7th Annual Battle of the Virginia's Tournament




We are excited to announce the
7th Annual Battle of the Virginia's Tournament
March 9 & 10, 2024.





in 2017 we received a ton of feedback following our Musky in the Mountains Tournament. Asking that we would consider opening it up to both states. As usual, you spoke and we listened. Here we are now  years later in 2024 and it is time to TAKE 7 for the Battle of the Virginia's! 








Saturday Sticker color is _  put the remainder of the stickers anywhere on the board where they are nice and visible. 







Sunday Sticker color & Location-
   

Saturday Fishing hours 700 AM - 6 PM

Sunday Fishing Hours 800 AM - 3PM. 

TO REGISTER GIVE US A CALL OR TEXT: 304.673.8291 (Brandon Lilly) 

 

The tournament will be held March 9 & 10, 2024. All waters are open in West Virginia and Virginia. This is a catch and release Tournament.  Points are scored per boat. This is a team event, win as a team, lose as a team. REGISTRATION is at the very bottom of this page. This tournament will be capped at the FIRST 40 teams to enter and the field will be considered full. Registration closes 03/03/2023- Entry is $250 per team for early registration, prior to 02/28/24. After that date the entry will be $300. NO REFUNDS. 

This is 100% a CATCH & RELEASE TOURNAMENT - If you keep a musky, that would automatically DQ your team. 

This is a cash tournament hosted by Figureight Musky Gear, LLC. Hosting a good tournament takes a few things: Lots of time, planning, energy, and obviously money. With that said, we want to give everyone the best tournament with a fantastic banquet to follow. Transparency is the best policy, so here is roughly what the breakdown looks like from a dollar value.

80% Payout. That leaves 25% for all of the costs such as Food for 30-40 people, Venue, trophies, marketing, banners, etc. We do not go into a tournament to make money, but we are a business and we are not looking to go in the hole on a tournament either. Our goal is to host one hell of a musky tournament and for everyone to go home saying "That was a blast and I can't wait until next year" 

2024 Payout, this year we are going to pay 3 deep. Top three teams will receive money and trophies. Big Fish gets $100 bill and a trophy. 1st place Team   (*Payout based on a full field of 40 TEAMS, again this tournament will cap at the first 40 teams and then registration is closed/full) * Payout adjusted accordingly if the field is not full. Based on the feedback and tons of messages we have received this tournament should fill up. We average about 30-35 boats a year for this event. We will announce final payout numbers about a week out, the below payout from 2024 is a very "average" payout for this tournament. 

 

The tournament will kick off on Saturday March 9  at 7 AM and go to 6 PM. Sunday March 10 fishing will resume at 800 AM and end at 3PM. Any photo time stamped outside of these time frames will be a DQ on that fish. 

 Sticker color will change each day.  

We have decided to extend fishing on Sunday to 3pm this year, versus having a banquet which takes a lot of time to organize and also cuts down on fishing time. Last year we only had five of the 30 teams make it to the banquet, which it is a long way for most teams and finding a central location among two states is about impossible. 


  As you can see we have a really good event planned and we hope you can make it. Musky in the bag or a skunk, it will be a fun weekend in the Virginia's for the musky community. 

TOURNAMENT RULES:

  • 2 anglers max per boat. 2 Rods/2 baits in the water at one time per boat. You can have other rods in the boat, but only two active rods in the water. Also no trolling baits where you rig multiple baits to one rod, and no A -rigs. You can fish solo, but you will be against the teams. Anglers can fish from the bank, a kayak, a boat etc. But the team members must be together while fishing. That is the reason for  the shared bump board. We are just doing everything we possibly can to keep everyone on a level playing field, and fair as possible.  
  • One bump board shared per team. This is important later, as we will be mailing out a sticker that goes on each bump board, and on a specific inch mark of the board. The placement will be announced the same time as the tournament code. You need to bring your bump board with you to check in, especially if you think you have placed top 5. Tournament code will be sent out via email, posted to the Figureight Musky Gear Facebook Page, Instagram, and also posted here on the website at the very top of this page. If you are unable to find the code or sticker location, CALL Brandon for the information. 
  • The Bump board- The bump board must have one end closed off for the muskies nose to be against. It can be a homemade board, (We recommend a board from Muskie Bumper or order a custom F8 board here on our site which is made for us by Muskie Bumper.) Again you do have to bring the board to check in with you. (If you decide to do an electronic check in, we will post details on how to confirm the bump board being true measurements.) We will look for the sticker and measure your board to confirm it is 100% legit. We like to think most are honest, but people do crazy things when money is involved.
  • THE NEXT TWO RULES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT. IF YOUR TEAM IS MISSING EITHER, IT WILL BE AN AUTOMATIC DQ. PERIOD. A safe play is to take the photos and then place the fish back in the bag, in the water. Check your photos before you make the release. 
  • #1 - Photo of the angler with the musky "hero photo" - NO EXCEPTIONS made. Fair is fair, these are the rules. Don't ask for an exception.
  • #2 - Photo of the fish on the bump board from head to tail. We are just going to require that the bump board stickers be visible for the bump board photo. We are doing this just to make the photo process faster, which results in a quicker release Tail pinch is legal.  If one inch of the muskies head or tail is not in the photo, it is a DQ on that fish. No exceptions. Period, this rule WILL NOT be flexible at all. So no crying, no bitching, no complaints if you are DQ for a bad photo. We are trying to make the rules clear to avoid any issues. If the bump board is "kinked" or "bent" at all in the photo, that fish will be docked 3 inches. (12 points) ** Example below, this board is kinked and this fish was docked in a past tournament. As you can see, the 30" mark disappears and the fish would gain about 1 to 1.5" inches. While this is probably never intentional, it gives a false measurement and requires a penalty. 

  • *Any photos timestamped after tournament hours is a DQ. Fish must be called in by 7PM on Saturday. Called in by 4PM on Sunday. Time stamp must be prior to 6PM on Saturday. Prior to 2pm on Sunday. These will be checked. but PLEASE call in your fish upon release if you have signal. This will prevent any issues. Or if you get signal at any point during tournament hours call.  If you place in the tournament,  each photo and time stamp will be verified. In the event of a tie for one of the top 5 positions, the team that reached the points first will take the higher position. Ex- Team A reached 100 points at 9AM on Sunday, and team B reached 100 points at 1130AM, Team A would would rank 1st and team B would rank 2nd. 
  • Casting and Trolling are both allowed. No live bait.
  •  Scoring will be on a points system. 10 Points for a 30 inch musky. For every 1/4" after the first 30 inches, you will get 1 additional point.. Example, a 35 inch fish would yield 30 points. A 35 1/4" musky would yield 31 points. Any water in West Virginia or VA is open for fishing. You DO NOT have to be a WV or VA resident to enter.
  • Simple, we ask anyone that catches a musky to call it in ASAP. Call Brandon at 304.673.8291.  After the call, please text both photos required. We will NOT share these prior to the banquet.

 Enter the tournament  this year by CALLING or TEXTING us: 304.673.8291 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at The F8 - 7th Annual Battle of the Virginia's. Tight lines and may the musky find their way to your bags! 

-Brandon, Amber, Hayes, & Shay -  F8 Musky Gear, LLC. 

#BattleoftheVirginias #PleasedoNotrain #ManUporSitHome