OXNARD : Catching Their Limit of Nature

Manuel Gonzalez admittedly knew nothing about fishing. In fact, he had never been fishing before in his life.

But on Wednesday, the 20-year-old man and his three friends, all from Oxnard’s La Colonia neighborhood, displayed the braggadocio of seasoned anglers, each boasting he would reel in the most fish on their daylong excursion off Anacapa Island.

The losers, it was agreed, would pick up the bill for a weekend barbecue.

“Yeah, man, we’re going to go fishing for the halibut,” said Gonzalez jokingly. “We’re going to help the little kids put the hooks on and everything.”

Gonzalez and his friends were among the 60 disadvantaged Oxnard young people who embarked Wednesday on a fishing trip chaperoned by Carlos Aguilera, chairman of La Colonia’s neighborhood council.

The excursion was paid for by the Oxnard Housing Authority and the city’s neighborhood council program with money from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“You get to see what nature has for us,” Ramon Rios, 18, said. “Fish, dolphins, whales, all of that. It’s nice out there. Nice views.”

By the time the trip ended, the young people, ages 9 and up, caught about 50 rock cod, sand dabs and copper rockfish. The group also saw several sea lions and dolphins, Aguilera said.

“Kids are looking at nature from a different perspective,” said Oxnard resident Juan Soria, who helped Aguilera with the children. “Some kids today never get to see this.”

About 15 of the participants got seasick, but the rest enjoyed the trip, Aguilera said. Ten-year-old Robert Anaya brought in the most fish.

“There are some kids that may not like each other here, but hopefully on this trip, they’ll get to know each other,” Soria said. “Maybe we’ll stop this nonsense about, ‘You’re from the other side of the block, you’re from another part of the city.’ ”