RECREATION / STEVE HENSON : Cleaning Up Creek Their Casting Call

It’s garbage time and the trash-talk can’t be helped. That’s the case the third Saturday of every month for an intrepid group of volunteers from the Valley-based Sierra Pacific Fly-Fishing Club.

They tote bags and bags of debris out of Piru Creek in northern Ventura County, the nearest location for fly-fishing. Keeping the creek bed clean is a constant battle, one that is never won.

“I’ve seen dirty diapers sitting right next to trash cans,” said Art Delano, a Woodland Hills resident who has spearheaded the cleanup effort for two years. “Some people have no concept of leaving the area pristine for the next person.”

The fly fishermen’s endeavor provides community service in another way as well. Accompanying them are inmates from Camp Karl Holton in Little Tujunga Canyon, the largest youth camp within the L.A. County Probation Dept.

The youths--many of whom are gang members--get a breath of fresh air, and during a day of cleaning up, fishing and eating barbecue often reveal a softer side.

“The little kid in all of us is tapped when you teach someone how to cast into a stream,” Delano said. “We key on that and build on it. Many of these kids develop a strong interest in fishing.”

The real world rudely intrudes soon enough. One fisherman nurtured a friendship with a particular inmate over several months. The boy was released from Camp Karl Holton and was shot two weeks later in a gang incident.

“I’m convinced that if they were not in the surroundings they are in, these kids would be outstanding young men,” Delano said.

Gaining less sympathy from the fishermen are those who litter the creek bed. And the anglers get downright livid at the constant stream of poachers who illegally catch great quantities of trout in throw nets.

“They take fish from a state-controlled catch-and-release area,” Delano said. “I’ve seen 230 fish in a single bucket, from two inches to eight inches each. It gets real ugly.”

As long as Delano and the rest of the volunteers do their monthly cleanup, however, Piru Creek will retain much of its natural beauty.

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Like wading hip-deep into a rushing stream, fly fishermen all over Southern California will immerse themselves in a two-day ode to their sport April 8 and 9 at the Newport Irvine Radisson Hotel.

Conclave ‘95, the Southwest Council Federation of Fly-Fishers’ 15th annual convention, will kick off the season. Registration is $8 per day or $15 for both days. Children get in for reduced rates.

Fly-fishing opportunities in the West will be featured in videos. Exhibitors will be plying all kinds of equipment, including fly lines, leaders and tippet materials. A beginning fly-fishing course will be available and there will be several fly-tying and casting demonstrations.

“This is our once-a-year opportunity to talk about fly-fishing from where to go to how to do it,” said Mike Mumford, a SWC-FFF official.

Information: 818-718-8566.

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Gilbert Buffery, 79, was at it again.

Asked of Buffery’s whereabouts Friday, Julia, his wife of 30 years, chuckled and said, “He’s down there right now playing around in the water. Bad boy, bad boy.”

The water being Marina del Rey. Buffery, retired official with Boy Scouts of America, is past commodore of the San Fernando Valley Yacht Club, yet he remains fully involved.

“Commodore, it’s a grandiose title for a lot of damn hard work,” he said. “But this club is worth it.

“We’re all a bit like a family. We have a lot of fun with it.”

Buffery rattles off the club’s upcoming events: a buoy race April 8 in the Channel Islands Harbor and April 22 in Marina del Rey. Ten to 20 yachts will compete in races of one, three and five miles each day.

May brings a Sadie Hawkins race where ladies take the helm and a popular Memorial Day Weekend cruise to Newport Beach from Marina del Rey.

Of special note is a sailing symposium given in October for children by club members and explorer scouts from Pardee Scout Sea Base near Marina del Rey. Buffery and club member Art Langdon have spearheaded the effort annually for 26 years.

That’s a lot of activity for what is sometimes referred to as a “paper club,” one without a clubhouse facility and one far from the water. The San Fernando Valley club meets the second Friday of each month in the conference room of an auto dealer.

“We are very much a participatory club,” Buffery said. “We try to do our part for community service and we promote sailing and safety at sea, sometimes even more than the wealthier clubs.”

A certain member’s wife has declined to participate, however. Julia Buffery is a landlubber through and through.

“She won’t even stand on the dock,” Buffery said. “My present boat, I’ve had it for 12 years and she’s never set foot inside. But she loves the parties.”