Tournament Rules

TUNA AND TIARAS TOURNAMENT RULES – 2025

This is a fish ONE (1) out of TWO (2) day tournament. Six (6) Lady anglers’ maximum per team. Fishing days are Friday June 13th and Saturday June 14th, 2025. Fishing hours will be 7:00am, lines in, to 3:00pm, lines out. No SONARS, lines or teasers are allowed in the water prior to 7:00am. Boats may not pass their home port sea buoy prior to 12:01am of their designated fishing day. There is an 8-rod limit per boat with 4 teasers maximum of any kind at one time. Lines in, Sonars in. 

All IGFA rules apply with the following exceptions. Hook and hand IS permitted between registered anglers. Mates may assist in transfer but CANNOT gain line.

You may use J hooks in natural or artificial baits. No chunking/chumming. No live bait. No tinker mackerel. No green sticks. No Kites. 

Spreader bars, flippy floppies and wide trackers are permitted. For a fish to qualify, it must be HOOKED while the boat is in gear in a trolling motion. You may take the boat out of gear to fight or land fish. Fish may be fought from a fighting chair, belt, harness, or rod holder.  No electric reels or power assistance.

IGFA Rules state no harpoons or throwing gaffs. ONLY hand gaffs with a maximum of 8 feet are permitted.

At least one person from each boat should attend the captain’s meeting in person or virtually. Regardless, each boat is responsible for knowing all tournament rules, including changes to the rules that may take place at the captain’s meeting. There will be a set of rules in the tournament bags.

TOURNAMENT CHANNEL 

When arriving at the inlet, you must use channel 72 to notify RT 113 Boat Sales and Service catch boat of your arrival and await instructions. DO NOT enter the Ocean City Fishing Center cut until you're called on and receive instruction to do so. Please announce if OCFC is your home harbor.

LAY DAY

Lay-days must be declared by 7:00am, the day of not fishing. NO EXCEPTIONS. If your team opts to fish Friday (Day One), declaring a Saturday lay-day is not necessary. If your lay day is not on your registration form, you may declare your lay day VIA email to Admin@tunaandtiaras.com or via text message to 410-212-7159 when you decide. Each team will receive a response once your lay day is received. If no response is received assume we haven't received notice. If NO notice of lay day is given by 7:00am on fishing day, those anglers are automatically considered fishing Friday.

FISHING LIMITS

There is a fishing distance limit of 100 nautical miles from the Ocean City inlet sea buoy. Boats must fish within this limit regardless of the inlet of departure. Boats are not permitted to cross the 100-mile boundary line at any time for any reason. 

WEIGH-INS

Scales open at 4:00pm and close at 7:00pm each day or until all boats have been weighed that are inside the sea buoy and have checked in with the catch boat by 6:45pm. 

Any fish hooked prior to 3:00 p.m. may be played until boated, however it must be made available for weigh-ins by 7:00 pm that day in order for the fish to qualify. Pressing the MOB button will prove the catch was before 3pm. ALL boats must be inside (West) of the Ocean City Sea buoy no later than 6:45pm. Any boat inside of the sea buoy at this time will be considered on time and their fish will be weighed. No boats can assist another in landing fish. In the case of mechanical failure, the transfer of fish from one boat to another is permitted. All fish are to be weighed by a Tuna and Tiaras weigh master to qualify. In the event of a tie in weight, prize monies will be split evenly by tying entries. Qualifying fish may be boated, trucked, or walked to the scales. 

Each boat may only come to the scales one time each day.  All fish must be weighed on the day the were caught.  The only tournament scale is Ocean City Fishing Center.

QUALIFYING FISH

Eligible species are BIG EYE, YELLOW FIN, BLUE FIN*, LONG FIN, WAHOO, and MAHI. 

*Blue fin tuna must be tagged prior to being removed from the boat to qualify. 

Tuna must weigh a minimum of 30 pounds. 

Dorado minimum weight is 10 pounds. 

Wahoo has no size restrictions.

Single Largest Tuna:  Tuna and Tiaras weigh master will weigh the teams chosen largest tuna. Additional tuna of any qualifying tuna species (up to a quantity of four) can be presented next for a stringer weight.  (see ‘Heaviest Stringer’ below).

Heaviest Stringer (Tuna only): Each boat can weigh a stringer of up to 5 tuna each day. Each tuna in the stinger must qualify as a tournament eligible fish by weighing a minimum of 30 pounds. If a fish does not meet the minimum weight another fish may be presented for consideration. Multiple Big Eye Tuna can be added to the stringer weight. A team's single largest fish will be included in their stringer weight unless it is used in a separate payout. (Example: A Team weighs their single largest tuna and may add up to four more tuna to arrive at their daily stringer total of 5 fish or less).  Each fish can only be used in one category for payouts.

A boat may win a single heaviest fish Calcutta and a stringer Calcutta if the stringer weight qualifies without the single heaviest weight.

In the event no qualifying fish are weighed in a Winner Take All calcutta, the monies will be transferred to the heaviest tuna winner take all calcutta and paid out to the team with the heaviest tuna that entered the forfeited calcutta. 

In the case of a 50%/30%/20% calcutta not weight, money will be split in the 50%/30%/20% of single heaviest tuna.  

REGISTRATION

www.tunaandtiaras.comIn person registration will be on Thursday June 12th from 5pm-8pm. Registration closes at 8pm. NO EXCEPTIONS. By registering for the tournament, you agree to not hold Tuna and Tiaras responsible for any personal or private property loss or damage. 

Entry fees are as follows; 

Registration fee does not enter you into any prizes or cash monies*

Registration fee - $400/boat up to 6 anglers PLUS you must enter at least one Calcutta

Heaviest Single Tuna Split (50/30/20) - $500 

Heaviest Single Tuna WTA - $500 

Tuna Stringer split (Up to five fish) (50/30/20) - $500 

Tuna stringer WTA - $500 

Heaviest Single Mahi (10lb minimum) WTA - $250 

Heaviest Single Wahoo WTA - $250 

Daily Heaviest Tuna - $300

Daily Heaviest Stringer (Up to five tuna) - $300

Small boat Heaviest Tuna - $250

Small boat Heaviest Stringer - $250  

*Small boat is considered manufacturers spec at 35’ and under 

**A stringer consists of 2 or more fish. Max 5 fish per day.

Rt 113 Boat Sales and Service Outboard Motor Bonus Jackpot- Boats with outboard motors will be automatically entered the outboard Jackpot Calcutta if entered into heaviest tuna WTA (Winner take all) calcutta. $5000 will be awarded to the single heaviest tuna weighed by an outboard motored boat entered into the WTA single heaviest fish Calcutta. This Calcutta is for the tournament and not per day. Additional prize money can be won if the boat places overall in the tournament as well.

All credit card transactions are subject to a 3% processing fee.

PHOTO CONTEST

The photo contest will have the following categories. This is not a cash prize or a mandatory event. Photos must be taken on the day of your registered trip. All photos must be turned in to admin@tunaandtiaras.com by 9pm Monday June 16th. The photos will be posted to our social media the following Wednesday June 18th. One entry per category per team. Winners will be determined by the amount of “likes” on the Tuna and Tiaras Facebook page only. The Contest will run until June 25th, 2025 at 8pm. Tuna and Tiaras logo must be clearly shown in the image to qualify. Winners will be announced shortly after. Prizes will be given in person or at the winner’s expense for shipping. Prizes will be announced prior to fishing days.  No collages will be accepted. 

- Toast to the sea

- Celebration photo!  Even if you fake it til you make it!

- Group catching a fish - it’s a team effort! 

- Group with a fish - one or more!

- Photos of/with items from your tournament bag. our sponsors would love to see you enjoying your favorite items! 

FINE PRINT

By submitting your videos or photos to any Tuna and Tiaras public forum, social media or otherwise, including tagging the tournament or using tournament hashtags, you agree to allow Tuna and Tiaras to use the footage/photos for other monetizing marketing in public forums or printed material. By registering for the tournament, you and your team, captain, mates and owners agree to not hold Tuna and Tiaras, the property event is held or its staff/volunteers responsible for any personal or private property loss or damage during any of the Atlantic Tournaments events. All protests must be made to the committee by 7pm on Saturday, June 14th, 2025. All checks will be mailed on Monday June 23rd. Please note, winners must email ONE address to admin@tunaandtiaras.com per category. We will not write individual checks per angler. All winners must complete a W-9 form not provided by Tunas and Tiaras. Once you are registered and paid, there will be no refunds for any reason. If the committee deems the weather non-fishable, a rain date will be announced before registration. Tournament rules can be edited at our discretion until registration closes.

Slander of any kind involving Tuna and Tiaras or Atlantic Tournaments, LLC will result in immediate and future forfeit of any monies all ready paid in and abandonment of future events at the committees discretion.

Tuna and Tiaras holds the right to take any questions or questionable action to a preselected committee for vote at any time. All committee decisions are final. Tuna and Tiaras reserves the right to disqualify any boat without reason at any time. In the case of a boat being disqualified, said boat(s) will forfeit any entry money or winnings.