Fishing Days: Each tournament consists of three consecutive fishing days with no lay days.
Tournament Hours: The Tournament Committee has established a demarcation line in Herradura Bay for the start of each day's fishing.
Boats will be prohibited from leaving Herradura Bay prior to 6:30 am on all three fishing days. Fishing hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm daily. Any fish hooked and reported to the Committee Boat prior to lines out time may be played until caught or released; however scorecards must be submitted to the tournament committee by 6:00 pm each day, including the last fishing day.
Two minutes prior to calling lines out teams will report their hook ups to the committee boat. The committee boat will not respond until after lines out is called. The observer is the official onboard to observe and confirm last minute hook-ups.

Official Time: The official time is GPS time. Observer watches will be synched with the committee boat GPS clock at the mandatory Captains and Observer's Meeting. The committee boat will call lines in and lines out; however it will be the observer's responsibility to be the official time keeper and call lines out on the boat each day.

Tackle: IGFA rules apply unless otherwise noted.

Bait: Dead bait and lures are acceptable for all tournaments. Participants are responsible for their own bait.

Line Test: The stated line strength shall not exceed 50 lbs. (24 kg.) test. The Tournament Committee reserves the right to take line samples for overtesting purposes.

Leader: For all tournaments, the combined length of the double line and the leader shall not exceed 40 feet, including all knots and hooks, and the length of the leader itself shall not exceed 30 feet. The Tournament Committee reserves the right to take leader samples for testing.

Hooks: Anglers are required to use tournament-legal circle hooks, not to exceed five degree offset. J-hooks may only be used for non-baited lures.

Rods: Up to six rods and four teasers in the water at any given time is permitted for all tournaments. Anglers can rotate rods at their own discretion.

Hook-up: The hook-up must be carried out by one angler without assistance from fellow anglers or crew. Once a fish is hooked, it is prohibited to transfer the rod to another angler.

Anglers: A maximum of four anglers per boat are permitted. Each team may register a fifth angler; however only four anglers are permitted to fish on the boat each fishing day. The cost of registering a fifth angler is $500 per tournament. Upon registration, the names of all participating anglers and crew (captain and at least one mate) must be declared. During the tournament, the declared captain and crew members may not participate as anglers. There is no limit to the number of mates that can be declared.
Teams may substitute their anglers from the first tournament for new anglers during the second tournament; however at least two of the original team members must also participate in the second tournament to be eligible for the $50,000 grand prize.

All anglers and mates must be registered by the end of registration and check-in before the first fishing day.
Any emergencies dealing with angler substitution will be handled on a case by case basis at the discretion of the tournament rules committee. Once approved, the substitution must be registered with tournament director by 6:00 am each morning or by 6:00 pm (when scorecards submitted) each evening for the following day of fishing.

Observers: The tournament promoter will provide observers. If there are an insufficient number of observers the tournament promoter will provide previously approved experienced anglers to observe. Observers will rotate on participating boats throughout the three fishing days of each tournament.

Boats: There are no restrictions on the size and type of boats that may enter the tournaments. In the event of mechanical failure, substitution of boats will be permitted. Substitutions must be submitted to the tournament director prior to each fishing day.

Boundaries: Eligible fish must be hooked within a 50-mile radius. The center of the 50-mile radius is established from the red buoy in the middle of Herradura Bay with GPS coordinates N 09 38’920 and W 084 39’780. Fish can then be played outside the boundary until caught or released.

Releases: A release is defined as a leader to rod tip or by the mate touching the leader with his/her hand. IGFA leader and double line requirements apply. At no time shall the Observer interfere with the release.

Committee Boat: The land-based tournament committee boat is located within Los Sueños Marina. If required, additional committee boats will circulate with anglers in order to provide back up scoring data.

Reporting a Catch: All marlin hook-ups and releases, and all sailfish releases must be reported to the Committee Boat via radio. To avoid radio congestion, radio communications will be handled in the following manner.

For Sailfish releases, the dialog should be communicated as follows:
Vessel-“Committee Boat, Committee Boat [Name of Vessel]” one release right now”
Committee Boat-“Release number 255”
(Note: the vessel does not have to say “sailfish”)
For Marlin releases, the dialog should be communicated as follows:

Vessel-“Committee Boat, Committee Boat [Name of Vessel] hooked up to a marlin”
Committee Boat-[Name of Vessel] hooked up to a marlin 10:30 a.m.
Once the Marlin has been released:
Vessel-“Committee Boat, Committee Boat [Name of Vessel] one marlin release right now”
Committee Boat-[Name of Vessel] marlin released 10:50 a.m.
(The designated radio channel will be communicated at the Captains' Meeting.)
The Committee Boat will respond with a time of hook-up and then a time of release and release number for marlin. The Committee Boat will respond with a number for sailfish releases.
It is the Captain's ultimate responsibility to make sure his boat logs every fish on the scorecard.

Verification of Catch: All releases must be witnessed by the Observer.

Points System: All billfish must be released to obtain points. Sailfish releases are worth 100 points each and all species of marlin are worth 500 points each.

Scoring: Scorecards must be filled out by each Captain and turned in to the designated area daily by 6:00 pm. Scorecards will only be accepted after the deadline if the team has reported to the Committee Boat that it is fighting a fish at lines out time. If a team has mechanical problems with their boats during the fishing day or while returning to Los Sueños Marina, the team may pass the completed scorecard to another boat to be submitted. The scorecard must show the date, time or catch/release, release number and signatures of Captain and Observer.
Anyone can touch the lines as long as the registered angler plays a fish from start to conclusion. It is in the best interest of the team not to allow a non angler to participate in reeling in a line. If a fish happens to strike the bait the non angler is reeling in then the rod is disqualified. Teams should not allow mates or guests to reel in lines; if they do it will be at their own risk of disqualifying a fish if hooked on such reeling in of a line.

Protests: Protests must be submitted in writing to the Rules Committee by 6:00 pm on the same day as the catch or release of the disputed fish (5:30 pm on the final fishing day). All protests must be accompanied by a non-refundable $500 filing fee (cash only).

Tiebreakers: In the event of a tie, time of release will be used to determine the winner, with the prize going to the boat that obtains the given release first.

Prizes: For each tournament, trophies will be awarded to the top three boats based on overall billfish release points.

The total cash prize purse will vary depending upon the number of entries received in each tournament. Cash prizes will be distributed to the top three boats (based on overall billfish release points) as follows: 50% first place, 30% second place, 20% third place.

A guaranteed cash prize of $50,000 will be awarded to the boat with the highest combined billfish release points for both tournaments. Boats must fish both tournaments to be eligible to receive this prize. All prize money will be awarded via check or wire transfer (at winner's election) drawn on a Panamanian bank.

The above rules and regulations are subject to change at the discretion of the Rules Committee. Any modifications will be announced at the Mandatory Captains’ and Observers’ Meeting.

The interpretation, decisions and enforcement by the Rules Committee of these rules and regulations shall be final and binding on all anglers, boats, captains, crews and observers participating in the tournaments.