Tuna and Tiaras tournament June 16-17, ladies only

By Hunter Hine Staff Writer

(June 9, 2023) The Ocean City Fishing Center and Micky Fins will host the third annual Tuna and Tiaras fishing tournament, which organizers claim as the only all-women tuna tournament in the world, June 16-17.

“We’re actually, that I know of, one of three women-owned and operated fishing tournaments in the world, and my help is 90 percent women,” said Tournament Director Pam Taylor. “I have a few guys that show up for registration and weigh-in days.”

Teams can register in advance online, or in-person at Micky Fins on June 15 starting at 5 p.m.

The captains meeting starts in the parking lot on the same day at 7 p.m., which at least one person from each team must attend.

There will be a silent auction and tournament bags full of goodies organized by Megan Schulte, director of sponsorship and donations, Taylor said.

There will be vendors set up during registration, and organizers invite people to bring leashed pets.

The entry fee is $400 per boat with a maximum of six ladies on board. Teams can fish only one of the two tournament days.

Each team must enter at least one added entry level calcutta. There are eight calcuttas, which cost $250-$500 to enter and include, heaviest tuna, heaviest wahoo and heaviest mahi.

There are both winner-take-all and split prizes depending on the calcutta. Big eyes, yellow fin, blue fin and long fin are all accepted tunas.

Four calcuttas count tuna stringers, which consists of two to five fish.

Small boats also have two of their own calcuttas for heaviest tuna and heaviest tuna stringer.

Any boats with an outboard motor who bought into the single-heaviest tuna winner-takes-all calcutta are automatically entered in the bonus jackpot, which has a $5,000 payout.

Weigh-ins open at 4 p.m. and close at 7 p.m. each day and are located at Micky Fins, in West Ocean City.

Ten percent of all registration fees will benefit Women Supporting Women, an organization that provides education and awareness for breast cancer and supports women around Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset and Dorchester counties.

“They keep all their money local right here on the Delmarva Peninsula, which was really important to me,” Taylor said.

There is also an area for additional donations on the registration form, and every dime collected from the silent auction at registration goes to WSW, Taylor said.

“Because our donations, I think our first year they started the survivors program – so kind of like some support after you’re in remission – and year two they made bags that they took to the hospital, so you’re a first-time chemo patient, the bags have things to keep you busy like crossword puzzles,” Taylor said. “They also have anti-nausea candies in there, chapstick and lotion for your dry skin.”

In their first year the tournament raised $7,750 for WSW, and last year it generated $5,500.

“I would like to get it back up to the $7,500 mark, but obviously if we can hit a milestone of a five-figure donation that would be tremendous,” Taylor said.

Anglers can participate in five different categories of the photo contest, like best fish kiss (contact required), best fish-fight photo and best group photo, to win prize bags.

Next Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight will be the first-ever Tuna and Tiaras awards party for tournament participants at Wild Bills on S. Baltimore Ave. in downtown Ocean City. DJ Bigler provide the music.

Passes for the party will be available at registration on June 15.

“We’re super excited to have the party and I think we’re going to have a lot of growth this year. I really do,” Taylor said. “Hearing the boats that we have never had before that are joining us this year … [and] we still have boats that need anglers.”

In 2020, Taylor started a catch and release fishing tournament called Rebels Release, which was successful, but covid made weigh-ins difficult.

“I didn’t think Ocean City needed another female release tournament, so I did some research and found out there had never ever been a ladies tuna tournament, and I confirmed that with NOAA and decided that was what I wanted to do, was be the first to start something new and kind of pioneer my own path,” Taylor said.

Last year, due to a violently windy offshore weather forecast, Taylor delayed the tournament a week.

“We didn’t want to send the girls out into the perfect storm so we pushed it back an entire weekend,” Taylor said.

The first year, Taylor said the tournament had 36 boats, but since many of the charters had been scheduled for the bad-weather-date in 2022, they lost many anglers and ended up with about 33 boats.

“I’m estimating this year, I’m preparing for 75 and my goal is 50 boats if we can keep it in the same weekend,” Taylor said.

To learn more, register or see the tournament rules, visit tunaandtiaras.com.

“When you first sign into the website, there’s a pop up ad and you click on that and it takes you to our Facebook group to help fill boats or find teammates,” Taylor said.