FE Waterman

A absolute fish of a lifetime….. Damon Sacco and his 45 Jim Smith “Castafari” have been prowling the North East canyons and giant Bluefin grounds since before I even knew where the edge was. A reputed high liner and innovator of our fishery, it’s no shock to see notable catches hit the deck of his boat. But this fish is remarkably special. On a official scale, this Blue hit 1,260 pounds… A true grander. Some of the best captains and anglers in the world will spend their whole life chasing that magic number and never see it. The fact that this fish came from our “backyard” makes it even more special… Here is Damon’s “short” version of how this fish came to fruition:___ “Boom. The ocean erupted. Bombs went off behind us as fish smashed the tackle. Clips popped. Reels screamed. The sound of chaos yanked me up. We loaded the boat with yellowfin tuna and released the rats. (15 pounders) Lures dangled. Feet shellaced in blood, I put the boat in gear. I re deployed the right teaser. Then I saw a fin...a huge dorsal. Am I really seeing this? Four feet high but pointed. A blue hue flashed beneath it. Pecs? Holy s**t it’s a marlin! The fin dissappeared when I screamed. I dropped back the rod beside me and the tip bounced. Line ripped from beneath my fingers.

“She’s on this one!”

The fish blasted high from the ocean fifty feet behind us. Her girth was astounding. The sound when she landed - a crashing thud, like the humpbacks make. She jumped 3 times.Then took off beneath the surface while line sliced and ripped. The reel burned...halfway gone in ten seconds...line we should never see. The fun was over. We were getting spooled. I spun the boat in a 3 way turn and pressed hard on the throttles. The engines hissed while the rod bowed even further. Please hold. Please hold. The tip began to straighten.

“Reel!”______ Damon Sacco

We sent wiley watson down to Panama this week with some of the team from Seakeeper to fish a Spencer Yachts Inc from PTY down to Tropic Star Lodge …. They went haywire on the Billfish with a sh*t load of releases… Pretty work…..

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“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure.”—— Photo by: David Ochoa .........

Open roads and empty waves…. Ah, the simple things in life….. _____ 📸: OUTLAWS AMSTERDAM

On some butter balls today…. A 30 mile run, plenty of whales and bait, and slick calm conditions….

You know you’re dedicated to your craft when you find yourself spread eagle, half way up a square rigger’s main sail while makin’ 8 knots!…. HOLD FAST, DIE LAST!…

Mexico gold….

There are many reasons why we ran two stroke Yamaha outboards on all of our boats down in Panama over the years. They are virtually indestructible, if they do have a problem they are easy as hell to fix, and you can run some dirty ass fuel through them. We relied heavily on these motors to run us all over the Gulf of Chiriqui’ day in and day out, they are total work horses. I have been to some of the most remote parts of the world on spearfishing trips, and without fail, a Yamaha enduro outboard is usually what gets you to and from dry land safely.

Reno Abellira, Sunset Beach, 1978…..

Baja, the land of plenty…. Love it down there….. My brother and the Sztorc boys recently made their annual fly fishing pilgrimage down to The Sea of Cortez and hammered on the Roosters, couple decent Mahi’s as well…. Slick calm conditions the whole week. June is a great time to be down there…