Forty teams in the 21st annual Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament are kicking off the opening day of the event looking for big swimmers out to sea. In the 70-boat fleet, 30 are taking a lay day – and six of those are competing in a mini “Lay Day Tournament.” Teams are competing for an $810,500 total purse. Last year Capt.…
The Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation’s Wine, Women and Fishing concluded this year’s event on Sunday out of Southside Marina in Rudee Inlet. The event is a ladies-only billfish tournament that has contributed more than $1 million to breast cancer research at Eastern Virginia Medical School. The team on Mercenaria took first place and also won the Top Lady, with…
Talk about vying for the key to the city. Oregon Inlet-based captain Arch Bracher captured the title in the 41st annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament that wrapped up Friday, finishing with 1,000 points on two blue marlin, one sailfish and four white marlin. He and his crew won $275,893 by winning five divisions and taking the coveted Top Boat prize.…
A huge shoutout to tournament director Heather Maxwell for the beautiful picture of a boat heading out of Pirate’s Cove Marina for a day of fishing. Now, here’s the rest of the story: Team Pelican with Capt. Arch Bracher jumped into the lead of the 41st. Annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament after Thursday’s competition in the Manteo-based event. Bracher’s team…
The 51st annual White Marlin Open is a wrap. Known as the largest and richest billfish tournament in the world, this year’s Ocean City Md., one-day-longer event featured an overall purse of $8.5 million. Saturday was the final day of competition after officials added extra fishing to the five-day regular schedule because of foul conditions – some caused by Tropical…
Talk about a huge day. John Ols of Laytonville, Md., landed a 640.5-pound blue marlin while fishing on the Floor Reel to capture the title in the 50th annual White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md. The fish was 118 inches long and Ols’ team pocketed a billfish tournament world record $6.2 million. It was the third straight year…
Capt. Willie Zimmerman on the Ro Sham Bo has a crew that is trying desperately to put Ocean City, Md., in the mix of the 50th annual White Marlin Open. The event is held out of Ocean City, but heading into today’s final day of competition, no billfish had been weighed – leaving the tuna catchers to fight for the…
It’s called by many “the biggest billfish tournament in the world.” It’s also known as the fishing event with the most prize money. But it seems that someone forgot to tell the billfish – at least, the bigger ones. The 50th annual White Marlin Open out of Ocean City, Md., has entered its third of five days of angling and…
Sometimes one is good enough. The crew on the Virginia Beach-based Cuttin’ Up caught a 612.5-pound blue marlin on the first day of the 19th annual Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament and held on to win the event after Saturday’s final day of competition. It was the only fish the team caught during its two allotted days of angling. The fish,…
The 39th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament concluded Friday with another shuffling of the leaderboard. Country Girl, with Capt. Charles Foreman at the helm, vaulted from seventh placed to the winner’s spot with 800 points that were tallied from a pair of blue marlin and three sailfish. The effort put $370,000 in the team’s bank account. Country Girl edged out…
