Speakers
Captain Damon Sacco is the founder of Castafari Inc. which was established in 1998. After earning a bachelor degree at Hobart College in 1991, Damon ventured into the entertainment industry pursuing a passion in music, touring and recording two albums with the reggae/ska outfit, Iration. Damon went on to co-own and run a Best Of Boston named bowling alley/restaurant, Sacco's, located in Davis Square, Somerville Massachusetts which he sold in 2015.
Castafari Inc. is a sportfishing enterprise offering big game fishing tournaments, a winter and spring sportfishing expo/seminar series, custom offshore fishing tackle, and private sportfishing adventures. The Castafari tournament events have generated over $150,000 to help pediatric cancer and autism victims and the Boys and Girls Club of Martha's Vineyard.
Over the past 25 years, Castafari has gained recognition along the eastern seaboard, earning 1st place wins in all of the big game fishing tournaments in the northeast, two Massachusetts state records including a 183 lb. wahoo. Castafari offshore adventure has been featured on ESPN, National Geographic, Spike, Versus, CNN, ABC, CBS, The Scarborough Show, and the Today Show.
Damon is currently a pro-staff member at Shimano, Costa Del Mar, Simrad, Aftco, Milton Cat, Nomad Tackle, and Sufix Line. He is a vocal contributor to the big game fishing industry, sharing his experience and knowledge regularly. He is also a passionate advocate of fisheries management and preservation, and is a returning board member of the Stellwagen Charterboat Association.
Captain Damon is a passionate author, and has regularly contributed his work to major fishing publications such as Marlin Magazine, The Big Game Journal, Saltwater Sportsman, and On The Water Magazine. Damon is currently working on publishing an anthology of essays profiling the Castafari experience at sea.
Damon is a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain, and has logged over five thousand offshore hours in waters from Maine to the Bahamas, and worldwide. Damon has fished at many global destinations, including Panama, Bora Bora, The Galapagos, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, The British Virgin Islands, Belize, The Bahamas, Columbia, Mexico and right here in America.
Captain Mark has been fishing for over 30 years. His ongoing passion on the water eventually led him to a full-time career as a commercial fisherman and private boat captain. Spending about 270 days a year offshore on average for the last 15 years , Mark has earned a reputation as one of the more proficient high liners in the northeast. Mark was recently featured in "In The Bite" magazine as one of the "Top Young Guns Of Sportfishing in 2018." He is also one of the top pro staff team members for Penn Tackle, Simrad, Momoi, Costa Del Mar, and Deep Ocean Apparel.
Mark is no stranger to the tournament winner’s circle. He has secured several tournament wins, including some of the biggest sportfishing events on the east coast, including the Mid Atlantic 500, Tristate Tournament and White Marlin Open . Mark and his team secured a 1st place win in the 2019 Northeast Offshore Cup. Mark's team also caught the biggest bigeye tuna in the Montauk Canyon Challenge tournament in 2017 and again in 2018. When it comes to bigeye tuna, Mark is undoubtedly one of the best in the game, averaging around 25 per season. He has caught well over 300 bigeye tuna in the northeast canyons For over 20 years Mark has been helming top producing vessels like "Canyon Runner," "Reel Action," and is currently at the helm of the fishing vessel "Rebel."
Mark is an active owner and innovator at Broadbill Fisheries which is a Long Island New York based outfitting company specializing in offshore tackle products and boat outfitting. His products are made for the long haul and designed for the serious tournament fishermen. For more than 2 decades he has designed and built tens of thousands of spreader bars of various types and will discuss the ins and outs of these products.
Mark has also presented publicly at several other major fishing seminar events, including the Canyon built Runner Seminar series where he still presents annually. Canyon fishing has always been one of Mark's biggest passions, and he has offered to share his knowledge and fishing adventure to help connect more people with more big fish! Mark can be reached at Mark@broadbill.com.
Captains Bryan and Taylor Sears have been fishing the inshore and offshore waters of New England for over 20 years. They grew up together on the South Shore of Massachusetts, fishing the North River for striped bass and quickly graduated to offshore fishing at a very young age. Bryan and Taylor both attended Massachusetts Maritime Academy where they became USCG licensed captains as well as received degrees in Emergency Management and Facilities Engineering, respectively. They have captained and mated on many boats throughout the Northeast, but most of Sears brothers' time is spent running their family owned/operated charter fleet, Mass Bay Guides, along with their father Capt. Greg Sears. Mass Bay Guides runs an average of 200 trips a season, focusing their offshore efforts primarily on bluefin tuna in and around the waters of Stellwagen Bank. This operation has earned it's way to being one of the most successful sportfishing charter businesses in the northeast. Their biggest Stellwagen giant weighed 1056 pounds. They brought 54 giant tuna to the boat in the 2019 season.
Bryan and Taylor's experience in the offshore fishing industry stems well beyond the waters of New England. They have both been anglers, mates, and captains in many different locations across the globe including Costa Rica, Cabo San Lucas, many areas of Florida, and Prince Edward Island.
Bryan and Taylor's offshore fishing experience also involves the canyon game of the Northeast. Collectively they have secured spots on the leaderboard in over 10 bluewater tournaments within the last 8 years including the Oak Bluffs Bluewater Classic, The Nantucket Big Game Battle, The Northeast Offshore Cup, and the Canadian International Tuna Cup.
The Sears brothers offer their freelance services through their own company, "SeaBros." When not found fishing on Stellwagen Bank or Mass Bay, you can find them running all-inclusive fishing trips to Prince Edward Island Canada, the Gulf Coast of Florida, transporting vessels up and down the East Coast, guiding, outfitting boats, and offering seminars and workshops in the New England area.
Captain John Bunar has been fishing the offshore waters of the northeast for over 35 years. At the age of 9, John cut his teeth as a mate on a local charter boat in Sesuit Harbor. He has since earned a reputation as being one of Stellwagon Bank's most proficient bluefin tuna highliners. From June to November, John spends most of his time chasing fish from Maine to Cape Cod. Owning and operating a sportfishing charter company based in Plymouth Massachusetts, John has successfully connected his clients to hundreds of giant bluefin tuna.
John is a 29 year USCG captain, and former member of the Yamaha National Fishing Team. He also hosted the Massachusetts Fishing Report show during it's entirety. John has also spoken publicly at a variety of New England fishing seminar and trade shows.
Being on the water almost every day of the week, Capt. John has pioneered a variety of techniques that have increased his odds at catching fish. Whether it's where, how, or when to catch bait...what bait works when and where...when to anchor..when to drift, or even when to use a kite, John has mastered all of the above. More importantly, he is offering to share his knowledge and expertise with other fishermen, and will be helping to kick things off on Saturday April 1st at the 2017 Castafari Seminar. If you're a bluefin tuna enthusiast, and you fish Stellwagon, this is one you don't want to miss.Captain Jeff hails from LBI New Jersey, and is widely known as one of the premiere high-liners along the east coast from Cape Cod all the way down to Wanchese, North Carolina. For the past 8 years, Jeff has been behind the helm of the fishing vessel Wolfpack, a privately owned 58-foot Viking. The Wolfpack program focuses on the pursuit of tuna and swordfish. They spend most of their efforts in the northeast.
Prior to running Wolfpack, Jeff operated a commercial rod and reel tuna boat for 3 seasons. In 2015 alone, he and his crew caught 88 bigeyes and 27 giant bluefin tuna.
Jeff's ongoing fishing passion and innovation eventually developed into a tackle business, Wolfpack Tackle, which highlights the Ahi heads and Ahi tails Jeff and his crew use to catch fish. The stuff works. Since the company's inception in 2020, Wolfpack products have been readily accepted and used in tuna fisheries around the globe.Captain Tommy Howd brings 25 years of fishing experience, spanning from the offshore waters of Maine, Florida, the Bahamas, and all the way to the Galapagos Islands. While earning a bachelors degree from Connecticut College in 2011, Tommy began his professional fishing career working for an offshore charter fishing operation in Newport, Rhode Island. His mating experience eventually landed him a spot with the “Canyon Runner” operation, fishing alongside captains Mark Decabia and Mark Deblasio. After several years working in the cockpit as a professional mate, Tommy eventually earned his USCG Captains license, and began running and captaining his family's vessel "Tokatomist," a 61 Ritchie Howell. Over the passed several years, the "Tokatomist" crew has garnered continued northeast tournament success, including a 140 lb. daytime swordfish caught on conventional tackle in the 2016 OBBC. Over 40 day time swordfish were brought to the deck of the "Tokatomist" with Tommy at the helm, including three fish over 300 pounds! Captain Tom Howd has earned a reputation as being a swordfish magnet. He has caught big swordfish every season, including a 300 plus pound fish in 2017. There isn't a more successful swordfishing operation in the northeast, and Tommy will be sharing his knowledge and ideas at this year's Castafari seminar!
Captain Kevin Albohn has spent the last 20 years as more than just a serious fisherman. He has been following the tuna migrations from southern New Jersey to Cape Cod primarily targeting them via jig and pop but also with traditional trolling methods. He is the owner of Blue Line Charters in Watch Hill, Rhode Island and is one of the few charter captains that dedicates his time to primarily tuna fishing. Captain Kevin additionally runs charters with One More Cast Charters in Oceanside, New York in the early spring and late fall seasons allowing him to learn the patterns of the migrating tunas before and after most local outfits.
He can be found chasing bluefins and yellowfins on the mid-shore grounds to casting to big eyes in the canyons. As a father of 4, he emphasizes the importance of getting children on the water and getting them involved in learning all aspects of fishing and conservation. It is not uncommon to see one of them as a deckhand even though they are still at very young ages.
Captain Kevin has been featured on NBC sports and several other smaller scale productions. He can be found giving seminars and instruction throughout the northeast during the winter months. He has spoken at the Canyon Runner Seminar Series. You can join him on the hunt for any pelagic species from May through December and can find any details at www.bluelinesportfishing.com.
Hogy Lure Company was founded by Capt. Mike Hogan who designed each product in the field. Capt. Mike has fished all over the country and has developed products and techniques along the way, all with big fish in mind.
The company was started in 2004 when Capt. Mike left his office job in Boston and moved back to Cape Cod in order to get closer to fishing. He began running inshore and offshore charters again, focusing on trophy class fishing. He doesn't use live or dead bait, so he found himself needing baits for very specific situations to compete with live bait anglers. As a result, he saw a demand for large-style soft baits that mimicked the larger baits he was trying to imitate. Capt. Mike spent many months working on the special blend of soft plastic and finally came up with the current plastic blend that Hogy Lure Company uses today. He immediately saw how effective large soft baits were both inshore and off-shore. Never intending to bring the new lures to market, Capt. Mike used them on his charters and gave them to his friends who referred to them as “Hogy's”
Capt. Mike's first experience selling Hogy Lures was at a sportsman show in Massachusetts. He remembered the mountain of soft baits he had on the table at a time when he didn't even have packaging. Much to his great pleasure, he sold out by early afternoon the first day. The same thing happened at the following show in Rhode Island. It was then that he knew he was on to something. In 2005, Hogy Lure Company was incorporated and later filed for a patent finally received in 2009. Hogy Tackle continued onward to become one of the most reputable and widely known lure companies on the east coast.
Captain John Galvin has earned over 20 years of professional world wide offshore fishing experience. John has logged over 45,000 nautical miles on the sea spanning from the Canadian Maritimes and New England all the way down the east coast of United States to Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Mexico, and Costa Rica. He has spent time either in the cockpit or at the helm of successful operations in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
John has been in the fishing industry since he was 15 years old beginning his fishing career at Eastman's Sport and Tackle in Falmouth, Mass. While earning a bachelors degree at Salve Regina University in 2005, John holds a 200 Ton USCG captains license and has since worked aboard several reputable sportfishing vessels in Cape Cod, including a 4-year run on the Castafari (2007-2011).
After working on the Castafari, John furthered his fishing exploits at the helm of the Mulberry Canyon, a 40 foot Cabo earning several tournament wins, including 11 top 3 spots and two 1st place finishes. John then became a member of the world known Jaruco Sportfishing Team, operating in New England in the summers and Costa Rica in the winters. In 2017 John took a job helming a 76-foot Viking "Blondie" which he ran for several until he began his current position running a 72 Viking "El Diablo" and 41' Valhalla "El Diablito." Currently they split their time between Florida, The Bahamas, and Nantucket. With a focus on bluewater fishing as well as competing in events both in South Florida and New England, El Diablo has placed in events in both regional locations. Additionally, during the Costa Rican tournament season he can be found at the helm of the 58’ Viking "Maya" for the Los Suenos Triple Crown series.
John continues to work in the tackle industry as a brand ambassador and adviser to numerous manufacturers such as Offshore Innovations/POON Harpoons, and several other renowned brands. John has also earned a pro-staff position at Costa Del Mar. His writing, photography, and likeness have been featured on the pages of Big Game Journal, Sport Fishing Magazine, In the Bite, On the Water, Marlin Magazine and FishTrack.com. He has also been featured on Sportfishing Television and On The Water TV.
Captain Matt Perachio is a well accomplished USCG licensed captain with over 25 years of both inshore and offshore fishing experience. He grew up fishing the waters around outer Cape Cod, and his fishing passion and determination led him to a professional career on the water. Matt currently owns and runs a thriving sportfishing service, Tighten Up Charters based in Truro Massachusetts. His specialty includes light tackle techniques for Bluefin Tuna, Striped Bass, Cod and Bluefish. Matt is one of the few New England charter captains who has consistently put clients on big bluefin tuna, even giants, using light tackle. Matt has been featured on the cover of On The Water Magazine several times as well as OTW videos. He is well known for his relentless work ethic, unique sixth sense in locating fish, and going the extra mile to get the job done. His experience and knowledge are an invaluable addition to the Castafari Big Game Fishing Seminar line-up. The light tackle tuna game is in full swing up here in the northeast, and Matt is one of the best in it.
Dr. Walt Golet is a research professor and scientist at the University Of Maine and Gulf Of Maine Research Institute. Walter completed his graduate research and a Postdoc on Atlantic bluefin tuna at the University of New Hampshire. He then became a professor at the University of Maine in 2015. where he currently resides and teaches. The majority of Walt’s work focuses on understanding the age, growth, migration, reproduction, stock structure, and forging ecology for highly migratory fish in the Atlantic. Walter's primary objective is to improve estimates of stock status in hopes to maintain/improve fishing opportunities for commercial and recreational fishermen. In addition to his research, Walt holds one of four academic positions on NOAA’s Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel which is tasked with domestic management and policy of HMS species. He also serves as a technical advisor on the ICCAT Advisory Committee’s Atlantic bluefin tuna working group. His current research projects include work on Atlantic bluefin, yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack, broadbill swordfish and marlin. Walt will be sharing his knowledge and research on the local northeast giant tuna population and migration at the Castafari Seminar.
Dr. Jeff Kneebone is an Associate Research Scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. He holds a Masters degree from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and has been conducting research on a wide variety of fish species in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past 15 years. His research focuses on numerous aspects of fish biology, ecology, and physiology, and is largely conducted in partnership with the commercial and recreational fishing communities. Through his research, he hopes to generate data that can improve fishery management and sustainability, particularly for highly migratory species. Jeff's current research focuses on a wide variety of marine fishes including sand tiger sharks, common thresher sharks, black sea bass, yellowfin tuna and Pacific bluefin tuna. He is also an avid fishermen and spends much of his free time on the water, primarily targeting tautog, sharks, and tuna. Jeff is currently working on a post catch mortality study on yellowfin tuna. He and his team are actively tagging northeast yellowfin tuna, aiming to better understand their migratory patterns and offshore ecosystems. Jeff will be presenting his research at the Castafari Big Game Seminar.
Captain Billy is one of Team Castafari's best. He has been fishing in the Castafari cockpit for 11 consecutive seasons. His offshore fishing abilities are world class, and he has been very valuable in bringing the new Castafari mates up to speed. Billy cut his teeth in the Cape Cod sportfishing industry working at Falmouth Bait And Tackle and Bad Fish Outfitters as well as jumping on any boat he could as a kid. He has several tournament wins under his belt including two 1st place finishes in the Nantucket Big Game Battle (on his own boat!). The Castafari also claimed a 1st Place win at the 2015 Tri-State with Billy in the cockpit.
Billy graduated Mass Maritime Academy in 2012 with a Marine Transportation degree, and continued his career on the water working full time during the winter months as a Mate on an oil tanker in the Gulf Of Mexico, West Coast, and Alaska. He currently holds a 1600 Ton Master USCG license/ Chief Mate Unlimited Tonnage license. When Billy is not fishing commercially or competitively, he is teaching his two children, Bizzy and Charlie how to fish.
Billy has fished the waters of New England, Alaska, Bahamas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, St. Thomas BVI's, and Costa Rica. When Billy is not working he is still fishing on the decks of the Castafari as well as freelancing within the industry. With over 125 canyon trips logged, he is a proven master in the bait-rigging department, and will be sharing his knowledge and craftsmanship with all who participate in the bait-rigging workshops as well as talking about "Intro To Canyon Fishing,"
Nowacek is a University Professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment and the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1991 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1999.
Nowacek has focused on the bioacoustics and behavioral ecology of marine mammals, primarily cetaceans, for over 30 years including right whales since 1999, and his work also includes technology development for marine conservation research. In his joint appointments in the Schools of Environment and Engineering, Nowacek works to bring new technologies to compelling marine science and conservation research questions. One of the current marine conservation issues that is an emphasis of his work is ocean noise and its impacts on marine animals, particularly mammals but also fish and turtles.
Nowacek has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers in the peer reviewed literature, publishing in top journals such as Science, Nature, Proceedings of the Royal Society, and the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Jorge Polo, born and raised in Valencia, Spain, was immersed in the world of big game fishing from a young age. His passion for the sport has taken him around the globe, exploring and mastering various fishing techniques. With a focus on slow pitch jigging and speed jigging, Jorge brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to the craft. As the founder of JYG PROFISHING, Jorge is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of angling innovation. His expertise shines through his high-end charter services out of Jupiter, Florida, where he guides clients on memorable trips for sailfish, swordfish, and Bahamian adventures aboard a Freeman 34.