Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament off to a big blue start

The Cuttin’ Up showed up at the weigh station for after the first day of the 19th annual Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament and wowed the crowd with the crew’s catch.

Team member Josh Bowen fought and decked a big blue marlin that met all the tournament requirements to bring to the dock for weighing – which immediately set the team up for a major portion of the nearly $1 million total purse being fought for by the 84-boat fleet.

The billfish took nearly two hours for the Virginia Beach-based team to deck the fish that turned out to weigh 612.5 pounds.

Capt. Nick Jones was at the helm.

The catch put the team in a commanding lead with 612.5 points – more than 400 ahead of the nearest competition.

The fleet struggled on Thursday, catching only 10 billfish – three blues, three whites and four sailfish. All except Cuttin’ Up’s fish were released.

Seven won the event last year, putting $409,500 in team members’ pockets.