One of the biggest bass fishing events of the year is the MD vs VA “Battle of the Border” tournament run by Edward “Ed” Bryce Dustin. The 54-year-old, owner of Potomac Masonry LLC / Holiday Lightscaping Pros and owner is also the tournament director of the Potomac River Battle Series & Battle of the Border MDvsVA Charity Event.
This year’s Battle had a full field of 100 teams and they launched onto a late spring tidal Potomac River from Leesylvania State Park on the Virginia shore and brought back plenty of limits.
When all fish were weighed and the totals tallied the Maryland team of Aaron Dixon and Anthony Buzzeo took top honors with 18.66 pounds, earning themselves $5,000 for the day. However, Virginia did win the overall battle.
Dustin’s tournament series is popular because of its simplicity and the opportunity for the teams to move on to the field in the annual Battle of the Border MDvsVA event.
“Our Battle of the Border MDvsVA annual event has a format where a State board from Maryland and Virginia select an annual team captain and their job is to put together a team to go head-to-head on the Potomac River. I oversee and facilitate the captain selection process. The state board does the rest. We also choose a local charity to donate money to from the event whether it’s a local family in need or some sort of Veterans based organization, but we all vote on it and go from there.”
This year’s charity recipients included: 1)Veterans Fishing Day Tournament $500, which will be added to the Big Bass payout at this year’s event, 2) J2 Fishing/Heroes for Humanity/ Benefit Fishing Tournament $500, which $250 will be added to the big bass payback at an upcoming event and the other $250 goes directly to Heroes for Humanity, 3) Lake Anna Elite Anglers Youth Organization $500 that will go to help fund the annual costs for the young guns to travel and compete and ) Veterans Fishing Adventures $1,500, which will go towards funding that takes our veterans, active duty and first responders out for a great day of fishing on the Potomac River.
Dustin noted the format on the Potomac River Battle Series is a “standard format for a team event, no bells and whistles needed, but we do offer if you win one of our events that you automatically earn a spot on the roster for the Battle of the Border MDvsVA as long as one of you are from Maryland or Virginia.”
We asked the tournament director what his Battle Series entrants were like.
“A typical team that enters one of our events is pretty much everyone who is interested in bass fishing. We are a no frills and no BS tournament series. We believe we run a fun, fair and efficient series. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t perfect, but we fix our mistakes when they happen and are transparent when we make them. I believe that brings folks in and keeps them here. We encourage all levels of anglers to come and fish our series with us, but my favorite is when we see family fishing together as a team.”
Our next question was why just the tidal Potomac River as the venue for the Battle Series?
“Hosting events on the Potomac River is undeniably a great choice. The Potomac is truly an incredible aquatic eco system. The habitat and forage is ever-changing and truly amazing at times. It’s highly accessible for our anglers to pre fish and fish our events from Washington DC down to the Rt. 301 bridge.
We asked Dustin how he started bass fishing.
“A longtime friend Billy Bitto got me into bass fishing back in the early 90’s. We started fishing tournaments together on Lake Anna in the mid 90’s. He was my sole encouragement, but I would have to say that seeing the camaraderie of all the people fishing tournaments and how they treated each other with kindness and respect was my true inspiration to compete in tournaments.“
The inspiration to run a tournament series came to Dustin a little later.
“My first interest in starting a tournament series came from helping Tank Mosley back in 2012 when he was the tournament director for the Battle of the Border MDvsVA event. Later on in 2015 Tank Mosley was looking to step away from the event as director and asked me if I would like to take over. Without hesitation I said, yes.
“So in 2015 I became the new Tournamant Director for the Battle of the Border MDvsVA event and was also nominated as the Virginia Team captain. Man, what a job that was; taking on double duties, but I think it turned out well.
“My first event turned out great and Virginia took back the title from the team I put together. After the big event, Lenny Baird and I started talking about putting together a series that would be sort of a vessel to get folks into the Battle of the Border MdvsVA annual event. So, we collaborated and began our series in 2016.”
Dustin also runs a unique event on Lake Anna that debuted two years ago. Anglers weigh in one big bass per hour during the day for prize money. He also runs a Battle Series Lake Anna team trail.
W2 asked Dustin what, in his opinion would be considered one of his most satisfying moments running the trail.
“I would have to say the most satisfying moment is a combination of everything: the camaraderie of great folks and the competitive nature that drives us to a coveted victory at the end of the day. I will say that one of the most satisfying moments is seeing a team get their first win. The smiles on their faces tell it all.”
“Many folks don’t realize what it takes sometimes to make these events successful, but I do, and that’s a combination of many things
Due to his commitment to the Battle Series and his business, Dustin says he hasn’t spent much time on the water the past two years but he hasn’t lost his competitive desire.
“I haven’t lost that desire to fish or compete, I have just set it aside for the moment and hopefully I will be back fishing tournaments one day.”
Dustin noted he wanted to also thank some individual folks that helped him along his bass fishing journey including friend Bitto “for getting me into bass fishing and the many years we fished tournaments together which are irreplacable”, Captain Steve Chaconas “for his frienship and support. He is an incredible ambassador to bass fishing here locally on the Potomac and fights non-stop for tournament anglers”, his friend Lenny Baird “for keeping it real and keeping my head straight from time to time while running our events” and last but not least to his wife Jane “who really let me be who I wanted to be and stay out and away fishing and competing. Thanks for everything and holding down the house.”
