Thirty-nine intrepid teams ventured forth into the rolling Atlantic Ocean early this morning in search of fame, fortune and a few billfish. The fame and fortune part will have to wait until Sunday evening. But the billfish—white marlin in particular—were willing and able to scarf down any naked ballyhoo pulled in front of their pointy noses. For a post-hurricane outing, it was an impressive day offshore, to say the least. A total of 172 billfish were tallied, including 170 whites, one blue and one sailfish. Conditions weren’t typical to start, although they did improve as the inaugural fishing day of the 2025 VBBT went on.
“It wasn’t too bad,” said Capt. Harvey Siflet IV, skipper of Anticipation, a 62 Viking. “Seas were 10 to 14 feet with big swells about 12 seconds apart. The wind was blowing about 10 to 12 knots. We were able to do 24 knots heading out and it was 6- to 8-footers following running back in this afternoon.” Anticipation went three for seven on whites and saw one more.
“I marked a little bit of bait,” Shiflet says. “There was a bad thermocline so I couldn’t read the sonar. We saw water temps of 74.5 to 75.5 today compared to four degrees warmer last week. The water was clear, blended blue.” Anticipation was trolling about 10 miles south of the Norfolk Canyon in 80 to 150 fathoms.
“The boats were stretched out today from the Triple OOOs up to the Fence. Some made some good circles at the right time and got on some good bites. I saw enough where we were today to not go far tomorrow.”
Griffin, a 65 Rybovich with Capt. John Adams at the helm, was one of northern explorers on Saturday. The boat ran out of its summer home port of Ocean City, Maryland, as allowed under the special rule adjustments due to Hurricane Erin. That move paid off, as Team Griffin racked up 12 white marlin releases for the day.
“We were up on the Fence, north of Washington Canyon,” Adams explained. “There were about 10 boats up there with us. The weather was great, just a big ground sea. There was some wood debris inshore, but just a little seaweed offshore. The water was churned yet blue. I thought it would be a big giant blob. It settled down really nice, though.”
Griffin was dragging the usual spread (plain or skirted ballyhoo behind dredges and teaser chains). The catch included a couple double hook-ups with the rest single fish.
Saturday’s scoring shows Waterman (70 Ricky Scarborough/Capt. Ben Horning) in first place with 840 points with 12 white marlin, followed by Griffin (840/12 whites) and Labrador (64 Cap-N-Squid, Capt. Wade Fickling) with 10 whites and 700 points on the ledger.
The Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament is predominantly a light-tackle finesse catch and release contest. White marlin, sailfish and spearfish successfully captured and turned loose count 70 points each. Small blue marlin also score 70 points unless the species is definitely identified by photo verification. Those confirmed fish earn 200 points due to typically harder and longer fight times. Big blue marlin (400 pounds and heavier) are scored on a graduated scale based on weight. Dolphin, wahoo and tuna earn points per weighed pound in the game fish divisions.
The extended final day of fishing will be on Sunday, August 24. Based on the catch stats for today, the last opportunity could see some lead changes and lots of aerial fins and bills. Lines go in at 8:30 am and fishing ends at 3 pm. Stand by for another flurry of bites as the big swells recede.
Photos courtesy of The Buckskin Billfish and VBBT