TEXAS WOMEN ANGLERS TOURNAMENT

Port Aransas, Texas US

361.779.8025

The Texas Women Anglers Tournament, also known as TWAT, is a women only, family-run fishing tournament held every summer in Port Aransas, Texas. It was founded in the 1980's with the mission to raise funds for the Women's Shelter of South Texas; now named The Purple Door.

In 1989 eighteen boats registered for the tournament with over fifty women anglers. Today an average of seventy boats and over four-hundered women anglers gather in Port Aransas to fish the tournament and raise money for the The Purple Door.

 

Tournament Information:

*Rules in tournament booklet received at registration are to be considered correct rules if differences between those rules and this website are discovered*

  • Entry fee is $900 per boat if postmarked by August 1st.
  • Entries postmarked after August 1st or paid at registration are $1100 per boat.
  • Final entry deadline is 9:00 pm,  Friday evening, at the registration party in Port Aransas.
  • Mail Entries to:

Texas Women Anglers LLC
PO Box 3012
Port Aransas, TX 78373

Make checks payable to : Texas Women Anglers LLC

  • Friday:  boats may leave through the Port Aransas jetties at midnight. Boats must depart from and return through the Port Aransas jetties.
  • Saturday:  at 6:30 am fishing begins. Lines must be out of the water by 4:30 pm on Saturday.
  • Weight Station-Robert's Point Park, Port Aransas
  • The weigh station will open at 5:00pm. Boats must be inside the Port Aransas little jetties by 7:30pm. There will be absolutely no exceptions to this rule!

 

Rules:

By entering this tournament participants agree to abide by all rules and decisions. All decisions made by the weigh master and/or tournament director are final.


Contestants: Contestants are boats. Anglers are women only. Pooling of catches or transfer of catches from one boat to another is prohibited. A fish must be brought to the dock and weighed from the boat on which it was caught. In the event of a mechanical failure that disables a participant's boat, a substitute boat may be used IF COORDINATED WITH THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR. No boats may be substituted after registration ends Friday night.

Anyone may set the hook and then hand the rod over to a woman angler. She must reel the fish in entirely on her own without anyone else touching the rod or reel thereafter. As a participant in this tournament, any and all participants (anglers and crew alike) agree to submit to a lie detector test if deemed necessary by the weigh master or tournament directors.

Tackle: All fish must be caught on rod and reel with hooks only. Fish as many lines or size classes as desired. NMFS regulations require circle hooks when fishing with bait for billfish to be released.

Communications: All boats must report billfish releases to a committee boat on channel 68 VHF or 2638 SSB. Report releases immediately to a committee boat. If no committee boat may be reached, contact any boat to confirm your release time. Boats failing to report a release may be disqualified. You may also call in your hookups/releases by SAT phone to tournament director, Chris Fox at (361) 779-8025. If it is close to quitting time (4:30 pm) and you hookup please call in that hookup to a committee boat and make sure they know you are fighting a fish.

Conduct: Any person with a protest must present it in writing to the tournament director by 9:00pm, Saturday. Tournament director and weigh master reserve the right to refuse entry to any contestant for any reason.

 

SCORING:

Blue Marlin - 305 points 

White Marlin - 110 points 

Sailfish - 100 points 

Dolphin, Tuna, Wahoo - 1 point per pound

 

Billfish: In the event of a tie in the billfish categories, first and second place trophies will be determined according to the time of the releases. The boat that accumulated all of their points in that category first will be the winner.


Dolphin, Tuna, Wahoo: A mutilated fish will be disqualified. If there is a tie in weight, the length will determine the winner. If there is also a tie in length, the girth will determine the winner.

 

Overall: The winner of the overall trophy will be the boat with the most points in the billfish category plus 1 point per pound in the dolphin, tuna, and wahoo divisions. Only one fish per species (Dolphin, Tuna, Wahoo) per boat will count towards this total. Each boat may weigh in more than one fish in each species but only the heaviest will count towards the overall points. In the event of a tie in overall points, the boat that accumulated all of their release points first will be the winner.

 

 

TROPHIES & OTHER AWARDS

Trophies will be awards for the following divisions: 

  • ML Walker Perpetual Trophy (Overall Winner)
  • 1st Place Overall Trophy 
  • 1st Place Blue Marlin
  • 2nd Place Blue Marlin
  • 1st Place White Marlin
  • 2nd Place White Marlin
  • 1st Place Sailfish
  • 2nd Place Sailfish
  • 1st Place Dolphin
  • 2nd Place Dolphin
  • 1st Place Tuna
  • 2nd Place Tuna
  • 1st Place Wahoo
  • 2nd Place Wahoo

 

 Additional awards are given to the following:

  • 1st place best decorated boat
  • 2nd place best decorated boat
  • 3rd place best decorated boat
  • Best Dressed Captain 

 

VIDEO RELEASE RULES:

The billfish division of this tournament is CATCH AND RELEASE ONLY! A video must be submitted verifying the type of fish caught with the designated object of the day in plain view. The object of the day will be presented at registration on Friday night. No polaroid pictures will be accepted.

The video footage must include the following:

  • The angler catching the fish (at least the last 30 seconds prior to the mate grabbing the leader)
  • The release is to include the mate with the leader in his/her hand and the release of the fish, whether by cutting the line, removing the hook, breaking the line, or pulling the hook.
  • This footage must be recorded without pauses in the tape or turning the camera off and on. Any billfish that is mutilated (including gaff marks) will be disqualified. It is against Federal Regulations to boat any billfish in a ‘release only' tournament. If the fish species is not identifiable without question only 100 points will be awarded.

All boats must be able to connect their camera to a TV monitor or a laptop using standard RCA video jack or USB port when presenting their video for verification. Participants MUST furnish everything needed to view the video! Please keep in mind that all videos must be viewed on either the official tournament laptop or official tournament TV monitor. No personal laptops are allowed for viewing. 

 

WEATHER:

Should Mother Nature play havoc with our scheduled fishing day, we will reschedule our fishing day to Sunday. If Sunday is not suitable for fishing either, it will be at the Tournament Director's discretion to reschedule or cancel.