The tournament will be held March 6 & 7, 2021. 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 02/20/21 – *only those registered prior to 02/01 will receive shirts. Entry is $250 per team for early registration, prior to 02/01/21. After that date the entry will be $280. NO REFUNDS. Also, no t shirts included after 02/01 as we have to turn our order in by then. Last day to register at all is 02/20/21. 

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.

75% Payout. That leaves 25% for all of the costs such as Food for 80 – 100 people, Venue, shirts, trophies, banners, the music, 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” 

2021 Payout, this year we are going to pay 5 deep. Top three teams will receive money and trophies. Big Fish gets $100 bill and a trophy. 1st place Team $2,500  2nd place $1800, 3rd Place $1400, 4th Place $1,000, and 5th Place at $800. (*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. 

The tournament will kick off on Saturday March 6  at 7 AM and go to 5 PM. Sunday March 7 fishing will resume at 7 AM and end at 12 noon. Any photo time stamped outside of these time frames will be a DQ on that fish. 

We will have one code for each day. Saturday will have a code, which we will announce Friday night March 05. The code for Sunday will be released on Saturday night March 06. 

On Sunday March 7 The banquet/check in will be held from  2 PM – 5 PM  (come anytime after 12 if you like) at Weathered Ground Brewery located at 2027 Flat Top Rd, Ghent, WV.  If you have not visited Weathered Ground before, you are in for a treat!  A slight, but great change to the food arrangement this year. Weathered Ground recently put in a kitchen with a custom wood fired pizza oven and the food there is killer! Every angler registered and attends will receive a $15 cash. This is a $15 credit good towards anything on the menu. (the most expensive item is $12) — So this will allow everyone to order a pizza, wings, etc, and a beverage, or whatever you like. Obviously anything over a $15 balance will be on you. 

  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. 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 and the tournament CODE TOGETHER. NO EXCEPTIONS made. Fair is fair, these are the rules. Don’t ask for an exception.* Sunday fishing will have a new code. 

• #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 6PM on Saturday. Called in by 1PM on Sunday. Time stamp must be prior to 5PM on Saturday. Prior to 12 noon 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 1 reached 100 points at 9AM on Sunday, and team 2 reached 100 points at 1130AM, Team would would rank 1st and team 2 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 304.860.0420.  After the call, please text both photos required. We will NOT share these prior to the banquet. However, we would like to have some tournament photos on display during the banquet. They will be displayed on a TV inside. So the sooner you can get the photos to us the better. Thanks!

• Entry to Weathered Ground, food, non-alcoholic drinks, live entertainment, and T shirts are all included with every entry fee. T shirts will be available for pickup at the banquet. If you do not attend the banquet, and want your shirts mailed it will be $5 shipping. (*If you register AFTER 02/01/20  a t shirt is NOT included. We have to turn the shirt order in on 02/01.)  PLEASE try to attend. We put a ton of work into hosting a great banquet. At the end of the day, this is half the fun. Come out and tell musky war stories with good company, eat some fantastic food, and listen to some live music. The brewery just recently put in a brick pizza oven and we will be eating from the Weathered Ground Brewery menu. 

 Enter the tournament  below.  When you checkout,  PLEASE MAKE CERTAIN you enter both team members full names in the comment section along with the shirt sizes. 

We plan to try and stay on this time line for the banquet on March 1. Pretty light agenda, just come hang out, eat, have a beverage, and maybe even collect a check! 

2 PM –  Check in muskies, pick up T Shirts, Start eating. Food will be available at anytime, as we are using the brewery menu. 

330 PM- Start awards for top teams, big fish, present trophies and payout. After this we will just be hanging out. Brewery will be open until 6PM, please hang out as long as you like. 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at The F8 – 3rd Annual Battle of the Virginia’s. Tight lines and may the musky find their way to your bags! See everyone March 1.  Scroll on down to register. 

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

Battle of the Virginia's IV – Boat Entry