The Captain’s Meeting will be held May 9th at 6:00 PM at Marina Village.
You must have a Bahamas Fishing Permit.
8:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Boats may leave the marina at sunrise. All boats must be inside the Baker’s Bay Breakwater by 6:00 P.M. each evening for your fish to count, unless hooked up and extra time has been granted.
70 mile radius from the marina.
Boated Blue Marlin – Teams may kill only one fish per day. In order to qualify for the weigh-in, the fish must measure a minimum of 110″ LJFL on day one. Should the fish not meet the minimum size requirement, then the undersized fish will be disqualified, zero points will be awarded and will not be weighed. Fish meeting the minimum size requirement will be awarded 1 point per pound. Once a 110″ LJFL-qualified fish is weighed, the LJFL minimum size increases to that of a LJFL longer than the shortest qualified LFJL of the fish killed the prior day (for example, a qualified 112″ LJFL fish and a qualified 114″ LJFL fish are weighed on day one – day two’s minimum LJFL is now 113″, etc.). Any undersized fish brought to the scale based on that day’s minimum LJFL measurement will be disqualified. Should no fish qualify for weigh-in on day one, the minimum measurement remains at 110″ LJFL until one is qualified.
ELIGIBLE FISH WEIGHTS
When entering the “Breakwater” at Baker’s Bay, please check in with the committee boat on channel “72”, and notify if you have fish to weigh.
You must call in all hook-ups of all BILLFISH as soon as you confirm it is a Billfish. The “Committee Boat” will validate your hook-up time reported. Then you must call again to report lost, released or boated fish to the committee boat and get your Species and time confirmed. Please make certain that the committee boat has confirmed your data.
Each boat is required to record on the Catch & Release Form all billfish caught, boated or released in the order that it appears on its Catch & Release video or photo’s. This form will be available in your boat information packet.
If you call in a release then you may not kill that fish. Be sure of your intent before calling the catch in to the “Committee Boat”. Once you call in a “release” we will record it as a release and this cannot be changed. “Deck-checking” is not permitted. Once you have decided you have a kill fish on the leader, please inform the “Committee Boat” of your intent, and again when it is landed. The fish’s measurements must be given to the Committee within 15 minutes of landing, and will be relayed to the fleet by the “Committee Boat”. It is highly recommended you continue to capture your kill on video.
Committee boat channel is 72. Please use alternate frequencies for conversations not related to the reporting of billfish.
An angler may fight a fish until it is lost, released or boated so long as it was hooked and reported to the “Committee Boat” prior to “lines out of the water.” A billfish caught after 12:00 midnight on the first day will count as a release or capture for the day second. A confirmed hook-up that results in a boated fish on the last day of the tournament must be brought to the weigh station by twelve midnight.
In case of a tie for Top Boat, placement is determined by the earliest verified reported time of release.
A billfish is considered officially caught and released when the swivel hits the tip of the rod or crew member grabs the leader or the wind-on leader (not the double line) comes into the rod tip. Video verification is required for the billfish catch to be eligible.
Catch & Release winners are determined by points which are earned as follows:
A Catch & Release form must accompany the Catch & Release video or Photo’s to the Committee Office. The form must include Time of Release, Species and Anglers Name that was verified by a the committee boat.
Catch & Release verification videos/photo’s and forms must be turned in to the video judges at the Office between the hours of 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm on each day. (unless hooked up and extra time was granted).
In the event of a tie in Catch and Release points, team placement is determined by the earliest verified released times.
All recordings submitted for the purpose of verifying a Catch & Release entry must include the following:
At sign in, each tournament boat must designate a representative payee to receive payment of all cash awards. Payment of Cash Awards is by check. For winners of cash awards a single check will be written to the boat’s representative payee for the combined total of tournament cash awards.
Checks will be written the following week after the Tournament Awards Ceremony on Saturday.
Due to the USA laws and the International banking laws, we have decided to use a USA bank to hold the funds. Due to the USA laws, the winners will receive a W-9 to complete in order to receive their prize money.
The Tournament accepts no responsibility for the division of any cash awards between team members.
90% of all Calcutta Fees collected are distributed in the form of Optional Cash Awards.
Except for the Captain/Crew category will be paid 100% of the entry.
Participants who wish to pay the Calcutta fees prior to April 25th, may pay by personal or company check made payable to:
Otherside Fishing Inc.
4440 James Rd.
Cocoa, FL 32926
Participants who wish to pay the Calcutta fees after April 25th must wire transfer the fees or have US Currency at the registration on Thursday May 10th of tournament week, between 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. NO CHECKS ACCEPTED.