Quite a catch
by Melissa Eiselein
LAKE PERRIS - Kellyn O'Dell cast his fishing line into the water and hooked a small bluegill.
"Hey, everybody, look at me. I've got a fish," yelled Kellyn, 10, of Moreno Valley, as he held up his pole with a fish dangling on the end of the line.
Kellyn, who has hearing loss, and his brother Cameron, 7, who is enrolled in speech therapy at Butterfield Elementary School, were among 24 special needs children in the Moreno Valley Unified School District who were treated to a morning of fishing Saturday at Lake Perris State Recreation Area.
The event was sponsored by four state entities -- the departments of Water Resources, Fish and Game and Boating and Waterways and the Lake Perris State Recreation Area -- and the nonprofit C.A.S.T. for Kids of Washington. C.A.S.T. stands for "Catch a Special Thrill."
Each of the children taking part in the day of fishing received a pole, tackle box, T-shirt and hat, said Lake Perris Supervising Ranger Raphael Samuel.
Before going on the water, each of the children was fitted with a lifejacket and given a tub full of worms. Then they climbed into a boat with volunteer fishermen who took them out on the water and taught them how to fish.
Kellyn's mother, Cynthia O'Dell, was nervous about letting her children go out in a boat.
She said she was afraid they would get rambunctious and fall into the water. But while she relaxed at a picnic table with her mother, Virginia Guilarte of Colton, Dale Britt of Canyon Lake had everything under control out on the lake.
Britt, a member of the Canyon Lake Bass Master fishing club, took the boys out on his boat and gave the brothers instructions on what to do.
"Don't drag your lines," Britt told the boys after Cameron pulled on his and caught a plant instead of a fish.
Tim Mason, 11, of Moreno Valley, and his brother Brezell Johnson, 9, couldn't resist playing with their worms as they stood on the shore.
"They're so excited. They couldn't wait to get up this morning," said their mother, Elisha Johnson, who went out on the boat with her sons.
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