Bill Dance in Virginia Beach

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.