Tristate Leaderboard Standings & Rules

2025 Tristate Leaderboard

2025 Tristate Leaderboard Rules

 

  1. All participants must adhere to Tristate Skindivers’ Community rules and guidelines in addition the Tristate Skindivers leaderboard rules found here. Failure to comply with any of the club rules or guidelines may result in disciplinary action, up to and including permanent expulsion from the club.

  2. Freedive spearfishing ONLY. Freediving is a type of underwater diving in which the diver holds their breath and descends into the water without the use of any breathing equipment, such as scuba tanks or surface-supplied air.

  3. Exercise proper speargun handling; never point a loaded speargun at any person and always unload the speargun before re-boarding a boat.

  4. No hook and line / rod & reel fishing allowed.

  5. All participants must have a dive buddy as a witness while diving. It is not permitted to dive alone.

  6. All participants must sign the Tristate Participation Agreement Waiver or they will be ineligible to participate and ineligible for leaderboard submissions. 

  7. All members encouraged to take a level 1 freediving safety course or at the very least complete Immersion Freediving’s free online safety course here: https://freedivingsafety.com/ .

  8. For all inshore species (Bluefish, Scup, Tautog, Black Sea bass, Fluke, Sheepshead and Triggerfish), fish must be weighed on dry land with a certified scale. Participants may use their own certified scale or visit a local tackle shop with an up-to-date certified scale. Certified scales can be purchased directly from our partner Red Tide Spearfishing.

  9. For Bluewater species (Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Yellowfin Tuna, Bigeye Tuna, Albacore Tuna), the fish must be measured by tape measure instead of weight. Measure from the tip of the snout to the fork in the tail to the closest quarter of an inch. Tape must be laid flat over the fish with clear video from tip to tip.

  10. For inshore species, spearos may not receive any assistance from the boat or crew while dispatching their harvest while in the water. However, spearos may have a boat person hand-off a second unloaded gun for a second shot. A fish may be gaffed by a boat person after it is dispatched.

    a) In a Bluewater scenario, a diver can be helped with a second shot from a dive buddy to secure a fish and land it.

  11. Each state has an independent set of local laws and regulations. Be familiar with the local laws and regulations and obey all.

  12. Night spearfishing is not allowed. Any fish taken after the precise time of sunset will be disqualified.

  13. All fish must be taken within recreational bag limits, with no commercial fish allowed.

  14. Participants may harvest fish, ONLY  the following 7 states:  ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, or NJ.

  15. Top Speara category is for females only, and the winner will be the highest total weight combined of the heaviest one of each of the 7 inshore species submitted for the year. Only one fish (the heaviest one submitted) will count per species in the total.

  16. Weigh-in Submission Protocol: All weigh-ins must be submitted via video recording. Participants are required to clearly display; the time & date on a smart phone, the certification stamp or sticker on the scale, and the tare or zero button being pushed with the hook is in the scale (if a hanging style scale). The video must include a clear shot of the entire fish with the weight displayed on the scale in the frame. The submitter must announce their first and last name, the fish species, whether this was a polespear or Speargun harvest, the date of harvest, the weight of the fish being submitted, the state in which the fish was harvested from, and the first & last name of the witness dive buddy. Both the witness and the submitter must be shown on video during the submission. If the witness is not in the weigh-in submission video, the entry must also include an additional video that includes the submitter, the witness, the fish, and the time & date on a smart phone all clearly displayed, in addition to the weigh-in submission video. Your submission is not official until you receive official approval by a Tristate team member, so please wait on filleting your fish until then.

    a)      All leaderboard entries must be submitted within 5 days of harvest.

    b)    For inshore species to overtake the lead, it must weigh at least 1/10 of a pound more than the current leader. No ties will be accepted. If the scale used is in ounces, it will be rounded down to the nearest 1/10 of a pound. For a Bluewater fish to be accepted it must be a half-inch longer than the current standing.

  17. Tristate Leaderboard submission entry options:

a)     Posting on Instagram and tagging @tristateskindivers

b)    Posting on the Tristate Leaderboard Facebook group page

c)     Sending a video on Instagram or Facebook messenger

d). Emailing your video totristateskindivers@gmail.com