Casting Call : Students Learn the Fine Points of Raising and Catching Trout

Jack Spracklin talks like a man who knows trout. And more than 40 years acquaintance with rainbows and browns in Ventura County streams and lakes probably qualifies him.

So when the 65-year-old fly fisherman shared his wisdom with 35 students in Tom Bhuring’s Camarillo High School science class Thursday, his words had the ring of truth.

“You must fish upstream and never drag the fly with your line,” Spracklin said, holding a fly rod to demonstrate.

“The fly must float naturally or your fish will say, ‘Well, that’s just some fool behind me.’ And you might as well go eat lunch, because that fish will never touch it.”

Folksy tips aside, the 60-minute class was more than a simple lesson on how to catch fish. It was part of a two-month biology unit called “Trout in the Classroom.”

During the program, students learn about the importance of natural resources by studying the life cycle of the trout, Bhuring said. It is sponsored by the Sespe Flyfishers, a sportfishing club that seeks to preserve stocks of trout and other fish in local streams.

The 50-member club began offering the program to schools in the fall. Besides Camarillo, it is in place at Nordhoff and Chaparral Continuation high schools in Ojai and Hueneme High in Oxnard, Spracklin said.

But members want to expand it to other high schools in Ventura County, he said. The club supplies all the materials: a 25-gallon aquarium, gravel, rocks, pumps and a tiny refrigeration unit that keeps the water a chilly, river-like 55 degrees.

The Fillmore Fish Hatchery donates fertile trout eggs three times a year, Spracklin said. The next time eggs will be available is in April, he said.

All the teacher has to do is attend a workshop suggesting how to include program information in lesson plans.

“We’ll do it as long as the schools are interested,” Spracklin said.

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In Bhuring’s class, students keep trout journals. They plot the growth rates of three dozen rainbows from tiny eggs to energetic fry.

They make observations about color and habitat. And they learn how the fish’s delicate life cycle can be interrupted by such man-made intrusions as pollution or overfishing.

Next month, Bhuring and his students will release the one-inch fish into Matilija Creek, north of Ojai.

On Thursday, they were treated to Spracklin’s tips for making the catch of the day. Spracklin emphasized that he uses barb-less hooks so that he can always release his fish back into the water.

Such “catch-and-release” edicts are a cornerstone of trout conservation, he told the students.

“You guys are just playing with them for a little while before letting them go,” he said.

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Another Sespe Flyfisher, Ray Johnson, showed students how to tie a fly, creating an artificial fly on a hook using deer hair, beaver fur and silky thread.

“Girls, don’t think you can’t do this, because some of the best fly tiers I know are women,” he said. “This is for you, too.”

Then both men showed students how to cast fly rods, a skill that author and Montana fly fisher Norman MacLean elevated to an art form in his acclaimed short story, “A River Runs Through It.”

Ethan Livesey, 17, kept getting his line tangled, until Spracklin showed him the proper form.

“Elbow tight. Wrist stiff,” he said. “And when you want to let it go, just give it a good snap.”

Afterward, Ethan said casting looked a lot easier than it really is. He said he has never been fly-fishing, but thinks that he would like to try.

“It seems pretty fun.”