Tournament Info

Added Entries: Can be added to an existing Entry until 7:00 PM October 6, 2023.

Captain and crew are responsible for reviewing and understanding the rules as written.

October 7-14, 2023. Boats may fish only 2 of the 8 days of this tournament. Boats must declare a Fish Day by phone (410-213-9600) or by filling out an Official Fish Day Form in person at Sunset Marina. All boats must declare a Fish day no later than before the day before their declared day.  Any boat not properly declaring a fish day will not be eligible for weigh-ins on that day.  Tournament directors reserve the right to accept a late Fish Day form at their discretion.

• a. Registered boats can “fun fish” or run a charter on their undeclared fishing days.

Lines in at 8:00AM (no lines in the water before). Lines out at 3:30 PM (all lines out of the water). Boats can leave any Inlet between Cape May, NJ and Virginia Beach, Va. Boats cannot leave their ports Sea Buoy before 12:01 AM of that fishing day and no lines in the water until 8:00AM. NO SONAR OPERATION PRIOR TO LINES IN.

• a. Once a Tournament boat wets a fishing line, they have declared themselves fishing one of the eligible two days.
• b. If a Tournament boat is hooked-up at lines out, the Team may fight the fish until boated or lost. The vessel must arrive at the scales before they close with their catch, for that day, to be eligible for scoring.
• c. Any boat still fighting a SWORDFISH after the 3:30 PM deadline:
• c-1. Will be permitted to fight that fish until boated, released or lost – except that in order to be eligible for prize money, the SWORDFISH must be made available for weighing no later than 7:00 PM on Saturday October 14th, regardless of which fishing day the hookup occurred.
• c-2. If that boat has any other fish on board intended for weighing, it must report to another registered tournament boat, Tournament Directors or another boat that can be verified by 3:30 PM the species of boated fish, the exact length and girth, estimated weight and when the fish was boated. Only fish that match the reported length and girth will be weighed. No additional fish may be targeted or boated, after lines out, until the boat has returned to the inlet and commenced another fishing day.

Scales open at 5:30pm each day and close at 7:30pm October 7-13th, and at 7:00pm on Saturday October 14th. All fish entered competition must be present to weigh in each day by 7:30PM EXCEPT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14th, WHEN WEIGH-IN WILL CONCLUDE AT 7:00 PM. Fish entered at weigh-in must be accompanied by an Official Catch Report. All fish must be weighed in by an Official Weighmaster at SUNSET MARINA, the designated scales, to be eligible. In the event of weight ties in either category, this prize money will be divided equally between the tied participants regardless of the time of day caught. The Weighmaster is the official timekeeper of the tournament. Weight of the fish will be rounded to the nearest full pound, with any amount reaching ½ pound and up being rounded upward to the next full pound amount. All boats are allowed only one weigh-in opportunity per day.

• a. Tournament boats must arrive at the OC Junction Buoy, the green/red marker at the fork of the OC Inlet, by 7:30PM October 7-13th and 7:00 PM on Saturday October 14th. A committee boat will be patrolling the area to witness your arrival. You have 30 minutes from passing the OC Junction Buoy to make your fish available for weigh-in at the scales.
• b. Tournament participants may truck their catch to the scales.
• c. Any Participants fishing from a port other than Ocean City will be offered complimentary dockage for the night should they weigh a fish; boats electing to stay the night may fish from the Ocean City Inlet the following day or return to home port.

• a. If a fish does not meet the minimum weight another fish may be presented for consideration. A Team’s single largest fish will be included in their stringer weight.
  (Example: A Team weighs their single largest Sword/ Tuna and may add up to two more fish of any combination (Swordfish, Tuna, Wahoo) to arrive at their daily stringer total). Multiple Swordfish Big Eye Tunas can be added to the stringer weight.
• b. All fish weighed as Single Fish are eligible to be included in Stringer.

Participants enter and participate in the Bishop Broadbill Bash at their own risk and discretion. The responsibility for safety of boat, crew and anglers lies with the Captain of the vessel.

The boundary limit for the Broad Bill Bash is 125 nautical miles from the Ocean City Sea Buoy.

• a. Boats are not permitted to cross the 125 nautical mile boundary for any reason.

All tackle IGFA rules apply unless stated otherwise. LIVE BAIT, CHUMMING, CHUNKING AND WIRE LINE ALLOWED. No line/rod limit. Spreader bar allowed; fire and spider lines permitted. NO greensticks or danglers allowed. Leader length and line at Captain’s discretion. No limit to the number of lines or teasers. Down riggers / Planners / Z wings are allowed. Electric reels, dart gaffs, and harpoons are Allowed. No restrictions on number or style of hooks. Hook and Bait must be attached to the rod, aboard the boat at all times.

(The following items are strictly prohibited and the use of any of the following items or techniques will be grounds for disqualification.)

• a. NO HYDRAULIC REELS OF ANY KIND PERMITTED
• b. NO GREEN STICKS TO BE USED IN ANY WAY
• c. NO DRONES / SPOTTER PLANES
• d. NO BUOY FISHING/LONG LINING. ALL HOOK-SETS MUST BE ATTACHED TO A ROD AND REEL AT ALL TIMES.

Anyone on the boat can be an angler including captain and mates. Captains and Mates can still hook and hand off. Fish may be fought from multiple rod holders and multiple anglers.

• a. No limit on # of anglers per boat.

In the event of a Boat disability, contestants may transfer to a second boat with no fee. Tournament Officials must be notified. The original Boat number will stay with the contestants on the new boat, scoring will remain under the original boat name. If the contestant is entered in a size specific add-ed entry level the new vessel cannot be larger than the class, the contestant is competing in. The Team would have the option of forfeiting the size specific added entry if the appropriate size boat is not available.

• a. A contestant’s fish may be transferred to another boat in the event of a disabled vessel or if swordfish only is too large to load on the Boat it was caught on. If a fish transfer should occur, a representative from the original Team should accompany the fish to the scales. Tournament Officials should be notified of such a transfer.

• a.  Skill Level Notes:  Daily prizes your day 1 against others day 1.  This is your first day of fishing against other Team's first day of fishing, in some cases it will not be the same day.  The same concept applies to day 2.  There are only two days for dailies, all boats have a day 1 and a day 2.
• b.  Added Levels G and H (Boat Size) are all based on manufactures length. Boats may choose to compete in a class larger than their boat but may only compete in one class. At no time can a boat compete in a class smaller than their boat.

Decisions of the Tournament Committee as to winners shall be final. Any protest must be made in writing and must be presented at Tournament headquarters (Sunset Marina) by 7:00 PM on the day of allegation. Protests must be accompanied by a $500.00 deposit which will be refunded if the protest is upheld. Otherwise, the deposit will be forfeited.

Fish entered in the competition are subject to a Tory Meter Test. Winning anglers and crew mem-bers agree to submit to a polygraph the Monday after the event.

Fishing by any one boat either day or partial day constitutes a tournament. If totally canceled by an Act of God or natural disaster, available purse monies will be added to the 2024 Bishop Broadbill Bash Tournament. There will be NO REFUNDS.

All catches must be iced and maintained properly. No mutilated fish will be scored.

Participants are assumed to have all necessary permits, licenses and/or registrations required by law. However, it is not the responsibility of the Tournament Officials or Directors to verify that all required permits, licenses and/or registrations are acquired by anglers participating in the Tour-nament. Failure of a winning angler to have obtained any or all required permits, licenses and/or registrations shall not be the basis for a protest to be filed under the General Tournament Rules, or for a fish to be disqualified.

The Tournament and its sponsors are not responsible for the conduct, personal injury, damages, or negligence on the part of any participant.
The Tournament reserves the right to inspect any boats entered in competition without notice.

The Tournament is held in compliance with any applicable laws governing the State of Maryland or the United States of America.
The Tournament Committee shall have the right to rule and decide on any dispute. Participants entering this Tournament agree that the decision of the Tournament Committee shall be final and binding in any matter requiring their action.