In late August, the marlin bite off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, picked up tremendously, and the local fleet recorded some of the area's most epic numbers to date. This recap of what the Virginia boys tallied provides just a glimpse of what has been going down. Look for a more detailed story in the next issue of Marlin.

August 20-22:

• During the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament (www.vbbt.com), 53 boats caught 194 billfish in two of three fishing days -160 of them were sailfish.
• Historical numbers indicate that the most sailfish registered with the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament was in 2002 with a grand total of 34 - for the year!

August 31:

• Tippecanoe, a 56-foot Viking out of Rudee Inlet, caught a grand slam with one blue, three sails and two whites with both Paula Owen and myself on board as well as Aleura Guion, owner Bob Stanton, Capt. Ernie Bailey and mate AJ Alessandrio.

September 18-19:

• An informal, no rules, no-holds-barred overnight tournament called the Big Money Open was held with nine boats leaving the dock to fish from noon to noon, and that triggered the bite at Norfolk Canyon with water temps from 73 to 74 degrees. Two non-tourney boats came in from a full day of fishing that Friday afternoon, with 11 (Juggernaut) and 10 (Oblivion) reporting that the tournament boats were on the fish, big time.
• Tournament tally came to 143 fish for the nine boats. Canyon Express with Capt. Greg Span led the fleet with 24 white marlin, followed by Sniper with one swordfish, 16 whites and one sail. Friendship rounded out the top three with one blue and 18 whites.

September 23 - aka Big Wednesday:

• 16 Boats, including Caroline out of Pirate's Cove, North Carolina, came back to Rudee Inlet with 328 billfish flags flying!
• Rebel with Capt. Randy Butler fished an overnighter and caught 15 whites and two blues on Tuesday and 15 whites and one blue on Wednesday.
• The fleet totaled 320 whites, seven blues and one sail.
• Backlash with Capt. Steve Richardson, mates Cameron Carpinelli and Daniel "Shoreboy" Caison, Capt. Pat Foster, Mike Atkinson and Cory Beisel released an amazing 41 white marlin and one blue - a new unofficial East Coast record!

- Deirdre Bell