The time is a little after 10 a.m. and we’re out on the waters of Hull Bay, hunting for fishing boats.

The boat is speeding through the water and I feel the momentum unsteady me. I look back and I see the tail of white foam spitting from the propellers. The lines of foam make a “w” as they get some distance from the boat. Between the foam streaks there’s a serene patch of blue.

It’s hard to hear out on the ocean. The wind beats against the ear drums like someone is blowing into a microphone. Hard to see too. I squint against the force of the wind.

The Bastille Day Kingfish tournament has been held every year for the last 26 years. Fishermen get up before the sun, grab their lines and their boats and they go out. Kingfish bite early in the morning, fishermen say, and anyone who wants a prize fish had better get up with the mackerel to get it.

I am one of many spectators on a boat in search of these fishermen. Gene Brin Jr., one of the tournament’s organizers, is our captain. We are four women, three men, and one little girl, ready to get a preview of fish before the weigh in.

The fishermen have been out since 5:30 a.m. There are 63 boats out on the water trying to track down the big fish that will give them the $2,000 prize. The weigh-in will be at noon, so there’s still time, but not a lot, making it the perfect time to see what the fishermen have pulled in.

The first boat we see is a bit far off. Two men are sitting in the small boat. We call out for them to show us what they’ve caught, and one man lifts a mid-sized kingfish for us to see. The other holds up a Heineken.

“Looks like he caught a greenie,” says one of us.

The second team looks like a family. They haven’t caught any.

“Still plenty of time,” Brin says.

We spot another group and pull up beside them. The engine quiets down and we yell through the wind.

Show us your fish, a spectator yells.

A young girl lifts her kingfish for us to see. It reaches from her head down to her legs.

We spot another but they zoom by without stopping. They are on a mission that cannot be postponed for spectators.

After spotting a few more and taking pictures of fishermen with their fish, the consensus is to return to shore and see what people have caught when they return for the weigh-in.

Back on shore at Hull Bay Hideout, Cool Sessions Band gets ready for their live performance and the party that always follows the tournament. The sweet smell of flavored kettle corn is everywhere. Armstrong Homemade Ice Cream is parked in one corner and people have started to help themselves.

Before long, with little fanfare, the fishermen start coming in, dragging their fish in tarps or cloth sacks or holding them in their hands. The fish seem unreal, stiff with dead eyes.
The fishermen enter a small tent and rest their fish on a table. A man grabs the fish by the tail and loops a rope knot around it. The rope is attached to a scale that weighs the fish.

After all their fish are weighed, the fishermen for that group take their fish to the fish board to take photos next to their catch. The fish board has sharp nails sticking out to mount the fish. The fishermen mount them expertly. Sometimes the nails catch the fish through the eyes.

I talk to Capt. Howard “Grizz” Griswold and the rest of his three man crew. Capt. Griswold has been doing this for a long time. He tells me he won the tournament back in 1992 with the biggest kingfish he’s ever caught.

The tournament was much bigger back then, he says.

“I believe there were 114 boats that year.”

This year’s tourney isn’t what he had hoped in the kingfish department. His prize fish is a barracuda, weighing in at 26 pounds. But Captain “Grizz” has no intention of stopping. He will be back next year for another shot at the big prize.

As with all things, the Bastille Day King Fish Tournament had a beginning, and it was as humble as many.

Founder and once president Edwin Bryan says the whole thing started with a trip to a fishing tourney on Anegada.

“After the fishing we were sitting down at the dock,” Bryan tells me, “and I told the guys, ‘We could do something better than this.’"

Ambition took root that day. They came back and got to work creating what is now a huge tournament and an annual milestone for the Virgin Islands community. The tourney has gotten legs. Bryan is no longer a part of the tournament organization committee. That responsibility has been passed down to younger members.

Bryan is happy with the arrangement. Now he gets to compete in the tournament without arousing suspicions of trickery. He has taken advantage of his newfound freedom. This year is his first participating, but he plans on many more.

Bryan was so excited about the tournament he barely slept the night before.

“I went to bed last night about 8:30. I get up at 11. I get up at 12. I get up at one. I get up quarter to two. And then I decided I couldn’t go back to sleep or I’d be late.”

Bryan’s best fish, also a barracuda, weighed in at 15 pounds.

Bryan says,as soon as he put the line over at 5:30, he caught the barracuda. He knew from that moment that things wouldn’t go his way.

“We catch a whole heap of barracuda but no king fish,” he says.

Later, Team Wayne comes in for their weigh-in. They are all wearing T-shirts with a photograph of a man sitting in a boat. Under the photograph there are dates: Feb. 12, 1963, to Nov. 13, 2013.

Mark Stiehler, one of the members of Team Wayne, says he had attended five tourneys with his deceased friend, Wayne Laplace, before he died of cancer last year. He felt that this year’s tourney should be done in his honor.

“These are all of Wayne’s friends,” he tells me.

Team Wayne got its first fish of the day at 6:05 a.m. It was a kingfish.

“We thought it would be a fabulous day, but it was the only king we got,” he says. Stiehler admits that he wanted to get more fish and make a bigger show for his friend, but they had a great time nonetheless and he is happy about that.

Laplace’s mother, Dalencia Berry Kraust, was also wearing the team shirt in her son’s memory. Kraust says that she was blown away by the gesture from Laplace’s friends.

“My heart is so touched,” she says, voice shaking with emotion. “He was a great person and he had some wonderful friends. They love him.”

St. Thomas’ Melinda Bryan walked away with the $2,000 prize for the biggest fish. Her catch weighed in at 28.7 pounds.

According to the Northside Sportfishing Club, Bryan, who was taking place in her first tournament, was one of 196 anglers, including 30 junior anglers, on 57 boats who took part in the tournament.

The $1,250 cash prize for the second largest kingfish prize went to Tamika Turbe, who caught a 24.5-pounder.

Mark Bistarkey reeled in a 22.10-pounder to win the $1,100 prize for third largest kingfish.

With 19 eligible species fish caught total, Capt. Alvin Turbe aboard Emanuel won Best Boat and was awarded $1,250 cash. Meanwhile, the catch of five kingfish earned Capt. Christopher Berry, aboard Hell Yes, the Best Captain award of $1,250.

Scott Bryan’s catch of 11 fish weighing a total of 109.35-pounds, earned him Best Male Angler and a $725 cash prize. Tamika Turbe reeled in a total of 12 fish collectively weighing 113.35-pounds, to win the title of Best Female Angler award for the second year in a row and a $725 cash prize.

The Best Junior Male prize of $325 cash went to Connor Querrard, who caught six fish weighing a total of 60.3 pounds. Flame Gonzalez won Best Junior Female and $325 with the catch of 10 fish weighing 37.85-pounds.

Judges Herman Richardson and Kevin Laplace, Sr., officially weighed in the catches.

The 26th Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament was sponsored by Coors Light, Captain Morgan and Snapple, distributed by Bellows International; Offshore Marine, the Yamaha and Yanmar distributor in the Virgin Islands; NEMWIL, managed in the USVI by Red Hook Agencies, Inc., providing homeowners and business insurance in the USVI for over 20 years; TOPA Insurance Services Inc., and Budget Marine, the Caribbean’s leading chandlery.

The event benefits the Joseph Sibilly School, St. Thomas Rescue and My Brother’s Workshop, and provides college scholarships. Over the past quarter-century, the nonprofit Northside Sportfishing Club by way of its annual Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament has donated more than $146,000 to community organizations.