OUTDOOR NOTES : Sailors Attack Rock Cod as Reward for Duty in Gulf War

They served in the Persian Gulf War from the beginning, returning only to be called back into action by one of the Southland’s most respected captains.

Captain Jack Ward, active in Southern California waters for almost 40 years, requested and received the services of some of the sailors from Port Hueneme’s U.S. Navy Construction Battalion and Navy Underwater Construction Diving Team-2.

Ward’s call to arms was not one of danger, but one of sport, involving not guns, but rods and reels, hooks, lines and sinkers. It was a show of appreciation in the form of a free fishing trip aboard two sportfishers operating out of CISCO Sportfishing in Oxnard.

“The minute they started coming back, I said, ‘We got to get acquainted with these guys,’ ” said Ward, owner of the landing. That he did. Not only did 51 officers and men answer his call, but each proceeded to bag a 15-fish limit and take a bag of tasty rockfish fillets.

“Everybody had a real good time. They put together door prizes, prizes for biggest fish, smallest fish, the ugliest fish,” said Ens. Nick Randell, 31, a personnel officer who returned recently from six months in the Jibal area of Oman. “Everybody brought their fish home. As a matter of fact, my family and me, we had it for dinner that night and it was good.”

Ward, who skippered the Gentleman for Operation Desert Quench, called the experience “one of the most rewarding I’ve ever had in my life” and added that he intends another such show of appreciation in about two weeks.

If the timing is right, Ward’s next military outing will be for salmon on the surface instead of rock cod from offshore depths.

A substantial run of king salmon is in progress just outside Oxnard Harbor, providing local anglers an opportunity they don’t often get.

Ward, who has been operating out of Oxnard since 1964, said a large concentration of anchovies is supporting the salmon and that under similar conditions in 1966, a run of the popular gamefish lasted more than a month offshore between Hueneme Canyon and Ventura.

“They’re really in there heavy now,” he said of the anchovies. “It’s all out in front here. (We) just idle out.”

The first salmon was brought in Saturday, and the bite has improved steadily since, with the fish averaging 14 to 18 pounds. The biggest yet was a 32-pounder taken Tuesday by Los Angeles’ Bob Sullivan aboard the Island Tak.

Salmon also have shown off the Orange County coast, most of those caught in the eight- to 10-pound range.

The dispute over the Owens Gorge continues on two fronts. Although Mono County District Attorney Stan Eller filed suit against the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power and the State Water Resources Control Board last week, a second meeting has been scheduled between DWP and Department of Fish and Game officials in Long Beach next Wednesday morning to pursue possibilities of re-watering the gorge.

Eller contends that the DWP was in violation of Section 5937 of the state Fish and Game Code by drying up the fishery for the sake of power, and that the water board violated Section 5946 by failing to require compliance with 5937 when it issued a permit for the gorge to the DWP in 1974.

Because a temporary flume is carrying the water since the penstock broke last month, Eller also questioned the legality of the DWP now diverting the water for nonpower purposes.

Briefly

DAY AT THE DOCKS--The 11th annual event to kick off the spring fishing season will be held this weekend at San Diego’s sportfishing landings at Harbor Drive and Scott Street, with the fishing tournaments--adults’ and juniors’--scheduled Saturday and the Waterfront Festival Sunday. More than 40,000 were said to be in attendance last year for the weekend of exhibits, seminars, boat rides, contests and drawings. Tournament and event information can be obtained by calling H & M, Fisherman’s or Pt. Loma Sportfishing.

TOURNAMENT--The Santa Monica Bay Halibut Derby last weekend was won by John Wilcox of Norwalk with a 33-pounder. Second place went to John Haynes of Calabasas with a 30.5-pounder, third to George Wu with a 28-pounder. Wilcox and Wu were fishing aboard Redondo Sportfishing’s Sea Spray, which had bait tanks full of live squid, taken the night before the derby off Catalina Island. Wilcox gets his choice of an Alaskan or a Mexican fishing trip. Haynes gets what Wilcox doesn’t pick, and Wu gets an outboard motor.

The team competition was won by Bill Northington of Redondo Beach and Jerry Foote of Torrance. Second place went to Northington and Jim Laweree of Lomita, third to Jay Brimmer of Irwindale and Ed Winn of Glendora.

There were 500 boats and 1,693 fishermen who weighed in 343 halibut. Proceeds went to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica and the halibut hatchery project headed by the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.

INSTRUCTION--Saltwater fishing, tonight from 6:30-10:30 at Coastline College in Huntington Beach, by Ronnie Kovach of Eagle Claw Saltwater Fishing Schools. Cost is $30. Information: (714) 241-6182. Saltwater fly fishing school by Les Eichhorn, Nick Curcione and John Vanderhoof, Sunday at Bob Marriott’s Fullerton Store. Information: (714) 525-1827.

FLY-FISHING--Services for J. Stanley Lloyd, angler and conservationist, are scheduled Saturday at 1 p.m., at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood. Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday. Lloyd, 81, died April 8, the day after attending the Fly Fishing Federation’s annual conclave at Westchester. He founded the 300-member Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers Club, assisted in the creation of five other clubs and was active in the campaign to establish the West Fork of the San Gabriel River as a wild trout stream. . . . The Fly Fishers of Orange County will hold a free casting clinic Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. each day, at Greer Park Lake in Huntington Beach. Details: (714) 554-1658, evenings.

HUNTING--Quail Unlimited will have its second annual Gun Dog Trials Saturday at 7 a.m. at Raahauge’s ranch in Norco. Details: (213) 629-5700 or (818) 446-3940. . . . The San Gabriel and Covina chapters of Ducks Unlimited will have their second annual Fun Shoot and Sporting Clays meet Saturday at 8 a.m., at Pachmayrs in Whittier Narrows. Details: (818) 966-9231, days.