New York Yankees Score off the Field

The day before the New York Yankees stepped onto the field at Angel Stadium for a three-game series, some of them chartered the boat Bongos II with skipper Joe Barian out of Newport Beach to take a day off from baseball.

Pitchers David Robertson and Boon Logan, left fielder Brett Gardner and pitching coach Kevin Long left the docks in Newport Beach early Thursday with Barian and pointed the bow of Bongos II toward the eastern end of Catalina Island. There has been some excellent white sea bass fishing there,  and Barian wanted to give the baseball stars a shot at their first sea bass. 

As Bongos II neared Binnacle Rock, captain Joe Barian kept a close eye on the boat's sonar. He started marking white sea bass and decided it was time to anchor. The deckhand dropped the anchor hand-over-hand to minimize any noise.

White sea bass are super-sensitive to noise and will scatter when confronted with abrupt, loud sounds. So the deckhand took great care to set the anchor quietly. Within a few minutes, a fish was hooked. It was just 9 a.m., and Gardner put the Yanks on the scoreboard with a beautiful white sea bass in the 30-pound class. More hook-ups ensued, with Robertson, Long and Gardner all on big sea bass too. 

A larger sportfishing boat saw the commotion on the boat and headed toward the action. It dropped its anchor with little care. The anchor hit the water and sent water cascading in every direction. The chain attached to the anchor clanked and emitted an awful noise.   

The noise shut the bite off, but not before all the Yankee players on board Bongos II had caught their very first white sea bass. By the way—there was no truth to the rumor that Mike Scioscia and the Angels had chartered the other boat.

Since it was only 9:30 a.m. when the Yanks had limited out on white sea bass (one per angler) Logan, an avid freshwater-bass fisherman, wanted to try some calico bass fishing. Barian obliged, moving around to the front side of the island and anchoring just off the kelp line near Hen Rock. Logan tossed a sardine out and was greeted with a big 7-pound calico bass. The rest of the group caught a few more calico and sand bass. 

Barian moved the boat once more and encountered a wide open barracuda bite for about 10 minutes. The fishermen released all but one and captured one large sheepshead before heading home. 

The Yankee players took their catch to the Bluewater Grill in Newport Beach. The restaurant prepared a feast, and the players indulged. This was a day when there was no talk of baseball. It was a day away from the office, a day to just enjoy the beautiful eastern Pacific.

“All I can say is that not only were these guys good fishermen, but they were gentlemen too,” Barian said.   

By the way, the Yankees took two out of three from the Angels in the weekend series.