Tournament Anglers

Photo of a largemouth bass tournament angler holding up 2 largemouth bass fish.

Welcome to our Tournament Angler page. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to many tournaments throughout the year, with most occurring between April and November. Some tournaments are large scale productions, such as the Bassmaster Open. Some are less large but still incredibly fun to watch or participate in.

We participate in a cooperative effort with our tournament anglers to keep healthy stocks of fish. In addition to the catch-and-release practices of most tournaments, handling techniques of fish have greatly improved and resulted in many more fish surviving now than twenty years ago.

Read these documents for information on:

Tournament Directors

Do I need a permit?

Tournament Permit Requirements

The permittee is required to:

ensure that supplies and equipment for tournament are in good working order
ensure that bags used to transport bass do not leak
ensure that largemouth bass are maintained in well-oxygenated conditions
ensure that bass are covered by water when transported by bag
ensure that bass are not held in a bag with water for longer than 5 minutes without a water exchange
ensure the legal disposal of dead black bass
ensure that results are reported by the date on the permit
ensure that all permit conditions specified on the permit are being followed.