Award Programs
Rhode Island Game Fish Award Program
Each year, RIDEM-Division of Fish & Wildlife recognizes anglers who have caught freshwater and saltwater game fish of notable size with our Game Fish Award program. To be eligible, an angler must catch a qualifying fish by rod and reel, tie-up or handline by legal means in Rhode Island waters. To accommodate both ‘catch and release’ and harvest fishing, the angler can either take a photo of the fish using a hand-scale and ruler or bring the catch to an official weigh station. The angler must then complete the Game Fish / State Record Award Application, available on the Rhode Island DEM website. One award per year is issued for each species of game fish caught that meet the minimum size requirements listed to the right. The Game Fish Award goes to the angler with the largest catch in that species category. Game Fish Awards are mailed out in the spring of the following year the fish was caught.
Game Fish Award Qualifying Weights/Lengths (Except First Fish Awards) |
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Qualifying Saltwater Weights or Lengths |
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Black Sea Bass |
20" |
4 lbs. |
Blue Shark |
72" |
80 lbs. |
Bluefin Tuna |
90" |
450 lbs. |
Bluefish |
32" |
14 lbs. |
Bonito |
25" |
8 lbs. |
Chub Mackerel |
14" |
1 lb. |
Cobia |
48" |
50 lbs. |
Cod |
38" |
20 lbs. |
False Albacore |
24" |
5 lbs. |
Grey Triggerfish |
17" |
3 lbs. |
Haddock |
30" |
10 lbs. |
Hickory Shad |
18" |
2 lbs. |
King Mackerel |
19" |
3 lbs. |
Mackerel |
15" |
1 lb. |
Mahi Mahi (common dolphinfish) |
30" |
8 lbs. |
Mako Shark |
90" |
300 lbs. |
Pollock |
36" |
15 lbs. |
Scup |
13" |
2.5 lbs. |
Spanish Mackerel |
24" |
4.5 lbs. |
Squeteague (Weakfish) |
24" |
4.5 lbs. |
Striped Bass* |
48" |
50 lbs. |
Summer Flounder |
25" |
6 lbs. |
Swordfish |
70" |
170 lbs. |
Tautog |
23" |
10 lbs. |
Wahoo |
50" |
4 lbs. |
White Marlin |
72" |
70 lbs. |
Winter Flounder |
16" |
3 lbs. |
Yellowfin Tuna |
56" |
125 lbs. |
RI State Record Award
The Division of Fish and Wildlife maintains state records on each species of game fish caught in Rhode Island waters. To apply for an RI State Record, the angler must bring his or her legally-caught fish to an official weigh-in station. The fish must be identified, measured, and weighed on a Rhode Island certified, digital scale. The station operator must fill out a Game Fish/State Record Award Application and sign it. State Record Game Fish Awards are mailed out in the spring of the following year the fish was caught. For a list of official fish weigh-in locations and to access applications, visit the Rhode Island DEM fish records page.
First Fish Award Program
First Fish Awards are available for children who catch their first fish in Rhode Island. To qualify, an angler must have caught a fish by rod and reel, tie-up or handline by legal means. Applications can be processed without the need for an official weigh-in. Below is the First Fish Award application. It can also be downloaded from the Rhode Island DEM children’s freshwater fishing page. First Fish Awards are processed twice a year: once in the fall and prior to the opening day of the following year.
Completed Applications
Please send all completed applications to: RIDEM- Fish & Wildlife, 1B Camp E-Hun-Tee Place, Exeter, RI 02822, for verification and processing. For questions about any of these award programs, email, or call (401) 539-0037.
Summer Flounder Tagging Project
The Rhode Island Division of Marine Fisheries (RI DMF) is conducting a project that seeks to describe summer flounder stock dynamics in Rhode Island state waters with the objective of supporting science-based management of the resource, particularly in relation to recent declines in the availability of summer flounder to nearshore recreational anglers.
A major component of this project consists of a mark-recapture study using conventional disc tags. The low cost and relative ease in applying these tags to marine species makes them a desirable tool when looking to achieve a high sample size with a large team of scientists. However, as a mark-recapture tagging technique, movement inference on tagged fish is reliant on people/the public recapturing the tagged fish and reporting the recaptured fish to scientists. Peterson disc tags, each with their own serial number and the phone number of the project team, will be deployed on sub-adult and adult summer flounder, with a goal of tagging up to 1000 flounder over the course of the study. Tags will be deployed by recreational anglers within the private and for-hire sectors by working with the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) and the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association (RIPCBA).
Anglers will be asked to tag fish caught below minimum legal size, and any legal sized fish they release. Information requested from anglers when tagging the fish will include the serial tag number, date, location (latitude and longitude), size (length, and weight when possible) of the fish, and the depth the fish was obtained from. Harvesters tagging fish will be asked to email a scanned copy or photo of the completed tagging form, or to have them mailed or dropped off with the project team. Disc tags will contain the phone number of RI DMF, where harvesters can call in to report information on recaptured fish.
As an extra incentive, anglers who catch and report a tagged fish will be rewarded with an RI DMF summer flounder hat! So, if you catch a tagged fluke this summer, be sure to let us know so you can show off your support of science-based management and keeping RI fisheries sustainable.
