Ills ‘Gone Fishing’ for a Day : Recreation: Cares are left on the docks during annual Irvine Lake outing for young CHOC patients with chronic diseases. Bass club sponsors take the bait, bring boats.

J.R. Riggs sat on a fishing boat in the middle of Irvine Lake on Saturday and daydreamed about the stupendous, 10-pound salmon he reeled in four years ago--in Alaska.

Unfortunately for the 14-year-old angler, the chances of repeating the exploit on this lake on this day looked increasingly slim.

“I’ve been nibbled on two or three times today, so I know there is a very big fish swimming around out there and he’s gonna get hooked,” said the still-determined eighth-grader.

Riggs was among the patients from Children’s Hospital of Orange County participating in the 10th annual “CHOC Fishing Day.”

The event, which drew more than 45 participants this year, gives children with cancer, cystic fibrosis and other chronic illnesses the opportunity to get out of the hospital and enjoy outdoor activities with their families.

“It’s really something to see the courage of these kids,” said Tom O’Neill, president of Golden State Bass Masters, who organized this year’s event along with the Beach Cities and Rio Hondo bass clubs.

“What’s great about something like this is that when you’re out on the water, everyone is equal,” O’Neill said. “Whatever problems you may have, they stay at the dock. You can be anybody you want to be on the water.”

Members of the three clubs brought their own fishing boats and took the children out onto the lake in small groups. Irvine Lake donated the use of the facility, organizers said.

J.R., who insisted on being paired with his frequent roommate at CHOC, 13-year-old James Hannan, managed a few small catches as the afternoon wore on. But he threw the fish back into the lake.

James had the same experience.

“It’s just as well,” he said, with a shrug. “I want to catch some trout. They’re big and my uncle catches a lot of them. But I don’t like trout. The only kind of fish I like are fish sticks.”

At the dock, curly-haired Heather Stevens, 6, smiled triumphantly as she sat on a fishing boat and held up her prize catch--a 1-pound crappie.

“I had some help catching him,” the ebullient youngster admitted with a giggle.

The girl, who has cancer, later sat on a picnic bench eating a hot dog doused with ketchup. “I’d rather eat a hot dog than a fish,” she admitted.

Melissa Verhagen, 11, who also has cancer, reeled in her first-ever fish. “It was kind of tough catching him,” said the Riverside girl. “He was a tough little sucker.”

Later, Melissa added: “I’d rather go fishing than shopping.”

The big catch of the day appeared to belong to 11-year-old Jerry Stone of Newport Beach.

The boy, whose cancer has been in remission for two years, landed a 14-inch-long trout but released it back into the lake.

“I wanted to wait until it’s a little bigger,” he said. “I’ll come back next year to catch it.”