Bimini's winter wahoo calendar once held several tournaments at different resorts in different months. This season it holds one. The Slicker Wahoo Tournament runs December 5 and 6, 2026, at Bimini Big Game Club Resort & Marina in Alice Town. It is the only wahoo event on the club's current events page, and the only other event listed there is the Bimini Deep Drop in July 2027.
So the wahoo season that North Bimini sees from the dock, the bar and the pool deck now happens mostly in one Saturday night and one Sunday on the water. Knowing how that weekend works, and why one fishing day suits this fish, gets you more out of December than another general guide to Bimini fishing.
The calendar used to have more pages
The Big Game Club's own blog recap describes Wahoo Smackdown XI, held at the resort November 7 to 10, 2019. The club later took registration for a November 2021 edition at $1,500 per boat for up to four anglers, with each extra angler at $250. Across the harbor in Port Royal, South Bimini, the Bimini Sands Wahoo Tournament appears on the Bahamas tourism events site for October 19 to 22, 2017, at $1,750 per boat with four anglers included. Resorts World Bimini ran its own Wahoo Fishing Challenge, and a Bahamas tourism recap reported 25 boats at its first edition, held February 2 to 5.
| Tournament | Venue | Most recent edition on record | Winter 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wahoo Smackdown | Bimini Big Game Club, Alice Town | Registration offered for November 2021 | Not on the club's events page |
| Bimini Sands Wahoo Tournament | Bimini Sands Resort and Marina, Port Royal | October 2017 | No current listing |
| Resorts World Bimini Wahoo Fishing Challenge | Hilton at Resorts World Bimini | First edition, February 2–5 | No current listing |
| Slicker Wahoo Tournament | Bimini Big Game Club, Alice Town | Scheduled for December 2026 | Confirmed, December 5–6 |
The entry fee has barely moved. Slicker's general entry is $1,500, paid as a $250 deposit online and $1,250 at the captain's party. That matches what the Smackdown charged per boat in 2021. The cost has held steady while the number of events has fallen, so the boats, crews and spectators who used to spread across a fall and winter now gather on one marina for one weekend.
December 5 and 6, hour by hour
The organizer's page has a header that reads "December 5th 2026," and the Big Game Club's page uses the same date. The organizer's detailed schedule shows how the two days split, and the official Bahamas events page lists the tournament on December 6. A 2026 Bimini events calendar from Waterway Guide still shows November 21. The organizer, the club and Bahamas tourism all list the first weekend of December, so treat any November date as out of date. According to the Slicker Wahoo Bimini schedule:
- Saturday, December 5, 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. Final registration at the Big Game pool and Hemingway's.
- Saturday, December 5, 6:00 p.m. Captain's party at the Big Game Club pool.
- Sunday, December 6, 4:00 a.m. Boats check out with the committee, and no earlier.
- Sunday, December 6, 6:45 a.m. Lines in.
- Sunday, December 6, 4:00 p.m. Lines out. A fish hooked at 3:59 p.m. or earlier counts only if a continuous video shows the hookup and the fight until the fish is in the boat.
- Sunday, December 6, 7:00 p.m. Weigh-in closes at the Big Game Club, followed by awards that night.
The format suits a one-day event. There is no boundary, so boats can run wherever they think the fish are. Electric reels are allowed, and each boat can have five lines in the water at most. The side pots show what the field is hoping for. The top calcutta is a $5,000 winner-take-all on the five-wahoo aggregate, and a separate $300 pot goes to the biggest wahoo over 100 pounds. Boats with fish to weigh must be visible to the Big Game Club before 7 p.m. That means tied up, or north of the southernmost dock. The rule is about where a boat sits, not about who can stand on the dock, so anyone hoping to watch the scales should check spectator access with the resort first. The marina has 75 slips, a dockmaster and 24-hour security. The organizer's sign-up page has also shown the tournament as sold out, so crews still hoping to enter should ask the organizer directly.
Why one fishing day can work for a fish that may not stay
Bimini's winter wahoo reputation rests more on anglers' experience than on settled science. In 2013, Florida Sportsman wrote that the Bahamas Wahoo Championship was timed for autumn and winter "to capitalize on these big fish migrating through the Bahamas." That description covers the whole Bahamas, not Bimini specifically.
Tagging work points the same way, with an important caution. In a Florida Sport Fishing interview, tag researcher Tim Theisen described four tagged wahoo. Two were released near Grand Bahama in October and two off Florida in February. All four moved north, stayed in warm Gulf Stream water and appeared to follow food. He also said it was not yet known whether the fish stay in an area for a season. A 2013 ICCAT scientific review of western North Atlantic tagging data found that wahoo spent more than 90 percent of the observed time in the top 200 meters of water, at 17.5 to 27.5°C. The same review said the species' movements are still poorly understood.
North Bimini sits right against that warm current. If the big fish are moving along it rather than staying in one place, a no-boundary format with an early start makes sense. Boats can run to wherever the warm water and bait are on that particular Sunday.
For anyone who would rather fish than watch, the Big Game Club hosts Adrenaline Adventures. Its 50-foot sportfisher Jezebel carries wahoo tackle and runs four-, six- and eight-hour trips, which can be booked through the resort's on-site charter page.
Where the weekend happens on land
The tournament dates line up with the Big Game Club's regular weekly calendar, which turns the weekend into three nights rather than two. December 4 is a Friday, and the club runs a Friday Fish Fry every week from a menu last updated in March 2026. On Saturday, Hemingway's Poolside Rum Club has a local DJ until midnight, the same night the captain's party is at the pool. Sunday, the fishing day, is Lobster Sunday on the club's weekly theme-night schedule.
The main restaurant now trades as Bimini Seafood Company & Conch Bar, the club's newer concept that replaced the Bimini Big Game Bar & Grill. It serves breakfast from 7:30 to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m. The menu includes a Fresh Catch Burger Melt and conch salad, with views over the marina where the boats will tie up. Hemingway's opens at 1 p.m. and stays open until midnight Wednesday through Sunday. Bimini Pizza is served from the same bar daily, noon to 9 p.m. Restaurant guests can use the resort pool and game room.
Past the resort, King's Highway has the conch and fish stops that run all year. Stuart's Conch Salad Stand in Bailey Town is where Fabian Stuart makes conch salad fresh every day. Edith's Pizza & Takeout, also on King's Highway in Bailey Town, serves cracked conch and fish plates as well as its conch and lobster pizzas. On the Alice Town side, CJ's Deli on Radio Beach sells fish sandwiches, fried fish and cracked lobster. Hours at small stands change with the season, so call ahead before planning a tournament-weekend lunch around one of them.
The rules that apply once the fish is in the boat
Bahamian law sets limits on sportfishing, which the regulations define as foreign fishing for sport or other noncommercial purposes. Under regulation 48 of the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Regulations, a sportfishing vessel may carry no more than 18 migratory fish at any time. The regulation names kingfish, dolphin, tuna and wahoo as examples. Fishing must be by hook and line, with no more than six rods or reels per vessel unless separately authorized. The 18-fish cap, the billfish-release rule and the limits on demersal catch also cover non-Bahamians fishing noncommercially from a Bahamian vessel. Permanent residents count as Bahamians under that regulation.
Foreign-registered boats face one more step. Regulation 47 requires a sportfishing permit issued by the Minister, and the application is made to Customs at the first port of entry. A foreign vessel fishing in a tournament must carry that permit and display the organizer's tournament decal attached to it. Regulation 70 caps the fish taken out of The Bahamas at six kingfish, dolphin and wahoo combined. A foreign vessel holding a regulation 47 permit may export the amount regulation 48 allows. The government's posted text is the 2017 consolidated edition, so confirm the current rules with the Department of Marine Resources before you fish. This summary is general information, not legal advice. Captains and owners should check their own permits and vessel status with the proper authorities.
If your Bimini December revolves around the Big Game Club docks and you are thinking about a home within walking distance of them, or a slip that keeps your boat close to the water, My Bahamas Realtor Properties knows North Bimini's waterfront from the marina outward. Schedule a private consultation and we will go through the options with you before the boats head out on December 6.
