ABOUT US
Tournament Anglers Association (“TAA”) was incorporated in February 1983 as a California nonprofit corporation. It is tax exempt under both Federal and California law as a recreational club. As stated in its Articles of Incorporation, TAA was created “ to foster national and international competition and conservation for saltwater game fish in the Eastern Pacific region”. Membership in TAA is open to all persons who subscribe to good sportsmanship, fair play and angling by the rules, as established by The International Game Fish Association (“IGFA”). TAA is a club member of IGFA and anglers must be members of IGFA in order to fish in TAA sanctioned tournaments.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the founders of TAA became increasingly concerned about the future of ethical tag and release billfish tournaments on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Big money “jackpot “ kill events began to appear in Baja and the major producer of tag and release tournaments, Dick Wilkes, was about to retire. In view of this, the founders, John Jackson, Bill Hoey and Neal McNamara, decided to form TAA.

The initial TAA event was The Tournament of Champions held at the Hotel Solmar in Cabo San Lucas during November 1983.The first Eastcape Billfish Tournament took place at the Hotel Punta Colorada in July 1984 and the Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament began in 1990.The Tournament of Champions was discontinued after the 1995 event due to deteriorating conditions at Cabo during the Fall but the Eastcape and Ixtapa tournaments continue today. Since the beginning, TAA has produced 40 tournaments and it members have released over 3000 billfish in sanctioned competition. All tournaments are managed by members on a voluntary basis and no fees or commissions are paid to anyone involved. No cash prizes are given and awards are in the form of fishing tackle or gift certificates redeemable through tackle catalogs.

The Eastcape Billfish Tournament and Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament are qualifying tournaments for the annual Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship. The top four anglers in each event make up the teams and our teams have done very well since the first Rolex/IGFA was held in Kona; in 2000, the Eastcape team came in fifth, in 2002, the Ixtapa team was third and the Eastcape team also was third in 2002. One of the Ixtapa team members was top individual angler in 2001 and another won the Wahoo division in 2002.

TAA keeps track of all members’ billfish releases at approved competitions and awards colorful patches in recognition of such achievements, in increments from 5 releases to 200.