Anglers Get Hooked on Giving

One day next week, needy families and individuals who have come to appreciate the generous assistance of the staff and volunteers at the House of Yahwhew in Lawndale will be getting a hot meal often requested but rarely served.

They’ll be eating freshly caught fish, prepared by one of several chefs who donate their time at the facility.

“I think it’s wonderful because everybody deserves to have something different once in a while,” said administrator Constanza Prada, adding that the facility typically serves 150-200 meals daily, six days a week. “We give them beef and other food and sometimes they ask for fish but we don’t have it. They’ll be very happy to be getting fish.”

Not far away, at the Long Beach Rescue Mission, the catch of the day will also be featured.

“And it will be a nice change of pace for them to have that,” said Bill Thomas, president of the organization. “I imagine they’ll have it baked or fried. We have a great cook, Fred Sigrist, so I’ll leave that up to him.”

These are two of three local charities that stand to benefit from the inaugural “Fish for the Homeless Day,” which is scheduled Tuesday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. The other is the Beacon House Assn. of San Pedro.

The event was organized by Philip Friedman of 976tuna.com and involves seven sportfishing landings and perhaps several hundred private anglers using their own vessels.

“Why? Because this is a great time of the year to help the poor and come together as fishermen to do something positive for the community,” said Friedman, who also runs a youth fishing program that treats 3,000-5,000 underprivileged children each year to a day on the water.

Anglers have gotten behind the latest effort, Friedman says, in an attempt to show that “they’re human beings who do a lot of good in the communities.” Such a statement speaks volumes, considering that fishermen, in the last year or so, have been portrayed by some environmental groups as reckless fish killers who do more damage than good.

The environmental groups, in their push for and support of recent and proposed closures designed largely to protect rockfish, have alienated sport fishermen by making them appear as though they care nothing about the resource, when in fact, the fishermen have argued, the opposite is true.

“This is the true spirit of fishermen coming through at the right time,” said Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California. “I think it’s a beautiful gesture on the part of fishermen and I hope it continues year after year.”

The landings offering free trips for the cause: Marina del Rey Sportfishing, Redondo Sportfishing, 22nd St. Landing in San Pedro, Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach, Long Beach Sportfishing, L.A. Harbor Sportfishing and Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach.

Private boaters wishing to participate should drop off their catch by 2 p.m. at the designated landings. Target species include sand dabs, bass and halibut. The fish will be cleaned by volunteers at the landings. Details: (310) 328-5850.

*

Fishermen aren’t the most notable humanitarians, but some try. Fletcher, as a prominent member of the San Diego Rotary Club, started a cooperative program nine years ago called Fish Across the Border, which once a year delivers food packages to the poorer families in and around Ensenada.

On Jan. 11, he and the Ensenada Rotarians, with help from other Rotary Club members, and with fish donated by anglers aboard multiday boats out of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego, will spend the day delivering baskets containing canned tuna and other staples.

The fishing was good and the fishermen particularly generous this year. Fletcher has gathered a record 218 cases containing 10,500 cans of tuna.

Hot Rods

* San Vicente Reservoir: Greg Olson of San Diego hauled from the depths a blue catfish weighing 53 pounds, and then caught the other end of the bookend for a stringer totaling 91 pounds.

* Castaic Lake: This is the hotspot for big striped bass. Mike Glynn of Los Angeles took what is believed to be the biggest of the week, a 26-pounder on live shad.

On Top of the World

Surfing’s top pros are basking in the balmy spotlight of Hawaii, which is where the season winds down every year. The men have been getting all the attention but the women have also been making waves. Notably Julia Christian of Carlsbad.

Christian’s surprising victory last week on Oahu’s North Shore in the Turtle Bay Resort Women’s Pro -- the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing -- gave her enough World Qualifying Series points to earn a spot on next year’s prestigious World Championship Tour.

“I’m in disbelief,” she said of becoming the only surfer from the mainland United States to have qualified for the WCT.

The victory also gave her a wild-card entry into the Billabong Pro Maui, the season-ending WCT event in progress at Honolua Bay. Christian is still in contention, having eliminated four-time world champion Layne Beachley in the third round.

This year’s world champion will be determined during the Billabong Maui Pro. The front-runner is Keala Kennelly of Kauai.

Honoring Eddie

The holding period of the annual Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big-Wave Invitational has begun and organizers have until Feb. 28 to run the contest, held only when wave heights reach at least 20 feet -- 40 feet on the faces. The contest, won last winter by Kelly Slater, is a tribute to Eddie Aikau, the surfer and lifeguard, who died swimming for help when his 16-member canoe capsized during a storm.

Stuart H. Coleman has profiled Aikau’s life in the book, “Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero.” It’s available through eddiewouldgo.com and amazon.com. Coleman will begin a Southland book-signing tour Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. at Duke’s in Malibu.

Lonely Days

Competitors in the Around Alone solo yacht race will enjoy a rollicking Christmas at sea aboard their respective vessels. The second of five legs in the grueling six-month solo yacht race begins Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa, and will not end until the boats reach Taurino, New Zealand.

“The southern ocean is cold, gray and often mean,” said Brad Van Liew, skipper of the Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America. “This amazing region of water surrounding Antarctica is the roughest sailing on earth.”

Van Liew, 34, a USC graduate who now lives in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., breezed to an easy victory during the first leg from New York to Torbay, England, and set a world record during his second-leg triumph, covering 345.03 miles in 24 hours.

It was the most mileage ever in one day aboard a 50-foot monohull. Van Liew, who made it from Torbay to Cape Town in 44 days, leads his nearest competitor by 890 miles.

Van Liew is sailing in Class II, open to vessels 40-50 feet. Bernard Stamm of Switzerland, aboard the Bobst Group-Armor Lux, was the top finisher in Class I, for boats 50-60 feet. Having also won the first leg, Stamm made the crossing to Cape Town in just under 30 days.

Taking Wing

Duck hunters throughout Southern California are starting to enjoy better success, although the averages at most places remain only slightly better than one bird per shooter per day. Notable exceptions, where the average has inched closer to three ducks per hunter: the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area near Niland, Calif.; Lake Barrett in San Diego County, and nearby Lake Henshaw.

Winding Up

A group in Kobe, Japan, has been collecting used ski equipment to donate to Mongolian children abandoned by their unemployed parents and living in the sewers, where it’s warmer. According to the online newsletter Snow24.com, the group hopes “that skiing will produce a rare bit of fun, physical activity for the children and potentially, ultimately, a Mongolian Olympic competitor.”

There was no mention of any effort to provide what the children really need: shelter, food and medicine.