2000fish's Blog – Steve Wozniak's hunt for fish species

DATELINE: FEBRUARY 11, 2024 – LIGHTHOUSE POINT, FLORIDA

In the next four episodes, you will be hearing about my 2023 adventures in South Africa with Dom Porcelli. I can only hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I did re-living the whole magical two weeks. But I wrote these posts with the heaviest possible heart. There is no easy way to say this, but Dom passed away suddenly on February 11, 2024, at age 60. When I got the call, I was devastated, and I cannot imagine the grief his family is experiencing. Dom has been a friend for almost 12 years, and of course, I wanted to pay tribute to one of the best people I will ever know. I was conflicted about announcing this awful news before publishing the South Africa trip – part of me wanted you all to read the articles without the crushing sadness of losing a great friend.

Dom Porcelli.

But delaying the news won’t bring him back. So I am telling you now, because it is what it is, but please celebrate Dom’s unbridled joy in fishing while you read these posts. For a couple of thousand words at a time, embrace Dom as he was in life – adventurous, fearless, passionate, and kind.

His first GT, on the South Africa trip. It was a truly epic two weeks.

On the beach in Vleesbai, South Africa, January 30, 2023 – one of our best days in the surf.

Dom Porcelli was born on March 8, 1963, four months and two days before I came along and ruined things for my parents. He grew up on the east coast, went to Virginia Tech on a wrestling scholarship, and married his college sweetheart, Tracy. (Who is actually even funnier than Dom. She is one of the few people who can routinely leave me speechless.) They had two daughters, and between them, Tracy, and their incredibly small but spirited dog Phoebe, they are as close a family as I have ever seen.

Bizarrely, Phoebe LOVES The Mucus, despite the smell.

The Porcellis became nearly native Cincinnatians when Dom moved there for work. A few years ago, having caught all the fish in Ohio, Dom and Tracy moved to Florida, allegedly for work, but he sure did a lot of fishing down there.

I met Dom online in 2012. He was a 1000Fish blog reader who had looked me up to offer some help on South Florida species – here’s a guy who was putting together his own journey to 1000 species and he was offering to help someone who already had that many. That’s just how he did things.

But he did have a sense of humor. The first photo he ever sent me was of a species I hadn’t caught, still haven’t caught, and will probably never catch – the red coronetfish. And yes, Marta has one.

I met Dom in person on October 14, 2017, when he took time out of his day and brought me bait when I was running low.

Steve and Dom at Silver Palm Park – 10/14/17. It’s still one of my go-to spots.

Our first day actually on the water was May 10, 2019, although it felt like we had been fishing together for years by that stage. It was a mosquito-laden Everglades evening chasing the elusive brown hoplo, and I got that plus a bonus South American catfish.

The elusive hoplo. Dom didn’t get one, but he was thrilled with mine.

Two days later, he put me on a Caesar grunt, a species Jamie Hamamoto had caught before me. 

He was now officially my hero. He had given Jamie one less thing to hold over my head.

Trips together started to become more frequent, and in the process, we became very close friends, despite Marta’s insistence that I am petulant and difficult to fish with. In May of 2021, I caught 21 species with him in Alabama and started making my darter collection respectable. That was the infamous “Schrodinger’s Collie” trip, and about the third straight night that he was still going strong at 3am, it hit me how much of a dynamo he really was. (It’s not like I don’t go pretty hard, but by midnight, I just wanted a Red Roof Inn and a Denny’s. Dom would make do with whatever cold cuts hadn’t mixed with the worms in the bottom of the cooler.) He didn’t like being away from Tracy, and if he was going to be gone, he was going to squeeze every possible moment of fishing out of the trip.

Dom made friends everywhere we went. That’s Dr. Alvin Diamond of Troy University on the left, who showed us some of his secret spots around Southeastern Alabama.

We had a lot in common – born the same year, big sports fans, passionate and competitive fishermen. Over the years, we braved hostile wildlife, bewildered observers, unreliable airlines, rough seas, unexpected weather, slippery creekbeds, and motels that could be all of the above.

A cottonmouth Dom stepped on. It was so big I thought it was an otter at first. Dom didn’t get bitten – he was remarkably agile, although he screamed so shrilly that he offered me $20 not to describe it in the blog. It was in Arkansas, either at a boat ramp or the shower at La Quinta Inn.

The same Arkansas trip. We accidentally wandered onto some private property, but Dom made friends with Officer Irvin. We ended up with a police escort to a much better fishing spot. 

In November of 2021, Dom got his 1000th species, a mussel blenny in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. I had the privilege of being there, along with the Moore family.

Dom with a gulf grouper from that same trip – a much more dignified photo than the blenny.

Dom was the fourth person ever to cross the once-unthinkable 1000 species barrier. By the time he passed away, he had progressed to 1373 – which is third overall globally. He wasn’t just good – he was one of the greatest all-time.

There was a May, 2022 trip where we suffered through miserable seas to tack on a striped grunt and a dusky squirrelfish, and then he sent me off on a 1000-mile solo drive to some of his handpicked spots in the southeast, where I added another big batch of darters. Dom took as much joy in helping someone catch a new fish as he did in catching one himself.

Fishing with Dom was always “your trip” – he was completely focused on getting you the species you needed. He took great joy in helping others to succeed, and he took even greater joy in his family. No matter where we were, he always managed to check in with them, and he never stopped telling Tracy that he loved her, even though we always gave him a hard time, whispering “Awwwwwwwww” in the background and making kissy faces.

Dom with George Brinkman, another 1000+ species angler, April 2, 2023. That blog is also coming up.

I fished with Dom around 40 total days, landing 42 new species under his tutelage – more than 10% of the species I’ve caught since our first day on the water. And as impatient as he could be when something got in way of his fishing, he was the model of kindness when any species hunter would write him for advice. Dom took dozens of strangers fishing on his boat, and they never stayed strangers after that. As this terrible news made the rounds, I had over 100 people write or call and hope it wasn’t true. There are dozens and dozens of people who have a greater passion for fishing because they had the good fortune to know Dom. 

Coming home through driving rain with Chris and The Mucus, June 17, 2023. Notice that Dom is the only person smiling. Note also that he is the only person in the photo who doesn’t look like they’re on a prison dating app.

But as much as he loved fishing, Dom loved his family more. He was like a lovestruck teenager every time he spoke to Tracy. Many who fish every corner of the globe are trying to get away from something, but Dom always talked about what he was going back to.

Dom was the first of the 1000 species club to pass away, but I also know that many of the people who join that group someday will owe a large part of it to Dom. 

The last fish I ever caught with Dom, a fat snook, November 4, 2023 – I missed the cast half a dozen times until he coached me on to the exact spot.

Dom got every gift except old age. We all lost a lot on February 11, but no one lost more than Tracy, McKenzie, and Avery. All of our hearts go out to them; they will always be a member of our families, and we hope that someday their grief will be outweighed by the many good memories of a man who lived his best life and loved his family beyond words.

I’ve burst into tears three times while writing this, and I’m going to again when I hit “publish.” Dom was one of the best fishing buddies any of us could ever have, and he is gone far, far too soon. Please keep Tracy in your thoughts and prayers, and please enjoy the remaining eight episodes that will feature him. It’s my small way of preserving the memory of a man I love like a brother. 

Steve