Photo courtesy of March Merkin Tournament Website.

There's another great benefit fishing tournament coming in March. The March Merkin Invitational Permit Tournament will run from March 12-15, 2012, out of the Key West Harbour Yacht Club. Here are some details from the website:

The tournament events are being held at Key West Harbour Yacht Club and each fishing day starts and ends at Key West Harbour Yacht Club. The Marina is located at 6000 Peninsular Avenue on Stock Island.

On each fishing day, coffee, juice and pastries will be available at 7:00am at the Marina . Boats may leave the dock at 8:00am and begin fishing anytime thereafter. Fishing ends at 4:30 pm . Boats must return to the Marina by 6:00 pm .

Please note that NO box lunches are provided for tournament participants and breakfast is limited.

Also, the rules require that each fish be photographed with a digital camera which must be provided by the Angler or the Guide. At the close of each fishing day, a Daily Catch Form and the marked tape must be given to the Scorekeeper if one or more fish are caught. The Scorekeeper must also be shown a photograph on the screen of the digital camera of each fish caught.

All proceeds from the tournament after the deduction of direct tournament costs will be donated as follows: 50% to the Don Hawley Foundation for the benefit of Florida Keys guides who experience some financial hardship; 50% to the Tarpon & Bonefish Trust.

Check out http://marchmerkin.com/tournamentinfo.htm for further details and information on applications,permits and rules.