When the first fish hits, the 8-pound test line starts evacuating the spool at an alarming rate, causing the other angler to reel in quickly so they can chase it down. Unfortunately ' yet fortunately ' he gets a massive hit of his own and now has an out-of-control fish running in the opposite direction.

A decision has to be made, or they are likely to lose both fish. It's a tough call because both seem like good ones, but difficult choices are nothing new to anglers. Even picking what type of boat to buy is hard enough, much less deciding on a brand. It used to be easy; when you wanted a fishing boat, you bought a center console. Then dual consoles came along and complicated things.

This boat type has enough 'family' features to convince the spouse that this isn't just a fishing boat. Trouble is, not many are very good angling platforms either. Enter the Grady-White Tournament 225, a dual console that hard-core anglers might actually choose over a center console.

With the temperature in the low 40s, the trio of anglers is bundled up like they are going fishing in a shack on a frozen lake. As they load the rods and tackle, cranking up the Yamaha F225 4-stroke doesn't disturb the quiet of the pre-dawn reverie, and they soon shove off from the dock in Morehead City, North Carolina, and begin the journey to the Outer Banks. The short ride quickly reveals one of the big advantages of the Tournament 225 over a center console: The large, sectional tempered glass windshield actually shields the anglers from the stinging-cold, speed-induced wind. Most dual console seat heights are a compromise, typically leaving your line of sight right at the windshield frame, which blocks the horizon. But on the run to the fishing grounds, the 6-foot driver is sitting comfortably at the wheel of the 225 out of the wind with his eyes well below the frame. As the boat nears the fishing grounds they begin to look for diving birds, and anglers don't want to be looking through glass, so the driver reaches down and raises the Pompanette captain's seat so he is looking over the frame. Problem solved. What is interesting is that the angle of the windshield is such that the driver doesn't get a face full of wind like you would expect, but instead, the frigid air is directed over the bill of his baseball cap.

The helm is another thing that sets the Tournament 225 apart from other dual consoles. A locking, clear split-door electronics box is front and center with plenty of room for the Furuno multi-function GPS/fishfinder display with plenty of room left over for the VHF radio. Always sweating the details, Grady-White gives the box a drain that empties into the cockpit via a tube, just in case the pilot is navigating in the rain. A large Ritchie compass sits just above the six-spoke, tilt, stainless-steel steering wheel and is positioned in-line for ease of reading. The throttle is ergonomically placed and the Lenco trim tabs are located within easy reach just to the right of the wheel.' In the late fall, an annual run of false albacore is enough of an event that worker absenteeism is a problem for local employers. Although not prized as a food fish, there are few fish in the sea that can match them for sheer pulling power. Averaging between 10 and 15 pounds, these 'Fat Alberts' provide exciting action for those using light spinning gear or fly rods. The most reliable sign of feeding fish is diving birds, and one of the anglers has just spotted a large group of them dive-bombing the surface in the area known as the Hook, near Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The driver again adjusts the Pompanette seat rearward and stands to get a better look. Moving closer into the shallows reveals an awesome spectacle: Hundreds of pelicans are smashing the surface to get a mouthful of the menhaden that commercial netters have corralled. Unfortunately, there is no sign of feeding albacore, so the 225 does a 180 and heads out of the cove.

The wind is coming from the mainland, so conditions close to shore are calm, but heading out in the open ocean toward Cape Lookout Shoals, the wind-driven waves rise in height and clash with the sea swells, creating a confused sea. There are several boats near the semi-submerged bar, which runs for more than a mile and is clearly defined by the giant plumes of water geysering upward. The Tournament 225 handles the choppy conditions well, because of Grady-White's variable deadrise Sea-V2 hull, which uses an extremely sharp 56-degree entry to slice through the chop, while the flatter 20.5-degree stern deadrise gives the 8-foot-wide, 22-foot Tournament exceptional side-to-side stability at slower speeds. Since they don't see signs of fish, they consider running the gnarly gap in the shoals when they see the other boats heading offshore and decide to follow their herding instincts. After traveling a short distance, they see the reason for the exodus: Thousands of birds pepper the sky and are wheeling over huge schools of baitfish.