The fleet's out to sea and baits are in the water. So who went where and what are they going to catch?
As teams in the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament headed their way offshore early this morning, they hopefully had made up their minds.
South? North? Straight out?
For the 61 teams competing in this, the 23rd annual VBBT, the choice could have consequences.
White marlin numbers have been good to red hot in waters to the north of Rudee Inlet, while southern reaches saw an abundance of sailfish last week.
And the educated guesser knows that an approaching cold front likely will bring northerly to northeasterly breezes for the tournament that concludes Saturday night.
This potential switch in the weather pattern has a reputation for getting fish on the move. And we’re already knocking at the door for the time of year when whites flood our offshore blue waters on their seasonal trip south.
As it stands, the mix east of Virginia Beach has consisted of whites, sails and a few blue marlin - along with a few wahoo, tuna and good numbers of mahi.
The three billfish available increases the chances of a team scoring a Grand Slam.
Hopefully the action the next few days will be at least as good as it was last year, when 420 billfish - eight blue marlin, 409 whites, two sails and one spearfish - were registered. Teams also caught nine dolphin and a pair of yellowfin tuna.
Teams can fish any two of the three days, and will be battling for a record total payout of $920,000. Ten teams took today off, likely waiting to see what winds do after tonight.
To enable teams to stay on the fish - and for a little extra fun - a lay day tournament is being held.
And with all the hoopla over catches and big money, it would be remiss to not mention the more than $1.5 million the tournament has raised for charities.
Waterman, captained by Ben Horning, captured the top spot last year after the event was delayed a day because of a powerful hurricane forecast to come close to the coast on its way past.
Waterman banked $298,500 by crushing the 39 team field by releasing 33 white marlin and scoring 2,910 points - seven fish ahead of runner-up Don’t Panic with Capt. Bryan Peele.
The fleet was competing for a total purse of $453,750.
This year's fleet already has gotten the call for lines in, with lines out coming at 3 p.m.
So it won’t take long before we know who headed where.
And with that, there’s more to come.
