
DATE: Friday, August 8, 1997                TAG: 9708060213

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: F.G. EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  111 lines

FISH STORY: LOCAL CHILDREN CAST OFF FOR ANNUAL OUTING AT LYNNHAVEN PIER

Jazmin Addison sat with her Shakespeare Alpha Graflite rod dangling over the railing of the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier. Her yellow Portsmouth Anglers' Club Sunshine Program baseball cap slid down over her head, almost covering her braided hair. Her tiny hand rested on the reel and she looked toward Warren Brooks with big, sad eyes.

``Will you help me catch a fish?'' she asked Brooks.

Yes, he would, was answer of the Anglers' Club member. Unlike Jazmin, a first-time fisherman, Brooks has wet many a line.

Brooks deftly affixed a squid and a bloodworm to two hooks on Jazmin's line. Soon, she was smiling and jumping up as she pulled a small sea bass over the rail, with help from Brooks and three other members of her group.

Jazmin was one of about 70 children who cast lines in the Chesapeake Bay on July 30. They are beneficiaries of the Sunshine Program, a four-hour fishing trip to the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier in Virginia Beach. The outing is sponsored by the Salvation Army and the 153 members of the Portsmouth Anglers' Club. The program began 13 years ago, with about 20 children, said Tom Scott, PAC member and chairman of this year's event. Twenty-seven PAC members signed up to help with the fishing this year.

Charles Cashman, owner of the 45 year-old pier, built the structure with a group of partners. He has donated use of it for all the Sunshine outings.

``Why not? If you can help people do something, to help make them a better person, that's what you should do. It doesn't cost anything.''

The Sunshine Program participants are selected randomly by the Salvation Army from their day camp program and the CORPS program which works with community children, said Kathy Shea, Salvation Army camp counselor who has accompanied the youngsters to the pier for the past five years.

``A lot of them are kids who wouldn't ever have the opportunity to enjoy a day like this,'' she said. ``A lot of them are kids who couldn't do this regularly and the rest are summer camp kids.''

The 70 young fishers arrived by Salvation Army bus from Portsmouth at 10 a.m. on a windy, slate-gray day. A shower sprinkled the pier, but the children's faces reflected only radiance.

These young fishermen weren't choosy. They'd settle for ``Whatever wiggles and stinks, primarily small bottom fish, croaker, spot, hogfish, pigfish and maybe flounder,'' said Scott.

After all, this was more than a fishing trip. It was an opportunity for the children to get out and enjoy an activity they may very well never have experienced. It was also an opportunity for the adults pass on their knowledge to of the sport to young people.

Scott credited George Cooper with initiating the Sunshine Program. The Anglers' Club makes all the arrangements. They provide rods, reels, bait, baseball caps and snacks, $100 in gas-and-expense money - in addition to expert advice. The club takes Polaroid pictures of the children and their catches. They use their angling expertise to make sure no child goes home empty-handed.

Scott said Claude Bain, director of the Saltwater Fishing Association, donated much of the equipment. Some of it was used in the now-defunct Governor's Cup Tournament on the Eastern Shore.

``My wife, Annette, and I made 176 sandwiches this week - and last week, too,'' Scott said. The original date, July 23, was lost to a storm. ``I gave last week's sandwiches to the Salvation Army.''

Jamie Bilodeau sat on a bench looking toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, eating one of Scott's creations, a bologna and cheese on white bread. He sipped a canned Old Keg root beer and talked food and fishing with his fellow angler and school classmate, Kimberly Brock. The two are 9 and will return to James Hurst Elementary School as 4th-graders in the fall.

``Are you having bologna?'' asked Jamie. ``It's really good.''

Kimberly made a face.

``No. I'm eating `p.b.& j.' '' (peanut butter and jelly). I hate meat.''

Jamie looked back at his line, noticed a wiggle and pulled in a black sea bass.

``Nice fish. Good eating,'' said Ron Brannan, a PAC member helping Jamie's group of four. Brannan showed Jamie and three others how to hold the fish and how to free of the hook.

Gene Cooper, son of Sunshine mainstay George Cooper, advised Terrell Hill on the finer aspects of fishing.

``It's like a telephone line,'' Cooper told the Deep Creek Middle School 8th-grader. ``When he (the fish) rings, you answer it.''

The little fishermen threw back the little ones and kept the bigger ones. Prizes were awarded for the biggest fish caught by a boy and by a girl, and the most fish caught. Jessica Bowers, 13, a rising 8th-grader at Hunt-Mapp Middle School, won the biggest fish caught by a girl prize when she reeled in a spot. How big was it?

Humongous, of course. (That's about 3/4-pound, in non-fisherman measurement.) And, even in non-angling circles a 3/4-pound spot is a good catch. A one-pounder is citation, Scott pointed out.

Seven year-old Kyle Hayes, a soon-to-be second-grader at Highland-Biltmore Elementary School, caught a similarly-sized croaker, to win the boys' prize.

Emily Frank, 12, pulled six fish out of the Bay, to capture the most-fish-caught competition.

The three received tackle boxes donated by fishing equipment manufacturer Plano.

The brisk wind caused many to don black plastic rain ponchos. But Ashlee Chappelle, a confident 9-year old who fishes with her daddy, wasn't cold.

``I like the breeze,'' she answered.

Not quite as confident was Nantz Parker. He also went into the record book, said Joe Mounie, another PAC veteran of the Sunshine Program. At 5, Nantz was the youngest fisherman to ever step onto Lynnhaven Pier for the event.

Nantz was also the exception to the age-old rule of anglers - an honest fisherman. He stood watching the action, the bill of his baseball cap turned up, nothing stirring his line.

``I don't know anything about this!'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos/MARK MITCHELL

Young fishermen stampede the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier for a day of

fishing with the Portsmouth Anglers Club.

Dylan Baker, 7, examines his catch at the annual outing.

Staff photo/MARK MITCHELL

Blair Panlilo, 7, mans her rod at the annual fishing trip which is