***RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE UP UNTIL THE CAPTAIN’S PARTY*** 

These rules will remain in effect for the 2024 Monster Kingfish Tournament. Interpretation of these rules will be left exclusively to the Tournament Committee. In the event of a rule violation, the Tournament Committee may impose such sanctions as they deem appropriate, including, without limitation, disqualifications, forfeiture of prizes and prohibition from participation in subsequent tournaments. By competing in the Monster Kingfish Tournament all competitors agree that decisions of the Tournament Committee are final in all matters and are not subject to appeal, and are not reviewable by any court of law. The Tournament Director can make changes to the stated rules at any time. By participating in the Monster Kingfish Tournament you and your team agree to the previous statements and to obey the rules stated below, or face expulsion without refund or compensation or any kind.

Angler Armory Fishing Club is a private club that can deny an application without cause. In the event that your application is denied, a full refund will be issued.
Once payment is made and application is approved, your payment becomes non-refundable.

Please read the rules in their entirety. Captain’s are responsible for understanding all of the rules.

By participating in the Monster Kingfish Tournament you and your team agree to the rules stated below:

TOURNAMENT COMMUNICATIONS:
1. Announcements regarding weather & other important tournament information will be communicated to team captains via the Monster page on Angler Armory.com
2.Tournament Officials will also operate on Channel 68 for any communications that need to be directed from or to teams on tournament day.

APPLICATIONS:
1. All teams must fill out an application form & pay entry fee in order to participate in the Monster Kingfish Tournament
2. Teams must be entered into the main kingfish division in order to enter into any calcuttas.

ENTRY FEES:
1. EARLY SIGN UP – $350 entry fee if registered between August 1, 2024 and October 1, 2024. A team is not considered officially signed up until payment is received.
2. $450 entry fee if registered between October 2, 2024 and October 23, 2024
3. Payment must be by credit card or cash only
4. If paying by cash, please make sure to include 7% sales tax on both the main entry and all calcuttas. Applications will not be considered complete without 7% sales tax included.

LATE ENTRY
Late entries will be accepted until 3pm on Friday.
Late entries will only be accepted online at https://anglerarmory.com/monster-kingfish-tournament/

PARTICIPATION:
1. A Florida saltwater fishing license is required for each team member except from a boat which has a valid recreational vessel saltwater fishing license or any FL Resident 65 years or older, or anyone excluded by FL law. License not required when fishing with a charter captain. Go to www.myfwc.com to obtain current Florida fishing regulations.
2. By participating in the Monster Kingfish Tournament, all teams registered give permission for Angler Armory Inc and it’s sponsors to use video and/or photographs that are taken of them during the tournament Captain’s Party and Weigh In for promotional purposes on social media and their websites.

CAPTAIN’S PARTY: 
1. The Captain’s Party is not mandatory.
2. The Captain’s Party will take place from 6pm to 9pm Wednesday, October 23rd at OCC Roadhouse located at 10575 49th St N. Clearwater, FL
3. A “Captain’s Only” rules meeting will take place at 7pm in the lobby of Bert’s Harley Davidson, which is located next door to OCC Roadhouse. We ask that only the captain or one team member attend this meeting. The rules meeting will last approximately 30 minutes.

POINT SYSTEM:
1. Only one kingfish can be weighed in for the main division.
2. 1 point per 1lb for the kingfish division
3. If entered into the Closest to 20.23lbs Calcutta, you may use your overall fish for this calcutta or weigh in a separate fish.
4.  Only one spanish mackerel can be weighed in for the spanish mackerel division.
5. 1 point per 1lb for the spanish mackerel calcutta. (must be entered into main kingfish division in order to enter spanish mackerel calcutta)

BOATS:
1.Tournament competitors may fish by motorized boat, by kayak or on land within the designated boundaries.
2.All boats must carry a Coast Guard approved flotation device for each person on their vessel plus all other safety devices required by the Coast Guard. Go to http://myfwc.com for current Coast Guard regulations.

BOUNDARIES:

**If a fish is hooked and takes a team outside the boundaries, the team is allowed to continue fighting the fish outside the boundaries but must immediately return to inside the boundaries as soon as the fish is gaffed and in boat.

WEATHER:
1. Alternate fishing date will be announced if weather or another Act of God should affect fishing conditions. Teams will be advised after Friday’s 4pm weather advisory if the tournament will be postponed. The make up date will be Sunday, October 27th so please plan accordingly. If the tournament is postponed until Sunday no refunds will be given. If Sunday is not fishable and the tournament is postponed to another weekend then teams can request a full refund if they are unable to fish.
2. It is the discretion of the Team Captain to determine if their craft is seaworthy for the existing conditions.
3. The captain has the choice whether or not to compete in the Monster Kingfish Tournament.

CONDUCT:
1. The Honor System applies throughout the tournament
2. Anglers may touch land at any time during tournament hours (anglers may go eat lunch, go home and go back out to fish, go get fuel, ice, etc)
No passing of anything between boats during tournament hours. This will result in automatic disqualification from the Monster Kingfish Tournament
3. One angler must hook, fight & bring fish up to point of gaff.
4. There will be no feeding and/or stuffing of any kingfish with any bait fish, fish and/or any foreign objects (ie ice, weights, etc). This will result in immediate disqualification.
5. Hooks, wire, rigs (terminal tackle)and/or any other foreign objects must be removed from kingfish in order to be eligible for competition.
6. All fish entered into the tournaments will be inspected for cheating prior to fish being brought to the scale.
7. Fish will be sliced open after the fish has been weighed to verify there are no foreign objects or stuffing of fish.
8. All participants in Monster Kingfish Tournament must maintain a high level of professionalism at all times.
9. Anglers are expected to be role models, and set a positive example to the recreational angling public.
10. Alcohol is not allowed on stage during the weigh in. If a team member refuses to place their alcoholic beverage on the designated table and brings their alcohol onstage with them, the fish will not be weighed and the team will automatically be disqualifed.

TOURNAMENT FISHING:
1. Fishing day is Saturday, October 26th only
2. There is no check out for this tournament.
3. Lines in the water at 7:30am
4. Bait fishing is allowed prior to 7:30am
5. Hand held rods & reels only
6. No more than 4 kingfish rods may be fishing at one time
7. The tournament encourages release of all fish not intended to be weighed in at tournament.
8. Fish weighed in at the tournament become the property of Angler Armory Inc. Proceeds from the sale of the fish will be donated to charity. (CLICK HERE to see the list of charities Angler Armory donates to)
9. Lines out of the water at 5:00pm. All fish must be caught and in boat no later than 5:00:00pm.

FISH DROP OFF:
**All fish must be in a fish bag with a working zipper in order to be weighed in. Fish not in a fish bag will not be eligible to be weighed.

Teams have two options on where to drop off fish:

Option 1: OCC ROADHOUSE
Fish drop off is from 4:00pm to 5:45pm
– Teams will drive up to drop off location (see image at bottom of page)
Please do not walk up to OCC with your fish bag. Drive through drop off location only to check in your fish.
– One of your Team Member will bring fish to tent for inspection
– Fish bag will be tagged & one team member will receive a wrist band. The team member with the wrist band will be the only person allowed to claim fish bag for weigh in.
– After you drop off fish you are then free to go park or to leave venue to return at 6pm weigh in time.
– You must be in line to drop off fish by 5:45pm. A tournament official will close the drop off line at 5:45:00pm. No fish will be accepted after that time.

Option 2: Don’s Dock/Wild Seafood (east end of John’s Pass Village) Madeira Beach
Fish drop off is from 4pm to 5pm
– There will be one drop off dock at Don’s Dock for the tournament
– Boats will come to dock one at a time to unload fish
– Tournament officials will call on Channel 68 when a dock is free.
-Teams will bump the dock. Stay on your boat. A tournament official will come to your boat to receive fish.
– If you need fuel, ice, drinks, etc you will have to leave the “tournament dock” and go to another area of Don’s Dock that is receiving customers.
– Tournament officials will leave Don’s Dock at exactly 5pm to bring fish to OCC Roadhouse weigh in – NO EXCEPTIONS so plan your time accordingly
– We anticipate many teams dropping off fish at Don’s Dock. Expect a back up of boats so make sure you anticipate that and have enough time to get fish to dock before 5pm. Tournament officials will leave Don’s Dock at exactly 5pm.
– Fish bags will be zip tied closed & tagged with team name
– One member of the team will receive a wrist band. That team member will be the only person that can retrieve your bag at OCC check in
-Fish will not be weighed in unless the team member with wrist band is at OCC Roadhouse.

**There will be limited boat/trailer parking at the weigh in site. Parking for boats/trailers will be available in the grass parking lot that is located adjacent the south end of Bert’s Harley Davidson/OCC. Parking will be on a first come, first serve basis. (see image at bottom of page)

WEIGH IN:
1. All tournament fish will be weighed in at OCC Roadhouse located at 10575 49th St N Clearwater, FL
2. Teams may get in line to claim fish and stage for weigh in starting at 5:45pm.
3. All teams must be in weigh in line by 6pm
3. Weigh in starts at 6:00pm. Please plan accordingly and give your team enough time to get to weigh in location on time.
4. Fish being weighed in the tournament will be inspected for all manners of cheating by a tournament official both before and after weigh in
5. Fish must be weighed in by a registered team member that fished on the team that day.
6. No rotten or mutilated fish will be allowed to be weighed in. The Tournament Director has the ultimate say so on what constitutes a mutilated fish.
7. Results are unofficial until determined by tournament director.
8. All kingfish weighed in at tournament become the property of Angler Armory Inc. Fish are donated to Nachman’s Native Seafood and the proceeds are donated to charity.
9. Kingfish must have a minimum size of 24” fork length
10. Results are unofficial until determined by tournament director.

TIE BREAKER:
If a tie occurs, the determining tie breaker will be the team that checked in at OCC first.

DISPUTES:
1. Protests must be submitted in writing along with a $500 cash deposit to a tournament official within 10 minutes of the last fish weighed in.
2. The cash deposit will be returned to the contestant submitting the protest if the protest is upheld.
3. If there is a dispute of any kind, the decision of the Tournament Director is final.

TOURNAMENT DISCRETION:
1. The tournament director reserves the right to implement his discretion at any time during the tournament as it may apply to the rules or any other circumstance that should arise during the course of the tournament series.

LIE DETECTOR TEST:
1. Winning team or teams may be selected to participate in a mandatory lie detector test. If team is called to do a polygraph test and fails to submit to test it will result in disqualification of the entire team for all future Angler Armory tournaments. Refunds of tournament entry fees will not be given for failure of a polygraph test. All decisions of the polygraph examiner will be final.
2. If a team is found guilty of cheating by the Tournament Director, they will automatically be disqualified from the tournament without refund of their entry fee, membership dues or calcutta fees.
3. All decisions made by the tournament director are final.

AWARDS:
1. Awards will take place approximately 45 minutes after the last fish weighed.
2. Awards can only be accepted by a registered team member.
3. Attendance at the award ceremony is mandatory in order to receive checks and/or trophies. If a team does not have a registered member present to receive check then they forfeit their winnings.
4. Checks for the winning teams will be made out to the Captain listed on the registration form unless otherwise noted on registration.
5. Teams will be required to fill out a W9 form for all winnings over $599 before they will receive their check
6. If a team loses their check, they will be charged a $35 fee in order for a new check to be written.

*Biggest kingfish wins. In the event there is a tie the team that checked in with tournament official first wins.

Calcuttas

High Roller: $500
50/30/20 split
Biggest kingfish wins

Low Roller: $200
50/30/20 split
Biggest kingfish wins

No Roller: $100
50/30/20 split
Biggest kingfish wins

Closest to 20.24lbs: $100
Winner takes all
May use overall fish or weigh in a separate fish

Spanish Mackerel: $100
50/30/20 split
Biggest spanish mackerel wins
(must be entered into main kingfish division in order to enter Spanish Mackerel calcutta)