It typically takes multiple rounds for a championship prize fight to be decided. The first few often involve glancing blows and lots of dancing around the ring before the final knockout punch is landed.
A championship billfish tournament like the VBBT is slightly different. For starters, there are only three rounds or days to fish. And teams must strategically decide which day to lay off, which could determine the final outcome. The final blow in this contest will come down to 3:30 pm on Saturday, when the call for lines out is broadcast over the radio.
With that backdrop, the first day of fishing Thursday entailed a few of those glancing blows. The winner is yet undetermined, but a couple teams are in a good position to score more points.
The General, a 55 Buddy Cannady with Capt. Max Weaver on the flying bridge, took the early lead in Round One by scoring 410 points. The team did that by releasing three sailfish and one blue marlin. Blue marlin verified with video footage are worth 200 points. White marlin and sailfish are worth 70 points for each successful release.
Sarah Jean, with Capt. Kurt Ward, also tallied an identical score, but hold second place currently based on time of release. Gaucho (Capt. Jeff Tyler) is third with a verified blue and a sail on its ledger.
“We caught a sail at 9:40, the blue an hour later and two more sails mid-afternoon,” Ward said afterwards. “All were on naked ballyhoo. We were south of the inlet with plenty of boats around us. I was seeing a lot of bait out there.”
Will Austin, skipper of Cheryl Anne, a 65 Rybovich, and his team of anglers released three sailfish on Thursday to get on the board, scoring 210 points for the first day.
“We went three for five on sailfish and also caught a 23.3 dolphin on ballyhoo,” Austin said. “It was beautiful out there, flat calm most of the day and then blowing a little out of the south coming back in. I was working around the 150 to 180 line. We’ve had bad fishing before. But we also fished Tuesday and went 12 for 21 bites. So you never know.”
A total of 53 billfish were released by the 51 boats fishing Thursday, including six blues, 12 white marlin and 35 sailfish. The top daily game fish included a 35.4-pound dolphin, wound in by John B. Roberts aboard Weldor’s Ark (55 Jarrett Bay/Capt. Dale Britt). Nolan Raunswinter had the top tuna at 20.8 pounds, fishing on Outnumbered, a 65 Viking with Capt. James Breen. John Self, Capt. Bo Dobson and the Nailed It team (56 Viking) weighed the top wahoo of the day at 37.8 pounds.
Round Two begins again Friday at 8:30 am. Will The General hammer home the body blows or will a new contender step into the ring? When that final bell rings, we’ll know the answer.
Photos courtesy of The Buckskin Billfish and John Wright Photography