Yankees Scored Against the Seabass Before the Halos

One day before the Yankees and Angels squared off for a three game series at the Big A, New York pitchers David Robertson and Boon Logan, left fielder Bret Gardner and pitching coach Kevin Long took a day off from baseball. They decided a day's fishing off Catalina would be perfect. So on Thursday, several New York Yankees chartered the boat Bongos II with skipper Joe Berrian out of Newport Beach.

 Berrian left the mainland at 6:30 a.m. and pointed the bow of Bongos II towards the east end of Catalina Island. There has been some excellent white seabass fishing there and Berrian wanted to give the baseball starts a shot at their first seabass. 

As Bongos II neared Binnacle Rock, Captain Joe Berrian kept a close eye on the boats sonar. He started marking white seabass and decided it was time to anchor. The deckhand on board dropped the anchor hand over had to minimize any noise. White seabass 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 9 a.m. Bret Gardner put the Yanks on the scoreboard with a beautiful white seabass in the 30 pound class. More hook-ups ensued with Robertson, Long and Gardner all on big seabass too. 

A larger sportfishing boat saw the commotion on the boat and headed towards the action. They dropped their 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 nose shut the bite off but not before every Yankee player on board Bongo’s II had caught there very first white seabass. 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 seabass (1 per angler) Boon Logan, an avid freshwater bass fishermen wanted to try some calico bass fishing. Berrian obliged moving around to the frontside 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.

Berrian moved the boat once more where they encountered a wide open barracuda bite for about 10 minutes. They released all but one also 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 Pacific.

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

By the way, the Yankee's took two of the three games from the Angels over the weekend.