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Hey folks,

Here we go again in 2011! The Castafari is out of the shed, and in the water! I outfitted her with a new Furuno radar and fishfinder. She is in tip top shape and ready for action! I did not bring the boat south like I had planned as I will be doing more than a few projects to her this spring. We had a great Cape Cod fishing charter season in 2010. We caught some great fish from big marlin, trophy bass, giant tuna, and some monster wahoo, not to mention a multitude of other blue water species. The giant bluefin tuna fishing in the fall was spectacular, with more than a few multiple fish days! We will be gearing up for when these fish return in 2011...only a few more weeks to go!

There's a lot of exciting stuff happening on the Castafari front. The Castafari Monster Club is well underway now and was very successful in getting launched and viewed throughout the 2009 and 2010 season. We now have over 1500 members and climbing! I will be updating the Monster Club regularly throughout the 2011 season. There are currently over 60 Castafari videos to view! It was nice to be able to share with viewers some of the best Cape Cod fishing charter trips we encountered out there. I will be sharing even more video during the 2011 fishing season as were adding 2 more cameras to the lineup.

I have also just recently overhauled the Castafari apparel section and online store. Check out our men's and women's t-shirt and shorts designs! Also I will be offering Castafari custom tackle through our online store, including the entire Castafari 8 Rod Canyon Trolling Spread, the exact proven spread we have been using for years ...ready to put in the water and start catching fish! There are other Castafari custom tackle products for sale as well like our high speed canyon spreader bar, THE GREEN DRAGON which is made with super light, flexible, and durable titanium and armed with 11 custom baits and a stinger/hookbait. The Castafari MONEY MAKER daisy chain with hookbait, the Castafari MARLIN MAGNET teaser, the Castafari custom MARLIN PACK, the Castafari custom pre-made ballyhoo rigs, our hydro-gutting tool, and custom TAG LINE KITEFISHING KIT. Be sure and check out our new product store for more information, and even better, come join us for a fishing charter in Cape Cod!

I'm also proud to announce the creation of the all new Castafari FISH LICK'N Instructional Bait-rigging Video DVD Series which launched in the spring of 2010! Volume 1: RIGGING BALLYHOO kicked things off. This particular 65 minute detailed instructional video features 4 proven and established ballyhoo rigging techniques employed by the crew of the Castafari. Volume 2: RIGGING TROLLING MACKEREL is another 50 minute Castafari video highlighting in meticulous step by step detail, how to prepare and rig a mackerel for trolling applications. This will gain you a huge advantage when trolling for bluefin tuna. We catch half of our tuna while conducting fishing charters on trolled mackerel! Both of these volumes can be purchased right here on the Castafari web site.

This in-depth series of instructional films will cover other topics such as: how to rig squid; how to kite fish with live bait; how to create proper connections via splicing and knots, how to skirt your own lures, and much more! I have filmed all of this in a professional studio with top-of-the line camera equipment, audio tools, lighting, and most importantly, industry professionals who know how to get the job done correctly! The result is a world class product that will help you catch more fish. You will learn the materials you'll need to get started and then be taken step by step through each process. Each DVD will have a menu archive of every step which will allow you unlimited access to any part of the process. We've taken the time to do it right, and we're sparing no secrets! These Castafari DVD's will also be sold in catalogs and tackle centers world wide. For a sneak preview, please visit http://castafari.com/videoseries_trailer.htm

I'm also proud to say that the newly established annual Big Game Bash seminar series was a huge success in 2010, and we are doing it again in 2011! This multi-faceted event which is based at the Marriot Hotel in Quincy Massachusetts in February will be an annual event. Team Castafari and the folks at the Hook-Up Tackle Center partnered up to create a world class fishing seminar. 2010 brought a sold out production with over 20 sponsors, a vast assortment of presentations by some of the best and most well accomplished captains, crews, and marine scientists on the east coast. The Big Game Bash offers breakout sessions, video entertainment, complimentary food and beverage, and product and vendor displays. This will remain a two day event which separates the Big Game Bash from most other fishing seminars. We're planning to do it bigger and better again in 2011. So stay tuned! If you're interested be sure and check out the seminar button of the home page of Castafari web site.

We will hopefully be fishing all of the major New England sportfishing competitions for 2011. Check the tournament section of the Castafari web site TRIPS AND PRICES page for more information. The Castafari placed in the top 3 spots 8 times since 2007, and we will be working hard to continue our tournament success. We're definitely not a one hit wonder! If you fish a tournament with us you'll learn first hand what the Castafari was made for. We'll be welcoming back all of our favorite Castafari personnel. Scott Sinclair will be returning as the pit boss, working alongside John Galvin. Veteran crew members Tucker Mckay and Kevin Glynn will be working into the rotation as well. All of these guys are a big part of the boat's success, and I'm lucky to have them. Putting up with Cappy D is no easy feat...not by a long shot. But as long as I can continually put the boat on fish they will continually rig baits to catch them. They are all fired up for the 2011 season!

For those of you who don't know, I purchased a 13-foot Boston Whaler, the Blastafari. The Blastafari is now a member of the Castafari fleet! I'm offering 4 to 5 hour morning and dusk trips to catch 15 to 40 pound striped bass on live bait. We had a blast kicking off the season in mid May! Check out the Monster Club for some cool videos documenting this stuff. We will be doing these trips again in 2011. Big boat or little boat... live bait is the key, we never leave home without it! Our striper outings are a great way to entertain clients as everyone usually catches big fish. Once again my offer still stands...big bass over 38 inches GUARANTEED or money back! There aren't any other Cape Cod Fishing Charters offering that deal.

Lets talk about the fishing! We kicked things off chasing stripers in Vineyard Sound in late May and early June. All of our inshore trips produced great action except for a couple which is when we switched gears and started chunking, using cut bait and LOADS of fresh chum...mmm. We fished a couple of spots that were gold mines for bass yielding 30 plus fish days. Unfortunately we never broke the 40 pound mark, but we did manage 6 fish over 35 pounds, and literally dozens of 36 to 40 inch fish. All of our chunking trips produced great action...I wish we had started chunking earlier, but it was hard to give up the live bait as it usually works magic on trophy fish. We will be focusing our efforts on employing both methods this upcoming season. The Castafari live-well will always have live bait regardless. Again...big bass GUARANTEED or you don't pay!

Half way through June we began our offshore fishing quests, persuing bluefin tuna using live bait. The action on live bait was nothing short of spectacular. As soon as June 1st rolled around and the bluefin season officially opened, there was an incredible bite at Stellwagon Bank and if you were there to experience it, you were catching 70 to 80 inch fish...one after the other. Unfortunately we were bass fishing for a week before we could get out there and experience the action ourselves! We won't make that same mistake in 2011! Consequently the Castafari will be available for live bait tuna charters starting June 1st. Combo bass/tuna trips are also available. We encountered some days out there where the action was constant. We caught tuna on all outings but one, including 4 small giants before July 4th! The early season tuna are very agressive fish. Slow trolling and kite fishing with live bait was the key to our success. I will be conducting a presentation at the 2011 Big Game Bash highlighting these highly effective live bait fishing techniques. Once again, we rarely leave the dock without live bait in the well, especially in June. Ask how many Cape Cod Fishing Charters will do that for you.

Once July rolls around we began our fishing adventures at the Northeast Canyons. The canyon fishing in 2010 was fantastic from the beginning to end on all 12 of our 2 day trips. What a great fishery we have to enjoy. The yellowfin tuna were all over the place as were the white and blue marlin. We encountered billfish on every single trip, and usually had multiple shots at marlin each day. We wound up the season with 8 whites, a sword, and 3 blues...the biggest around 500 pounds. We also caught some very nice wahoo, including one at 105 pounds! This was a crocodile of a game-fish! We also encountered fairly consistent action with yellowfin tuna. Some of the fish were in the 100 pound class! Most days we caught so many tuna out there that we began letting them go as we simply ran out of fish storage! It's a high class problem to have...one that never seems to get old. A tired angler is usually a happy one. We also caught unlimited amounts of mahi to 25 pounds. We didn't see much action with bigeye tuna though, hooking only 2 fish and losing both after heated battles!

The overnight blue water canyon trips are a blast. They are a true adventure, and are the most hard core trip we offer. The blue water shows up within range of the Castafari usually by late June and it lasts until late September. We will be booking our 2011 Canyon outings for early July through the end of September. We leave the dock at 8am and return by 6 the following day. Check our trips and prices page for more information. We wound up our offshore fishing season chasing giant tuna which is always a true adventure! The Castafari crew and clients managed to catch 13 giant tuna in 2010 in waters from Cape Cod Bay all the way out to Georges Bank. Some of these fish were no slouches either, tipping the scales at well over 600 pounds. The biggest was 685. Though giant tuna fishing offers one of the best rushes the ocean can offer, these outings are always a challenging proposition. For every day we had a 90 plus inch tuna draped across the Castafari's deck, we experienced a different day that involved a long quiet fishless ride back to the dock. But that will never stop us! It just makes the good days feel that much better. Most of our returning clients who have pursued giant tuna have caught monster fish with us. If you put the time in you will prevail! We have the boat, the range, the experience, and the crew to get the job done correctly. I will be offering 2 day overnight giant tuna trips to Georges Bank in 2011 providing the fish are there and the commercial season is open. I am also offering cash back incentives on caught fish. Call for more info! All of this 2010 offshore fishing action was captured on video and can be viewed on the Castafari Monster Club IPTV Show. Any Cape Cod Fishing Charter operation can tell you fish stories...but can they back them up? That's a question worth asking.

I am also excited to announce that the Castafari will be hosting world known marine biologist Dr. Greg Skomal on-board with us as we conduct several offshore scientific expeditions. We will be focusing our efforts tagging a multitude of offshore pelagic species, inserting satellite and acoustic tags. Our main objective will be to gather as much scientific data as possible, and tagging these fish will gain us the ability to do so. I will be posting updated information regarding these expeditions on the Castafari DOCK TALK page to keep you well informed. As fishermen, it's important to educate ourselves about the fish we seek, and having access to tagging information allows us the ability to do so. We are able to study the migration patterns, feeding habits, and ecosystems of these fish, and more importantly, gain a better understanding on how to preserve the northeast offshore big game fishery. It's one of the best in the world, and I for one would like to keep it that way! Please be sure and keep a close eye on bluefin tuna meetings and petitions as there is an ongoing battle between fishermen who rely on this fishery and "environmentalists" who want to shut it down! We need to stand up for what we enjoy, and ultimately, what our kids should enjoy as well. I will try and send email blasts to keep you abreast to what's going on. In the meantime, thanks to all of our Castafari sponsors and returning customers. Without you folks we couldn't make any of this happen!

Until the snow and ice melts... stay warm and safe!

Tight lines.
Captain Damon Sacco