Casting Out for a Reel Good Meal--and Some Fine Wine

What could be more basic and satisfying than a meal of freshly caught fish accompanied by a cool, crisp wine?

The easy way to experience such a feast is simply to dine out, but I propose a more interesting, and ultimately more satisfying, option. Catch the fish yourself, and later, pick out a world-class wine.

2 to 4 p.m.: Now that the warm season is approaching, a good many of us are getting the urge to go fishing.

But who has the time to prepare a boat, test a line or catch live bait?

Santa Ana River Lakes has a better way. This privately owned recreation area stocks its own lakes with rainbow trout and catfish, and they’ll even rent you a boat and fishing tackle in the process. Here’s how it works.

For a fixed admission price ($12 for adults, $10 for kids 4 to 12), you can fish to your heart’s content at this well-maintained facility. The lakes are typically restocked weekly with more than 4,000 pounds of fish.

It’s not necessary to be an experienced fisherman to be effective, and a fishing license is not required. Basically, you just drop your line in the lake and wait. The No. 1 thing you’ll need, according to company spokesman Dale Motsinger, is patience. Of course, luck helps too.

“One guy came in last week on a school break, made one cast and bagged a seven-pounder,” said Motsinger.

Don’t count on that happening, but take note that the lake has fish weighing up to 17 pounds, monstrous creatures, at least to those fun seekers using two- to four-pound test lines.

At the facility’s bait and tackle shop, you can choose between various synthetic baits that attract rainbow, or frozen mackerel for the catfish. Bringing your own bait--except night crawlers--is not allowed. And there is a limit to how many fish you can catch (five to a customer).

If you are not experienced, pick up a few pointers from one of the staff members. The advantage to using a lighter line, for instance, is that fish are shy of the lines, and the heavier ones are more visible.

You’ll also need to learn how to set the drag on your reel, which puts tension on the line.

In any case, a good fisherman should easily get three or four fish in two hours if he is guided to the best part of the lake.

In the worst case, you get a boat ride and, depending on the weather, a good dose of sun.

After you finish, repair to the facility’s picnic grounds, or if your luck has held, to the fish-cleaning station next to the dock.

4 to 5: Santa Ana’s Wine Club is a wonderful store for both beginners and cognoscenti. The store advertises wines at their cost plus 12%, which is often below wholesale prices elsewhere.

Furthermore, the store features a unique, self-service tasting bar, where as many as 60 wines are available to the consumer.

Most local wine-lovers know that this is an unusual concept. Owner Ron Loutherback started the business in the early 1980s, after laws with regard to price regulation were eliminated.

The Wine Club’s discount makes more sense after you’ve seen the store for yourself.

This is a no-frills operation all the way; wines are sold out of boxes embellished only by extensive tasting notes printed on makeshift pieces of cardboard. The tasting bar is run according to the honor system, so you are responsible for keeping your own tab.

One Saturday, along with some free cheeses from Trader Joe’s and free chunks of boutique breads from Anaheim’s Mr. Stox restaurant, I tasted a fine, fruity proprietor-grown ’93 Chardonnay from Beringer ($1.40 for a two-ounce taste), an austere ’91 Hermitage from Chapoutier ($3.30) and a delicious, legendary red wine from 1983 named Pichon Lalande ($2.40). Hmmm. That’s $7.10 for three rare and special wines I now know I want to add to my cellar. Wine Club’s bottle price is, invariably, exactly 10 times the tasting price.

I won’t propose to tell you what to drink with your fish, but I can say that Wine Club has dozens of excellent wines for less than $10 and even many good ones for under $5.

If I were on a budget, I might choose Grgich Hills ’92 Chardonnay ($9.95) or a Fume Blanc from Ferrari-Carrano ($8.89). If I weren’t, I’d head for the back two rows of the store, where the library collection resides, and browse through it until I found a real treasure.

Nothing, after all, is too good for fresh fish.

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3-HOUR TOUR

1. Santa Ana River Lakes

4046 E. La Palma Ave.

Anaheim

(714) 632-7851

Open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

2. Wine Club

2110 E. McFadden Ave., E

Santa Ana

(714) 835-6485

Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

PARKING

Parking: Both sites have free parking. At Santa Ana River Lakes, there is parking off roads that surround each lake.