Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament

Hunter Comes From Behind to Win!
September 6, 2009

The 6th annual Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament (VBBT) took place August 19-22 at A sample of the Kick-Off Party feast.

Southside Marina in Virginia Beach and the night of Registration kicked off the tournament in typical VBBT style—friends connected amid laughter and music and were treated to a feast of steak bites, oysters and steamed crabs provided by Chick's Oyster Bar, Five 01 City Grill and Malbon’s. At the end of the night 53 boats had signed up to compete for trophies, bragging rights and $285,000 in cash awards.

Thursday, the first day of fishing, turned out to be a beautiful day at sea despite hurricane “Bill” threatening on the horizon. Most of the fleet decided to fish with only two boats, Git-R-Done and Water Dog, laying to the dock in this “fish 2 out of 3 day” tournament. The sails made a strong showing in what is typically a white marlin fishery Constant vigilance is required to spot the bite.

Constant vigilance is required to spot the bite.

at this time of year. Of the 103 billfish released Thursday 85 were sailfish and the rest whites. At the end of the day Big Oh led with five releases, on time, followed by Bluewater (5), Tippecanoe (5), Full Draw (5) and Caroline (4). The winning dolphin, 52.1-pounds, was also caught on day one by Tim Lanahan fishing aboard Big Oh, along with the winning tuna, a 17.8 lb. yellowfin caught by Tradd Dykes on the Jabez.

The second day of fishing was a little dicier as swells started to build and “Bill” kept tracking towards the East Coast. Again, the majority of the fleet fished and only six boats layed: Backlash, Hunter, Playmate, Sea Toy, Sea Wolf and Waterman. A couple of blue marlin showed up in the spread with the breakdown of the 96 billfish released going 2 blues, 54 sailfish and 13 white marlin. Full Draw took over the lead with 10 billfish Full Draws flying her flags.

released followed by Point Runner (8), Big Oh (8), Penta Gone (8) and Bluewater (8). The remaining winning gamefish was also caught on Friday, a 42.8 lb. wahoo caught by junior angler Walker Harrington fishing aboard Smoker.

Excitement ran high Friday night as most of the eight boats eligible to fish on Saturday had either fish on the scoreboard, prior tournament wins under their belts—or both. One of those boats, Sea Toy, coming off a 1st Place win at Pirate’s Cove, broke a shaft on the first day of fishing but was able to return to Rudee Inlet for the final day after a NASCAR-like pit-stop at Bayliss Boatworks in Wanchese, NC for a shaft replacement. “There’s nowhere else in the world that something like this could happen that fast” said Sea Toy captain Bull Tolson. “Everybody came together and just made it happen—big thanks to John Bayliss and his crew!”

At the end it was Hunter, captained by Walt Spruill out of Manteo, NC that took the come from behind first place win by releasing eight of the 22 billfish caught on the last day that, when added to their previous catch, gave them a total of 12 billfish released and a nice check for $149,250. Hunter is no stranger to the awards stage in this tournament—they took first place in 2007 also.

Full Draw with Capt. Bo Dobson took 2nd and $57,150, Capt. Danny Wadsworth and the crew aboard Point Runner placed 3rd with $38,100 and Capt. Ronnie Fields on the Big Oh took both 4th and Top Dolphin for $16,167. The 5th Place boat Penta Gone, And the winners are..."

captained by Ed Szilagyi of Volvo Penta, wowed the crowd at the Awards Banquet by donating their tournament winnings of $8,000 for the Day 2 Billfish Jackpot to the Children’s Performance Workshop to help end child abuse. Wayne and Cheryl McLeskey donated their signed Steve Goione print to be auctioned for charity and Dan Stephano did the same donating the wide screen TV he won in the drawing sponsored by Charles Barker Automotive Network. By the end of the tournament over $55,000 was raised for charity.

The Junior Anglers showed the adults a thing or two this year. The Top Overall Angler and Top Junior Angler-Billfish was Tommy Barton IV (9 years old) fishing aboard Git-R-Done with 4 sailfish releases. Tommy got “creeked” the day after the awards! Walker Harrington (15 years old) fishing aboard Smoker caught the Top Wahoo and won in not only that category but also Top Junior Angler-Gamefish. Walker also caught the second largest dolphin (38.8-pounds) of the tournament. The Top Lady was Tricia Neill on Healthy Grin with 3 sailfish releases.

The Awards Banquet was topped by the introduction of the new “Joel Webb Memorial Tribute to Excellence” for the top mate of the 2009 Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament. A moving presentation by VBBT board member Earle Hall and Capt. Garrett Holden held the entire tent in rapt silence as they remembered and celebrated the life of Joel Webb, who left us much too early. The custom designed memorial plaque and lure were presented to David “Poncho” Gonzales, the mate aboard Sniper, for “…exemplifying the qualities of excellence in both skill and character that were at the heart of Joel Webb.”

More Informations and Credits
Complete results can be found on the VBBT website. The dates for 2010/2011 have been tentatively set for August 18-21, 2010 and August 24-27, 2011. The Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament is presented by the Charles Barker Automotive Network. Photos are the work of Sean Smith and Kary Ann Nixon.