Kids get thrill of fishing minus the smell

Marisa O’Neil

Ten-year-old Julio Espinoza reeled in a 140-pound marlin in less than

three minutes.

And he didn’t even leave the dock.

Julio and about 60 of his schoolmates from Davis Elementary School

in Costa Mesa toured the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, in a

riverboat docked in Newport Harbor, as part of their fifth-grade

educational program. Julio, who had never fished before, caught the

virtual-reality marlin on a special sportfishing simulator, part of

the museum’s “HOOKED! The Lure and Lore of Sportfishing” exhibit.

“It was a little hard,” Julio said as he massaged his right bicep,

not too willing to let on even if it was too tough.

To catch the fish, he sat in a special fishing chair, clutched a

pole and patiently watched the video screen in front of him, waiting

for a bite or glimpse of a fish. Sure enough, the marlin made its

appearance, and Julio felt a tug on his line.

He fought the fish, yanking the pole back and cranking the reel,

his tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth as he intently

watched the marlin on the screen. Guest curator John Dickens and

Julio’s classmates cheered him on until he caught the big fish. He

then wiped his sore hands on his pant legs.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the museum hosts fifth-graders from

Newport-Mesa schools for educational programs approved by the

California Department of Education, museum President Glenn Zagoren

said. Different stops on the tour concentrate on science, history,

math and geography.

For the science portion of the visit, docent J.E.T. Rudder used a

small camera and television screen to introduce the students to a

tank full of starfish, sea urchins, mussels and other small sea life.

The museum has a special license to collect the specimens, which

spend two weeks in the tank before being returned to the wild and

replaced with another group.

“They get fed pretty well,” Zagoren said. “They especially like

Trader Joe’s shrimp.”

After a quick lesson, the students lined up to touch the

creatures. Some students eagerly patted each one; others cringed

after a tentative poke.

“I was about to touch the purple one, then I was like, ‘Nooo,’”

10-year-old Bryanna Santillan told her classmates about the spiky sea

urchin.

“I expected them to feel kind of rough, you know. Cucumbers are

kind of rough,” she said of the sea cucumbers.

“They’re sea cucumbers, not real cucumbers,” 11-year-old Stephanie

Merritt teased.

The class then filed downstairs to the dock, where they met two

sheriff’s deputies who work on the Harbor Patrol. They told the

students about tracking the bad guys down on the water -- there

aren’t too many of them -- and fighting marine fires in their

fireboat.

Students on the tour also saw ship models made from wood, solid

gold and soup bones and an exhibition of vintage fishing equipment

and memorabilia. The museum, Zagoren said, has 58,000 photographs,

including one of Winston Churchill fishing off Catalina.

Other school districts have expressed interest in the museum’s

educational programs, he said, and he is looking to expand the

museum. Plans include full-sized classrooms for students and a

theater for performances and swashbuckler movies.