Moonshine and billfish are not exactly synonymous, yet the parallels were apparent on Thursday. White marlin, the standard-bearer of the August season off the Virginia coast, made a welcome appearance on the inaugural day of fishing. And like the distilled homemade liquor, that was a satisfying kick for the teams in the 21st annual VBBT. The 40 boats competing on Day One released 36 whites, along with five blues.
Mercenaria, a Virginia-based 72 Viking run by Capt. Neil Sykes, jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a solid five-white day, good for 350 points. Summer Girl (Capt. Steve Leasure) followed with four releases (280 points). Desperado (Capt. Travis Brown) scored a blue and white (270 points), as did Anticipation (Capt. Harvey Siflet) and The General (Capt. Max Weaver). Desperado is in third place based on time. White marlin, sailfish and spearfish releases count for 70 points, while verified blue marlin score 200 points each.
“We were at the northern part of the 800 line,” Sykes explained. “There were about 200 boats up there between the Mid-Atlantic and us. The water was clean, blended blue at 79.2 degrees.” Mercenaria was pulling the typical spread of dredges and teasers with pitch baits at the ready.
“We scored a triple first thing, then two singles. We just got lucky and landed on a couple of ‘em,” he added.
The VBBT added a lay day tournament to the format this year. Since the boats must take one mandatory lay day out of the three possible fishing days, the lay-day optional ($5,000 entry) offers a chance to have fun, practice and possibly earn a bonus payout. Six teams opted to fish Thursday in the Lay Day Tournament, including Seven, which runs through Saturday.
“We were north of the canyon and it was pretty blank out there,” says Seven’s skipper, Capt. Jimmy Hardee.” We got one fish first thing, missed one and picked up one more this afternoon. We also had a blue marlin that would not bite. We teased it up, but it wouldn’t eat. It was a keeper, too. He would have taken a boat ride home.”
Seven was also fishing the normal light-tackle spread with one other boat (Spiros) in the vicinity.
“We’re fishing the next two days in the official tournament,” Hardee added. “We can’t sit at the dock. If the boss doesn’t want to go, we still go fishing.”
Robert McClam, competing aboard Mister Pete (Capt. Alan Neiford), boated the leading dolphin, which tipped the scales at 34.3 pounds. No tuna or wahoo were weighed on Thursday.
The action resumes Friday at 8:30 a.m. Will there be a hangover effect or does the party continue? For this gathering, everyone is hoping the whites keep on pouring through.