Bill Dance, host of the popular Bill Dance Outdoors and Bill Dance Saltwater TV series, was recently sighted with his long time friend Bob Bagby, VP of marketing for Quantum and Fin-Nor. Both were in Virginia Beach for a little "field testing" of some of the new products to be introduced by Quantum and Fin-Nor in 2010. The excursion will be seen on several of Bill’s Saltwater episodes in 2010.

The first day of fishing was devoted to amberjack fishing. "Reef donkeys" are known to be one of the hardest pulling fish in the ocean and are a great specie for extreme tackle testing.  Bill and Bob used Fin-Nor’s new lightweight Marquesa reels as well as Cabo spinning reels to cast Bomber Saltwater Long A's to AJ's in the 30-50 lb class.

After Captain Mike Standing received word of an exceptional white marlin bite, Mike's "Waterman's" custom sportfisher headed 90 miles offshore for the next two days for some of the best white marlin fishing that Bill and Bob had ever experienced.

Day 1 was devoted to trolling teasers and switch baiting marlin by dropping back ballyhoo on the new Fin-Nor Marquesa lever drag. This lightweight lever drag proved to be a perfect combination for standup fishing for these very acrobatic fish. The pair leadered a total of 6 white marlin on day one.

For day two of marlin fishing, Bill thought it might be a good idea to try a marlin on tackle closer to what he uses for bass fishing. Bill and Bob dropped the pitch baits back with a Cabo baitcasting reel and 7' medium heavy action Boca rod. Bill stated, "This is the same setup I use for pitching soft plastics to bass. I can’t believe I'm catching white marlin on the same rig."  Other boats in the Virginia Beach fleet also thought it was a little weird, as well as seeing an angler wearing the familiar Tennessee hat in Virginia Tech country.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip resulting in some great tackle testing and some great footage for 2010 saltwater episodes. The pair were also extremely impressed with the fishery off Virginia Beach. Long famous for its rockfish, or striper, fishery, it was apparent that the bluewater fishing doesn’t take a backseat to any other locations in the country.

Winning the coveted B.A.S.S. Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year title just once is the pinnacle of any professional angler’s career. But to win the title 5 times?

Kevin VanDam and Quantum PT are a virtually unstoppable combination. The reigning 2009 Angler of the Year has been using Quantum products his entire professional career and has been the driving force behind the design of the most technologically advanced tackle, Quantum PT.

Working directly with Quantum product managers and engineers KVD designed his own winning reels and rods, and we’re making them available to you, because we know that the right rods, matched with the right reels, get the results you want on the water. Check KVD’s pro page to see the gear he used to secure his 5^th AOY title. 

Also, you can hear what Kevin has to say about this the 2009 season and the last Elite event in Montgomery AL. as a guest on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the morning on Wednesday the 23^rd.

If you’d like more information about KVD’s winning gear please let us know. We’re more than happy to talk fishin’!

We're proud to introduce a new interactive experience for Quantum customers that we hope will provide you with a look behind the scenes at not only the engineering and quality testing that goes into the making of all Quantum rods and reels, but also of the most experienced Pro Staff in the industry.

We are also committed to providing you with the highest level of customer service and technical support, and with this new site we've expanded our library of available information and will continue to add more. We are also excited about receiving your feedback on the new site, as well as any Quantum products.

This new Quantum blog is an ideal forum for you to use to communicate directly with Quantum's product mangers and engineers, and don't be surprised to hear from the members of the Quantum Pro Staff here as well.

We'd also like to hear your fishing stories and fishing tips (if you'd like to share them). This blog is moderated; however, we are fishermen, and we consider most anything related to the sport to be of interest.

Good fishing!