This Trip Is Gangs of Fun : Fishing Outing Gives Youths a Look Outside

Robert didn’t know quite how to act on a barge in what seemed like the middle of the ocean.

In his hands was a fishing pole. At the end of his line, a fair-sized mackerel, bursting with energy and fighting to escape.

Robert handled the situation well, though clumsily at first. He brought the mackerel in and quickly went back for more.

This was totally new to Robert, a soft-spoken 15-year-old, who--aside from some time spent with family in Mexico--had rarely been out of South-Central Los Angeles. Robert is now in custody of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, spending his days at Camp Karl Holton in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

But because of his exemplary behavior at Holton, Robert was recently given a chance to participate in the camp fishing program, which probation officers say is an attempt to introduce the youths to part of the world few of them know.

“I was excited when they told me I could go,” Robert said, relaxing against the railing as if at peace, gazing out over the sea. “This is my first time out of the system in a year and four months. There are no brick walls.”

Like the others aboard the Isle of Redondo, a huge deep-sea barge anchored above a sunken ship about a mile off the Redondo Beach coast, Robert smiled as if he didn’t have a care in the world each time he struggled to reel in a fish.

However, between bouts with bonito and mackerel, he had the blank stare of someone with much more serious things in mind. His world had caught up with him one day last year.

That day others in his gang sought revenge against a rival gang member. Robert, who knew the person and pointed him out, was under the impression they were merely going to beat this person up, he said. It began that way, but suddenly one of Robert’s gang pulled out a gun and shot and killed the victim. Robert was implicated as an accessory to murder. It was his first offense.

His probation officer, Scott Haberman, believes Robert’s story and said Robert has been depressed and upset about the murder since it occurred almost 1 1/2 years ago.

“He does not even want to talk about it,” Haberman said. “He’s been going to our self-esteem classes for the last five or six months.”

Robert doesn’t even want out--yet. He is scheduled to be released in August, but requested another two months behind the 15-foot high brick walls that surround Holton.

“If I get out, I wouldn’t be going to school, getting a job,” Robert said.

Or getting shot.

Robert’s mother visits him every Sunday. She moved out of South-Central L.A. after the incident. “She wanted to move before,” Robert said, shaking his head. “But she really wanted to move because of this.”

Robert is enthusiastic about going fishing again someday, and such desire is the very reason for the existence, however precarious, of the program.

“It’s so easy to tell these kids to stop gang-banging,” said Jeff Gordon, a deputy probation officer at Holton. “But if you don’t replace it with something else, it just doesn’t work.”

Santiago Rolando, a juvenile work crew instructor at Holton, added: “All it takes is one kid to say, ‘Let’s go fishing,’ and they’re not out shooting somebody.”

The program, which features volunteer speakers on an occasional outing, has the support of Camp Director Nelson Offley, but no major financial backing. Camps such as Holton are so strapped for funds that they are dangerously close to being shut down.

The Camp Holton fishing program, which acts as an incentive for good behavior on the inside as well as a rare chance for recreation on the outside, relies on donations and volunteers.

The most recent trip was organized by both Redondo Sportfishing, which donated the use of the barge and rental equipment, and by Dan Hernandez, a sportfishing author and former host of the television program “Fish-On!” Only 10 youths were selected--they could not fit any more into the one van the staff is permitted to use. All were 15; the older wards were excluded because the camp couldn’t afford fishing licenses, required for anyone 16 or older.

Three were sent to Holton for armed robbery, two for assault with a deadly weapon, one for possession, one for burglary, one for attempted murder, one for murder and one for grand theft auto. All are painfully aware that if they mess up at Holton, they will end up under the care of the California Youth Authority.

But as these teen-agers walked onto the Redondo Beach Pier to board the boat that would take them to the barge and then reeled in their fish or playfully grabbed for live anchovies in the bait tank, it was clear that kids will be kids, when given the chance.

These teens were given the chance aboard the Isle of Redondo. They often stared in apparent wonder at the vastness of the Pacific. They pointed and laughed at the sea lions, who barked from a nearby buoy. They had never witnessed such a sight. They watched intently as Hernandez showed them how to tie and bait a hook. Unlike most first-time fishermen, none of these youths had to be shown twice.

There was John, who came from the Nickerson Gardens area of South-Central Los Angeles. He hit a kid and stole his bicycle to get to Holton. John caught on quickly to the art of fishing. “This is No. 7,” he said, while plopping a quivering mackerel onto the deck. “There’s a whole gang of them down there.”

John then learned that the correct term is not gang but school .

There was Tommy, another gang member from South-Central. He is in for armed robbery, one of six in his gang arrested after an incident last New Year’s Eve. Fourteen days before that, Tommy was arrested for “GTA,” or grand theft auto.

“I regret what I did,” Tommy said. “I wish I didn’t do it. I’m not doing the same thing next time.”

Tommy, who like the others caught one fish after another, said he would like to go fishing again someday. He is scheduled to be released in August. He will find his neighborhood ravaged by the recent civil disorder.

“I know I’ll have to go farther to the stores to go buy food,” Tommy said. “I know the swap meets all got robbed. Just because somebody else got wronged they shouldn’t take it out on other people’s money.”

Jorge, meanwhile, grew up in another part of town, in the Bassett area of La Puente. Like Tommy, he was arrested for armed robbery last New Year’s Eve. And like Tommy, it was his second offense.

Jorge, the youngest of nine children in his family, got the thrill of a lifetime when a large bonito he was battling was attacked by a bull sea lion. The sea lion chased the fish as it darted about, and Jorge reeled as fast as he could. He literally snatched the fish from the jaws of the large mammal.

The others laughed and cheered.

Shortly afterward, Jorge hooked another bonito. It raced off and the sea lion again gave chase. This time the sea lion caught up with the fleeing bonito, and Jorge, though determined, never had a chance. He and the others laughed when he reeled in the head of the bonito. The sea lion had the rest.

Jorge said he was glad to be selected to participate in the outing because it meant his school work and good behavior had not gone unnoticed. He said he enjoyed the trip, but he wondered if and when he will be able to make another.

“When I get out?” he asked, pondering a reporter’s question. “Probably the same old thing.”