Rules
All anglers must sign the General Release of Liability and Waiver of Claims in order to participate in The Waterman Fly Fishing Tournament.

Fishing boundaries are the West Coast of Florida only from the Southern Tip of Sanibel Island to the Southern Edge of the Crystal River Power Plant Main Channel.

Anglers may launch at any ramp, but must fish within the stated boundaries.

Maximum of two anglers per team/boat.

USCG Licensed Captains are welcome to fish the tournament, however, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper strongly encourages only one USCG Captain/Guide per team to maximize the amount of anglers fishing in The Waterman.

Tournament registration and payment of the entry fee is through the iAngler Tournament webpage https://ianglertournament.com/waterman-fly-fishing-tournament-2023.

Registration and payment for the Snook Calcutta will be completed by each participating angler/team by visiting the “Events” section of www.tampabaywaterkeeper.org.

A laminated tournament card, black permanent marker and measuring device will be supplied to each team. These will be available for pick up at the following designated fly shops/outfitters. Each team will select to their fly shop/outfitter of choice from the following list:
Tampa Fishing Outfitters

Minnows and Monsters/Tampa Bay on the Fly

Bill Jackson’s

Compound Board Shop

Tailwater Outfitters

Backwater Provisions  

Upon registration and payment of the tournament fee, each team will be assigned a team number. The team’s name and team number must be prominently displayed in black permanent marker on the tournament card.

To differentiate fish caught on Day 1 vs. Day 2, a daily code word will be posted on the Tampa Bay Waterkeeper Instagram and Facebook page at 7:00am on each fishing day. The daily code word must be clearly and legibly written on the tournament card in black permanent marker.

Teams must provide a photo of measured fish adjacent to the tournament supplied measuring device. The nose of fish on the 0’’ mark must be visible in the photograph.

Tail of the measured fish may be pinched.

Fish will be measured rounded up to the closest quarter inch.

All fish caught must be released alive.

Fly only.

No scent may be applied to the fly. No chumming with live or dead bait.

Tournament anglers may not fish within 100 yards of any person or vessel that is chumming or fishing with live or dead bait.

Tournament anglers may not fish an area which has been chummed with live or dead bait within eight (8) hours of the person or vessel vacating the chummed area.

Wade fishing is permitted. However, if wade fishing from a skiff/boat/paddle craft, both anglers must exit the skiff/boat/paddle craft. One angler is permitted to wade back to the skiff/boat and drive the skiff/boat back to the other angler/fishing area. For example, teams are not permitted to drop an angler off at one of a fishing area and then drive a distance away and anchor (i.e. leap frogging) nor drop an angler off to wade fish and then drift or pole a flat by himself/herself.

Respect and courtesy to all tournament and recreational anglers/boaters is mandatory.

Approximately 200 yards distance must be given to all tournament anglers. If a skiff is poling a shoreline/flat, the second arriving team must approach the shoreline/flat from the stern of the skiff present upon arrival. Otherwise teams are expected to use the best judgment given the conditions (sun, wind and tide) to avoid cutting off another team.

Violation of rules may result in disqualification at the tournament committee’s discretion.

Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Inc. reserves the right to deny participation in The Waterman to any angler based upon that angler’s prior unethical conduct in any other fishing tournament, violations The Waterman Tournament rules, and or state/federal fishing regulations.
Calcutta Snook
$25 per angler/$50 per team. Individual Angler with the Longest Snook of the Tournament wins the Calcutta.

Registration and payment for the Snook Calcutta will be completed by each participating angler/team by visiting the “Events” section of www.tampabaywaterkeeper.org.

Winner takes the remaining pot after 50% donation to Tampa Bay Waterkeeper
Weigh-In Procedure
Redfish photos (with tournament approved measuring device, tournament placard, team number and daily code word visible) and Calcutta Snook (with tournament approved measuring tournament placard, team number and daily code word visible) must be uploaded to the iAngler Tournament app within 15 minutes of lines out on each tournament day (4:15pm on Day 1 and 3:15pm on Day 2).
Submissions received after 4:15pm on Day 1 will be disqualified.

Submissions received after 3:15pm on Day 2 will be disqualified.

Each team will receive a push notification from the iAngler Tournament App indicating that their weigh-in was received timely with the length of each fish weighed in as determined by tournament officials.

Tournament anglers are encouraged to not wait until the last minute to upload photographs to the iAngler Tournament App. Tournament anglers are also encouraged to consider and plan for the risk of not having sufficient cellular reception to submit their cath based upon their location.

You may upload multiple, separately-caught Redfish and Snook to the iAngler Tournament App per day. The iAngler Tournament App will automatically cull your two biggest Redfish and single biggest Snook based upon your declaration of the size at the time of uploading. No other photos will be reviewed.

Anglers will be notified if the tournament committee’s review of fish length varies from the length declared by the tournament angler.

Anglers are required to have their weigh in photos available for inspection at the Awards Ceremony/Dinner, if necessary.

At least one Angler from Teams eligible for awards must be present at the Awards Ceremony/Dinner to claim prizes.
After uploading your fish to the iAngler Tournament app, we ask that each Team post their weigh-in photos and individual photos of the angler holding the fish on their social media accounts with hashtags #tampabaywaterkeeper and #thewaterman prior to the Awards Banquet.