Hatteras Marlin Club • Hatteras, NC
Blue Marlin
Release Tournament 65th Annual • June 23 - June 29, 2024
Release Tournament 65th Annual • June 23 - June 29, 2024
All Owners, Captains, Mates, and Registered Anglers are expected to be familiar with these rules. Any changes by the Tournament Committee will be announced at the captain's meeting on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Registered Anglers must be registered with the HMC staff, and fees must be paid before they leave the dock on their first day of fishing. All professional Captains and Mates that are current members of the HMC in good standing will be allowed to participate as a registered angler and fish the tournament from the cockpit of a boat.
The definition of a professional is considered someone who made more than 50% of their living as a captain or mate in the past year on an Offshore Charter or Private boat.
If you fall outside of this definition you are eligible to be a registered angler.
The 2023 tournament will allow a one-time "hook & pass" from a registered angler to another registered angler who can be a man, woman, or child. Like in previous HMC tournaments, no paid professional will be allowed to touch a rod or assist an angler while attempting to hook and angle a fish.
No fish caught from a passed rod are eligible for Individual Top Male and Female Angler of the Year points. Those fish will count toward the boat's total points.
This is a trolling tournament, and all baits will be trolled. Unconventional non-trolling techniques are strictly prohibited. There is no backing into schools, casting, use of casting tackle, live bait, or live bait teasers. No spinning rods will be allowed. Federal law mandates that all anglers participating in the tournament which gives points, prizes, or awards for Atlantic billfish must deploy only non-offset circle hooks when using natural bait and/or natural/artificial lure combinations. Anglers in these tournaments may use j-hooks only in artificial lures.
There are no lines, teasers, or sonars in the water before lines in every day.
No rods are allowed to be fished from the bridge. No rods are allowed to be stored or used from your belly band during fishing hours.
As soon as possible after hooking a fish, the captain shall notify the club or committee boat of the hookup and state the boat's name. After releasing a fish, the captain shall notify the club, or the committee boat of the release and identify the fish's species. In the event the captain is unable to contact the club or the committee boat, he/she must confirm the release information with a nearby tournament boat. Please turn daily score sheets in asap after returning to dock and no later than 7:00 pm. Anyone wishing to enter a protest must do so by reporting to the judging committee no later than 8:00 pm that day. All protest must be in writing on the Daily Report Form. The tournament committee reserves the right make changes and/or exceptions to the above.
Anglers will fish their own boats or boat they select. The club does not arrange for charter boats, but will assist you in locating one. Anglers will fish as a unit on one boat for all three of the five days of the tournament. Standby boats are to be used only in case of breakdown. All boats shall depart and re-enter through Hatteras Inlet. All radio conversations are to be kept to an absolute minimum. VHF channel 71 will be monitored during tournament week. Relay/committee boat(s): To be announced.
Fishing hours are from 9:00am to 3:00pm daily. If you are fighting a fish hooked during tournament hours you may continue to fight the fish as long as it is released by 6:00 pm. No lines or teasers in water, nor can sonar be turned on until 9:00am. All times listed are Eastern Standard Time.
The tournament will include blue marlin, white marlin, spearfish, sailfish, and swordfish. Line size: 130lb maximum. Bait: Anglers shall furnish their own bait. Live bait and live teasers are prohibited. Artificial teasers are permitted. Any deviations from these rules may be made only by the Tournament Committee.
All fish must be hooked within tournament boundaries which are North 40400 South 39800 East 26750. Fish can then be played outside the boundaries until caught or released.
Official score sheets must be turned in to the tournament committee in the club office immediately after docking for the catch to be officially entered in the tournament scoring. No fish will be counted until a signed score sheet is turned in the tournament committee. Please ensure all Blue Marlin have a verification signature on the score sheet. There will be daily and weekly awards for the 1st place Dolphin, Wahoo and Yellow Fin Tuna determined by weight. If two or more entries are of the same weights, then the fish with the earliest weigh-in time will be determined the winner.
If a sonar boat wishes to not use their sonar for the week and fish for the non-sonar point system, it must declare this by 9:00 pm Sunday, June 25, 2023.
All Billfish will be released.
The tournament will include blue marlin, white marlin, spearfish, sailfish and swordfish.
Reporting of catch on an official score sheet is required and the score sheets must be signed. The boat reaching the highest point total first will be the winner.
Rom Whitaker – Release
Fin Gaddy – Qualifier
Ken Miller – Outlaw
Bobby Schlegel
Will Huntley
Dan Oden
Brent Wright
Burch Perry
Bobby Schlegel
Will Huntley
Anyone of these gentlemen can sign off and verify your photo id for your Blue Marlin.
Questions:
Bobby Schlegel 252-955-0171
Will Huntley 919-427-6042
1ST PLACE – OVERALL BILLFISH RELEASE POINTS
2ND PLACE – OVERALL BILLFISH RELEASE POINTS
3RD PLACE – OVERALL BILLFISH RELEASE POINTS
1ST PLACE TOP MALE ANGLER
1ST PLACE TOP FEMALE ANGLER
1ST PLACE TOP JUNIOR ANGLER (12 & UNDER)
1ST PLACE TOP TEEN ANGLER (13 – 19 YEARS OLD)
MEAT FISH DIVISION:
LARGEST YELLOW FIN TUNA
LARGEST DOLPHIN
LARGEST WAHOO
5 DAILY'S – 1 PER FISH
TOP BOAT UNDER 50'
