The 2007 tournament season was a huge success. The Castafari fished four major events and won woney in all four! Here is how it all went down.

2007 BLUEWATER BILLFISH TOURNAMENT

The 2007 Bluewater Billfish tournament held by the Hyannis Anglers Club is a great event. These guys do an exceptional job at putting together a world class sportfishing tournament right down to the food, the rules, and more importantly, the competition. This particular event brings in some of the best boats and crews in the northeast which always makes things interesting. We welcomed a great group of guys chartering Castafari, including Castafari celeb, Andre Mallegol. Andre has become a great friend of mine over the years, and he's usually around when good things happen on the Castafari. I also had a trio of allstar mates, Scotty, Kevin, and Nick. Couldn't ask for a saltier lineup. These guys get it done Twisted Evil We loaded up the boat, and blasted out in the dark on Thursday night for the two day voyage at sea. The wind was howling out of the southwest, and the seas were no joke. At one point. i could hardly see anything and had to slow down to 15 knots. Eventually we made it out to West Atlantis canyon as the sun was just starting to peek out of the horizon. The bite started fairly quickly and we managed a few nice yellowfin, all in the 65 to 70 pound range. The wind settled down for a while and we caught a bunch of mahi during the late morning and afternoon. Then the marlin showed up. We hooked and lost four whites...very frustrating. At least we're getting the bites, but the hooks were pulling. The boys in the pit were doing everything right. it just didn't work. Then we got bit off by a nice wahoo. Things were definately looking grim for a while. We were all frustrated. Then if that wasn't enough, the wind picked up and started blowing a steady 20 knots, and nice 4 to 6 foot seas soon followed. Cool But we held in the game, clearing off weeds, checking baits, and cranking tunes. Then our luck changed. A huge boil erupted behind the teaser. then another boil. These were big fish. then a huge crash on the short rigger bait. Missed. Scotty dropped a pitch bait back in the zone. Boom. Off we went. Scotty screamed as the skin on his thumb vaporized. Andre jumped on the rod. The seas were building, with some 7 and 8 footers thrown in. I kept the stern into the sea, and we inched this fish in. 45 minutes later the crew scrambled into action, and a 180 pound bigeye tuna hit the deck soon after. We all knew this was a money fish. Congrats were in order, and then it was right back down to business.

But a very bizarre event took place a couple of minutes later. The fish while banging away on the deck as we scrambled to put lines back in the water, opened the tuna door with its tail, and almost slid out! It was like a fumble drill in football practice. Four guys literally leaping on top of the fish as if the deck was the endzone at Gillette. Wish I had the camera rolling for that scene.

We spent the night on the drift in some nasty seas, chumming away. We managed a small swordfish, 3 inches below regulation. We took a quick picture and back in the drink went the stalky critter. We also boated a few more mahi that came in under the lights. The next moring was looking good until one of my engine alarms sounded. My raw water system was clogged with weed, and my impella was fried. Changing the impella on my motors is a trying proposition at the dock as its very hard to get to. Doing it in 4 to 7 foot seas was a real pain in the ass. It took me amd my mate Kevin two hours in a following sea heading away from the fish. Eventually we put things back together, and were trolling in the next canyon over toward the east, Atlantis. The weeds were bad there too, but the place was fishy. We doubled up on huge wahoo, and broke both fish off. Then we hooked a blue marlin which came unbuttoned. We had very little time to fish so we eventually had to pullem up and head for the barn after boating a 17 pound mahi. It was tough having to leave such a fishy place and to have lost hours of precious time. The water looked great and there was a four degree temp break right on the 100 fathom line...perfect. Oh well. We made it back to the wiegh in on time again. That was good. The bigeye was the only one caught in the tourney, so we won the entire calcutta for that species as well as the 3rd biggest yellowfin, a 68 pounder. the bigeye clocked in at 179. The 17 pound mahi missed third place by an ounce! Oh the drama.

2007 BLOCK ISLAND TRI-STATE TOURNAMENT

Lets start at the beginning. We left home port on Sunday afternoon around 2pm with all but one cast member...the lucky irishmen, Kevin Glynn, who was planning to drive up from Maryland on Monday and meet us on Block Island Monday night. The weather looked grim for Monday so we decided to take a lay day on Monday and fish Tues and Wed like the rest of the sane fleet. My crew was a hearty bunch of anxious souls, first mate. Nick Hanney, Scotty Sinclair, John Galvin, and guest and friend of mine, Scott Walsh who was the dedicated angler. We were missing Kevin, an important aspect of the Castafari mojo. He was busy finishing up a tackle show at the white marlin open tourney. selling products made by his own company. Offshore Innovations. The best harpoon in the busness comes from the skills and ingenuity of this yound man, along with a few other fish branded products. Gold reels lined the gunnels of battle wagons as far as the eye could see. Apparently we weren't alone in our enthusiasm. Gotta love fishing tourneys. All walks of life there share one thing in common....fish and money. I love being in the presence of other angling afflicted personel. We grabbed a slip at Paynes Dock, and laced up for the night. That is we prepared for a night of land festivities. And did we ever find them.

The crew recovered slowly on Monday, and expedited all the leftover rigging chores. The focus however was to get Kevin Glynn from Maryland to Block Island. He was making the 16 hour jaunt in his truck. After a few check in calls, we all became concerned about time. Kevin hit some serious traffic on the way up and was going to be within minutes of the ferry departure time on his estimated arrival. Unfortunately he missed the boat by a mere minute. Called me from the terminal as the boat was pulling away. Drove 16 hours, sometimes at frightening speeds, and sometimes at a turtles pace in traffic, only to miss out. Had to go to plan B. Kevin found a friend of mine and fellow captain Mitch Chagnon on the Sakarak, heading to the island to pick up a charter. Mitch saved the day, and after a 2 hour late start, we were blasting to Atlantis Canyon at 22 knots in the fog. Three hours later we were fishing. We started at the Tails, and it was dead, small rat yellowfin and a wahoo bite off, a couple of rat mahi too. No life, lots of boats circling around eachother like insects on a light. I blasted out of there and ran 30 miles along the shelf at medium speed looking for life up or down. We found some birds and porpoise at West Atlantis, along with some serious bait at 100 feet. Saw a squid dragger and that was enough for me given the desert like sorroundings everywhere else. We pounded the area for two days.

Yellowfin tuna assaulted the spread every half hour. Eventually we were throwing 60 pound fish over the side. Since this event is a tuna tourney only, we pulled a tuna spread consisting of bars, chains, and meat. We did hook a blue marlin which came unbuttoned rather quickly...better off anyway as time is precious out there. Other boats were hooking blue marlin as well, and most of the fish were 500 pound class fish. It was entertaining listening to the whining chatter about blue marlin and how they are a frustrating by-catch...very amusing. The night bite was slow again, but we did see some fish under the lights, small 50 to 60 pound yellowfin. Scotty dip netted a flying fish and sent it out on a balloon. The thing was inhaled on the surface with a series of phantom pounding splashes out in the shadows. Unfortunately we pulled the hook. The next morning we went back on the troll and worked the shelf structure just west of the canyon next to my friend and fellow cap Paul Caval. A couple of boats hooked up and caught bigeye in the area, and thats what we needed to win this particular event. So we worked it up down and side to side. Finally in the bottom of the 9th after nothing but yellowfin, two of my Penn 80s started screaming and two huge holes were left in the ocean on the long baits. Backing soon raced off the spools and we all knew something special was taking place! Eyeballs!!!! Everyone scrambled into position and the two big tuna settled into the depths. Nick jumped on one rod and Scott W on the other. The heat was on. 30 minutes later, nicks fish was boatside, and not long after, on the deck, a nice 150 pound class bigeye tuna. No time for cheering yet, the bigger of the two fish was still 100 yards away from the boat. After about another half hour, the 2nd fish was boatside and gaffed...beautiful fish that clocked in at 159 pounds. Now there was cause for serious celebration. We went 2 for 2 on bigeye tuna during the final hour. I'm proud of my crew who stuck it out with me to the end, not losing faith in my plan to work the same area over and over. Perseverance prevailed this time around. The fish both ate ballyhoo. We blasted in through a couple of nasty squals and eventually showed up to the wiegh station very curious. The leader was a 269 pound bigeye. We landed 2nd for the time being. 30 more boats to go though. A few more bigeyes were wieghed in, and we were eventually pushed into 3rd place as another whopper of a fish, 256, was dropped off at the last second! Oh the drama...good stuff.

Overall the Tri-State tourney run by JB Tackle is a class act event. The participants are world class fishermen. Kerry and his son Kyle did a great job again in putting together one of the best run tournaments in the northeast. The hospitatlity on the island was great. Paynes marina did a great job hooking us up for a few nights. What a blast. I'm glad I brought along a camera guy. We captured some amazing footage! Well itrs abck out there to the bluewater Cool in the am tomorrow. Tight lines everyone.

2007 OAK BLUFFS MONSTER SHARK TOURNAMENT

We welcomed regular returning Castafari guest, Alan Mullaney and crew on board for another Castafari adventure. David Boyton, Chris Jenkins, and Barry ?...good guy just the same. I'm terrible with names. These guys showed up ready to play. We also welcomed a Spike TV two man camera crew on the boat who were filming the whole time as this event was nationally televised and will be again in 2008. The camera crews on all the boats got some amazing footage. Anyway we started the trip off right, getting prepared and well rested...no misbehaving the first night on the island. The first morning we were greeted with 25 mile an hour winds from the south and a stubborn head sea that had to be all of 6 to 8 with an occasional 10 thrown in while rounding the backside of the island. We bashed our way out. A messy ride out for all who dared, big and small. It was an especially messy ride for us as one of my injector lines to my secondary fuel filters sprung a leak from all the vibration. I had to spend 45 minutes in my engine room, soaked in deisel, and badly dehydrated, being tossed around like a piece of clothing in a dryer. When I came up from the depths of my bridge deck I was white as a ghost, and feeling a bit under the weather. Had to crawl back to life. Eventually we set up shop and littered the ocean with our secret formula. I wasn't feeling great about the trip until the first hookup 30 minutes after we stopped and set out the slick. Ended up releasing a 150 pound class mako...nice fish. 30 minutes later we hooked into something big. The fish took a mean run. This fish eneded up becoming the focus of our entire day. We fought it for over 4 hours on an 80 Penn fastened to a Biscayne bent butt. Man what a strong fish. Al put the heat on the entire time too. The nasty seas didn't help at all. Backing down, taking water over the gunnel, endless runs by the fish, 7 times having a look at the swivel, and a massive tail emerging from the depths, only to have both disappear back into the depths. When we finally did get the fish up, Nick and Scotty got it done. It was the fattest thresher I have ever seen. It barely fit through the tuna door! We weighed the fish in on time! It clocked in at 536., and ended up being the biggest fish of the tournament which was nice. Its always a plus when you catch a real monster in the monster shark tournament. We went into the 2nd day of action with high hopes.

The 2nd day was a lot calmer, much friendlier ocean. The fishing was slow for us, with a lot of small bluesharks. Finally we had a bite from a thresher that pulled the hook right away. The fish then followed the bait to the boat and came in plain view. Couldn't get it to bite again though, and that was a rap. Congrats to my freind and fellow captain Bob Decosta on the boat, Provider out of Nantucket who knocked us out of first place and into second, catching two thresher sharks in the 300 pound class. Thats tournament fishing. Overall it was a great trip with a great bunch of characters, more of a cast really. Congrats to Alan who did a fantastic job on the rod, slugging it out with a mean fish for over 4 hours with the drag above strike almost the whole time. We'll be hard at it again in a few months. Fishin hard is easy! Cool

2007 HYANNIS ANGLERS CLUB GIANT TUNA TOURNAMENT

We geared up the boat for another go at the Hyannis Anglers Club Bluefin Tuna Tourney. All fish over 47 inches counted this time around as there really weren't many giants caught in our area.

Anyway we welcomed a charasmatic bunch of guys, Buddah and the Gator Crew. These guys were saavy to the sea, and were a pleasure to have on the boat as they are all fish nuts. Buddah even brought his own spreadar bars with him, and one was inhaled, literally by a big tuna. The fishing started off slow and foggy. Most of the 16 boats fishing this event started around the wreck of the Regal Sword and worked toward Crab Ledge. Almost everybody was trolling. We started working down by the BB and 10 miles southeast of it. Found nothing but rats, all in the 50 inch class, fun but not money fish. Everything was released, including one fish with half of Buddahs bar...involantarily. We regrouped and headed out to Cultivator Shoal, basically the northwest tip of Georges Bank to start the second day of fishing. More fog rolled in, this time real thick. could barely see off the bow. We trucked eastward, just south of Franklin Swell along the edge of 100 to 400 feet of water. Marked bait, saw half beak ballyhoo spraying across the surface, and marked fish from time to time. We saw a ton of shearwaters, and eventually stumbled across breaking fish in the 100 to 300 pound range that emerged out of the thick fog like ghosts. We hooked and landed a couple of 63 inch class fish, the biggest clocking 140 pounds. Fun fish, but no giants. But guess what? Noone caught a giant in the tourney. The winning fish was ET's 175 pounder. A nice fish, but where the hell are the giants? There were however a few monsters hooked. We went almost to Canadian waters to find fish! If the fog wasn't so thick, I may have been able to stay on those fish. The Castafari was 65 miles from the Hague Line. We trolled over a lot of misty ocean for a couple of medium size fish. Wound up fishing the bay on Sunday as the weather blew in. saw nothing in there. the place looked barren. Sieners cleaned it out. Anyway it was a fun trip just the same trolling around in the fog with a very entertaining crew. The Castafari was lucky enough to claim third place. My good friends and fellow captains, JC Burke and Eric Stewart, both lost giants though. JC had his fish in view and all of his crew said the fish was 800 plus. Unbelieveable. These guys should have won. Then again we did earn it doing a very wide lap around Cape Cod chasing fish. The Anglers Club did a great job once again. I always enjoy fishing this event, even when the fishing is tough. Hopefully it improves for next year!