids have toned down their behavior since joining Aguilera’s group, and she even went so far as to recommend that one problem student go see Aguilera.

“If he could work with a man who’s going to give him fishing as an incentive, this might help this kid get motivated,” she said.

Aguilera has the backing of Marina del Rey Sportfishing, which supplies the boat; the Marina del Rey Anglers club, which pays a tutor for the mostly underprivileged kids, and Penn Tackle company, which supplies 12 rods and reels.

“They’re a good bunch of kids,” Captain Frenchy of the landing said. “And if we can save one or two of them, and keep them out of trouble, well that’s the best part.”

And how has the fishing gone?

“The last trip, the kids filled two trash cans with fish,” Aguilera said. “On almost every cast the kids caught a fish.”

Another sportfishing landing has apparently fallen victim to renovation and rent increases.

Nearly a year after a 400% rent increase forced the closure of Malibu Sportfishing on Malibu Pier, Virg’s Sportfishing at San Simeon closed its doors and moved its operation to Morro Bay because of similar actions taken by the State Department of Parks and Recreation.

“They wanted us to build a new building, not just a wood shack, but a white stucco building with a mission-style roof,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, owner of Virg’s Sportfishing, who also cited increased pier maintenance fees and rent increases as reasons for leaving.

Fitzsimmons, who has been at San Simeon for 18 years, will still run trips to the area from his Morro Bay office but will charge $47 instead of $30 to cover the cost of the 50-mile boat ride north to the fishing grounds.

Several north coast streams have been closed to steelhead fishing because of the drought, according to Director Pete Bontadelli of the Department of Fish and Game.

The emergency restrictions are aimed at protecting steelhead in coastal streams in Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties, portions of the Napa River and the main stem of Eel River in Lake County.

“In those particular areas, the stream flows were way down and we had isolated pools where steelhead were being trapped, and the pressure on them both from legal and illegal take were such that we needed to put in a closure,” Bontadelli said. The department has the authority to reopen the affected areas should the water rise and the fish are able to move. Otherwise, the restrictions will remain in effect through May 26.

Inland fisheries chief Bob Rawstron supported the move, saying the closures would gave steelhead better odds of surviving a third consecutive drought year and “would, in effect, give the fish a better opportunity to make the best of a poor situation.”

Later this week, Lou Whittaker, a world-renowned mountaineer, will lead a United States climbing team up the north face of Kangchenjungain the Himalayas, the third-highest mountain in the world and one not yet climbed by an American team.

Perhaps more noteworthy is that Whittaker’s team of 12 climbers will be racing against a Soviet team, which will begin the climb about the same time on the south face.

Briefly

Next expected grunion runs: March 24-27 from about 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. along dark, sandy stretches of beach. . . . Frank LoPreste’s new sportfisher, the Shogun 90, is nearing completion and is scheduled to be christened next month. The boat, which “at 29 1/2 feet wide will make for an unusually smooth ride,” according to LoPreste, will dock at L.A. Harbor Sportfishing. Overnight and long-range trips are already being booked.

If approved by the Coastal Commission and other government agencies this spring, the DFG will sink a large vessel off Point Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in June to enhance fishing and diving in the area. . . . The Isle of Redondo, the west coast’s only deep-sea fishing barge, opens Friday, with hours from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. . . . The Department of Parks and Recreation is looking for volunteers to help conduct a bald eagle count at Lake Silverwood in San Bernardino County. Phone: (619) 389-2303).

Offerings: Sierra Pacific Flyfishers, a free course in fly casting and basic fly fishing, Saturday at 9 a.m. at Reseda Park in Reseda. Details: (818) 785-7306; San Gabriel Valley Flyfishers, Jerry Bliss, president of the Southwest Council of the Federation of Flyfishers, conducting a slide show presentation on Alaska fly fishing, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Legg Lake-Whittier Narrows Visitors’ Center in El Monte; the art galleries at Cal State Northridge, a month-long exhibit entitled “Fly Tyers of California,” began Monday; the Long Beach Casting Club, free rod-building classes for four consecutive Tuesdays beginning March 21 at 7 p.m. at Recreation Park in Long Beach.

Mike Mathiot, Western regional director of Quail Unlimited, will conduct meetings to organize local chapters March 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Orange, and Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m. in El Monte at the Pacmeyer International Trap and Skeet clubhouse. Mathiot will give quail-calling demonstrations and show slides. Details: (818) 579-5201.