Team “Good Grief” takes top money in the 2008 3^rd Annual Virginia Beach Sport Fishing Bluewater Classic!!
 
This year’s tourney grew to a field of 23 boats, 6 fishing the Inshore Division and the remainder heading offshore in what were nearly perfect weather conditions. Thursday night saw the teams gather at Dirty Dick’s Crab house for the Captain’s Meeting. We were joined by Dr John Graves with VIMS and Dr Ken Neill. They gave an informative and educational talk on the importance of using circle hooks and the research being done with pop-up satellite tags, not only for billfish, but for Stripers as well. Crews enjoyed a great night and then set out to start the fishing action.
 
The first day of competition saw some nice fish brought back to the dock. Inshore boats returned to the scale first. Weigh masters handled Spanish Mackerel around a pound and the first Flounder weighed in by Team “Sierra Mist” that scaled at 4.7 pounds. A Cobia was landed by Team “Liquid Asset” that weighed in at 71.9 pounds. The bad thing was that was their lay-day, so the fish didn’t count for the tourney. They would redeem themselves by landing a 30 plus pounder on the final day and winning the Cobia Division. Friday afternoon saw a line of thunderstorms roll through with some strong down drafts forcing offshore boats to make end runs back to the marinas. “Black Pearl” weighed in a 4.9 pound Mahi, but Team “Good Grief” took the lead with their 11.7 pound Dolphin. They also set the bar for the Billfish Division with 3 White Marlin caught and released. They scored 5 extra points for tagging one of the Marlin.
 
Day 2 saw most of the field fishing, with some changes occurring on the leader board. Team “Wired Up” did put some pressure on “Good Grief” by tagging and releasing a White Marlin. The crew on “Billable Ours” with Ric Burnley from “The Fisherman”, were poised to hook some bills, but it wasn’t to be their day. They saw several pods of Whites cutting the surface and hitting on their teasers, but none would fully cooperate and take the hooked baits. Dan Dutton, a Research Assistant from VIMS was also aboard “BillableOurs” for two days with Pop-up satellite tags for the Blue Marlin Study, and was hosted by “Seaduction” on the final day of fishing. “Still Think’n” also had close encounters with marlin. At one point they had a White enter the spread from one direction and an nice Blue Marlin from the other. Several teams reported catching small Blackfin and a few had winning Yellowfin boat side…some estimated to be over 60 pounds…but the fish had other plans and came unbuttoned. The team on “Virginia Beach Contender” managed to bring in a paper Wahoo that scaled at 36.5 pounds to take the lead in the Wahoo category. “Citation” brought in a 4.9 pound flounder to move into top position in the Flounder category while “USS Albatross” boated a 1.7 pound Spanish to capture that division.
 
The final Day was again falling under near perfect weather conditions. Team “Wired Up” knew what had to be done to reach the top, but after losing an hour of fishing time removing 100’s of yards of rope from their prop, they fell just short of 1^st place, catching and releasing only one other White Marlin. “Seaduction” released a White on the final day, too. There were lots of fish seen over the 3 days, but they were still a little shy of the presentations.
 
Final results read like this. Team “Good Grief” took top Mahi 11.7 lbs, 1^st Place Billfish and the Billfish Calcutta to win $4645.00. “Wired Up” took home $1380.00 for taking second in the Billfish Division, while “Virginia Beach Contender” captured top Wahoo 36.5 lbs and the Offshore Gamefish Calcutta and walked away with $3175.00 in prize money. Inshore was spread out a little more with teams sharing the $950.00 purse. It was split between “Citation” for top Flounder 4.9 lbs, “Liquid Asset” for top Cobia 30.7 lbs and “USS Albatross” for largest Spanish 1.7lbs.
 
The Awards Party at Dirty Dick’s rolled on into the night with thousands of dollars worth of door prizes being given away, including a Limited Edition Print from Dr Guy Harvey, Sunset Cruises and Striper trips from Billable Ours Charters, gift certificates from Get Reel Lure, Co. and Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle, with many other prizes from our gracious sponsors. No one walked away with the 2008 Honda Ridgeline and the $25,000 in tackle donated by Hall Honda. With thank Hall Honda for their support this year!
 
Again we thank ALL of our participants, volunteers and sponsors for making the Bluewater Classic a great success once again!! A special thanks to Dirty Dick’s for hosting the after parties and providing us with some excellent food and drink. Thanks to Long Bay Pointe Marina and Fisherman’s Wharf Marina for proving the weigh stations. Through your support we will be able to once again provide a financial donation to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and The Billfish Foundation. Planning is underway for next year. Keep an eye out for our inaugural Striper Tourney after the fist of the year, 2009!!! See you next year!

RUNDOWN

Level I Inshore

Largest Cobia---Team Liquid Asset
Largest Flounder---Team Citation
Largest Spanish---Team USS Albatross

Team Liquid Asset also took the Level II Calcutta

Level I Offshore

Largest Mahi---Team Good Grief
Largest Wahoo---Team Virginia Beach Contender

Team Va Beach Contender also took the Level II Calcutta

Level III

1st place went to Team Good Grief with 3 white marlin with one tagged
2nd place went to Team Wired Up with 2 White marlin with one tagged

Team Good Grief took the Level IV Billfish Calcutta.