California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

CLU students reel โ€˜em in on ocean fishing trip

The California Lutheran University Outdoor Recreation program held its first ocean fishing excursion on April 12. It was a half-day fishing trip that went from 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. The students met at the CLU Welcome Center parking lot at 7 a.m. and caravanned to the Channel Islands harbor where their boat launched. The trip was booked through the Channel Islands Sportfishing Company.

Paul Hartmann, coordinator for recreational sports, said students didnโ€™t need any prior fishing experience to sign up.

โ€œThey will teach us how to cast the rod, how to set up the hook and everything else. If you are experienced, you can also go and bring your own stuff but all the staff that will be on the boat are there to help us and teach us how to fish,โ€ Hartmann said.

The student cost for the trip was $45 and Hartmann said it included the admission fee to fish, rental gear, tackle, fishing license and cost of the crew to fillet any caught fish that students wanted to take home.

So far this year, Outdoor Recreation has gone on a variety of trips, including a ski and snowboard trip to Mammoth and a paintball retreat.
โ€œThis is the first year we have done a fishing trip so it will be an interesting experience to see how students like it and get some feedback,โ€ Hartmann said.

Junior Brigitte Paul attended the ocean fishing trip. She enjoys going on the recreational sports trips and grew up fishing in Washington, so the ocean fishing excursion captured her interest.

โ€œI have been river, lake and sea fishing many times before with my family and on the weekends with friends. This was my first time on a non-private boat before though, so it was a new experience,โ€ Paul said.

Even though she thought spending half of the day at sea sounded like a really long time, Paul said the time went by quickly and they served excellent food on the boat.

โ€œI caught 12 fish and kept 10, it was a lot of fun and the people who ran the boat were enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who doesnโ€™t get seasick or doesnโ€™t mind being cold all day,โ€ Paul said.

Senior Jessika Bell wasnโ€™t as successful on the boat as Paul, but still enjoyed herself.

โ€œI caught only three fish and I got to keep two. Itโ€™s really cool that we got to keep what we caught and that they filleted the fish for us so that we didnโ€™t have to,โ€ Bell said.

Bell said there were about 50 people on the boat and 10 of them were from CLU.

โ€œI had a lot of fun and I got to meet new people from CLU and meet new people in general who were from around the country. I would definitely go again, but I would bring warmer clothes because it was cold and maybe more luck for fishing,โ€ Bell said.

 

Lauren Ray
Staff Writer
Published April 16, 2014

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