Hook, line and sinker

Young Chang

A lady whose name James Cerione doesn’t know walks up to him on

Newport Pier Wednesday morning and gives him a cigarette. He’s surprised,

but accepts the touching gift with repeated thanks. She walks away

without saying a word.

Cerione had asked the woman if she could spare one a few minutes

earlier. She didn’t have any then. Now, content with his cigarette and

the peace of fishing at 7 a.m., when most of Newport is just getting up,

the 22-year-old lights his newly-found treat and goes back to his rod.

“C’mon you stupid fish, bite,” he says to himself.

Nothing does. But he stays where he is, at the middle of the long

pier, because that’s where the halibut are.

“I could go out there and catch a mackerel,” Cerione says, pointing to

the tip of the pier, “but halibut are more a trophy fish.”

It matters to this Newport resident that the time he spends fishing

pays off with actual fish. He enjoys meeting people -- like Arny, who

waited for a catch close beside him that gray morning -- and the

occasional display of random generosity from strangers whose faces he’s

come to know, but the prize is still most important.

“It’s exciting, catching fish. It really is,” Cerione said. “It’s like

an adrenaline rush when you get bit.”

Others who fish agree. With the weather warming, locals have been

coming out regularly on Newport and Balboa piers for their fix of

downtime and ocean air. It’s the cheaper alternative to renting or owning

a boat, they say. It’s quicker and, in a way, simpler because it’s just

you and the fish.

There’s something about quietly standing there -- on the pier with

just your rod, some bait, the fish below and the birds above -- that they

find soothing.

“See how nice it is?” asked Walter Burnham over the crashing of waves

and the wind. “Boy, I’m tellin’ ya. It’s so relaxing, the cool relaxing

breeze.”

The Newport resident said he recently underwent a triple bypass

operation and is recovered enough to fish every day again. He works right

near the pier, above some of the beachfront restaurants, and comes out to

fish on afternoons when he sees that the tides are right.

“Most of the time the best fishing is done on the incoming tide,” said

Burnham, who also uses free tide books he gets from the lifeguard

station. “Every day, it moves forward one hour.”

He’s what they call a surf-light-line fisherman because he uses

test-lines between six and 12 pounds. On this windy day, he’s hoping to

catch some corvina and bard surf perch for his seafood-loving friends.

“I gotta move again,” he says, while explaining about different fish.

“I have to go where the fish are.”

He resituates himself and continues talking.

You don’t even need a permit if you fish on a man-made pier, he said,

unless you’re catching grunion. But there is something vital to fishing

-- the tackle. You need to use the right fishing tackle, he emphasizes.

Fish swimming in light surf will normally weigh between one and four

pounds. Go out to the sea and swordfish and tuna will weigh between 400

and 500 pounds, he says.

“It takes some extensive tackle,” he repeats.

Dion Barizo, who drove all the way from Loma Linda very early Thursday

morning to fish, used a similar type of tackle to catch mackerel. For

this 69-year-old, the sport is about more than just getting a bite.

“While we are here, we breathe fresh air,” he said. “We are doing this

for therapy, for health purposes.”

He and his wife, Demie, venture out to the Balboa Pier about once a

week to fish. They bring their equipment -- a rod, wire, bait, bucket,

lawn chair, maybe a net and sometimes some sandwiches, and make a day of

it.

“But my wife, she’s sleeping!” he exclaims, pointing to her

slumbering, nearby figure.

But Burnham, who has moved about three times now to follow the fish,

says he’s out there to fish. If nothing bites, he leaves. On this

unsuccessful afternoon, he’s getting impatient.

“Right now, all I’m doing is trying to figure out where all these

crazy fish are at,” he said.