ReelTime Showdown — Rules and Information

Official Rules and Suggestions

1. Participants must have a Florida mailing address.
2. Eligible catches must be made within the month of November (local ET).
3. Submissions must include unaltered photos with EXIF date/time and GPS.
4. All fish must be caught in Florida waters and comply with state and federal regulations.
5. Sportsmanship and honesty are mandatory; violations may result in disqualification.
6. A submission will generate a forum thread; keep discussion civil and on-topic.
7. Admins reserve the right to request additional verification.
8. All prizes will be mailed to the address submitted at the time of registration, no exceptions.
9. No purchase necessary, entry is free and without conditions, your participation is what wins.
10. This event is designed as a market event to grow engagement with F3 and its sponsors.
11. F3 and its sponsors STRONGLY encourage you to practice catch-and-release. However, in the event you do harvest fish, by participating you agree to follow state and federal rules regarding harvest.
12. Goliath Grouper do not count for submissions in the Grouper Squared category.
13. EXIF data is autonomously checked according to rules, we do not save the data.
14. F3 and its sponsors are not liable for any injury to persons or property during the course of participating in the event. By participating you agree to release F3 and its sponsors of all liability.
15. F3 and its sponsors recommend that you DO NOT boat large fish as this may result in injury. Pictures taken with fish in the water are encouraged and count as submissions.
16. Beach Bums submissions must be caught on foot, and in the surf. We will verify with GPS data and visual confirmation.
17. All submissions in the Youngens challenge category must be of an angler 14 years of age or younger who actually caught the fish. We are operating a little bit on the honor system here, but we may ask for verification if anything looks suspicious.

EXIF Tips

• Enable GPS/Location: Ensure your phone’s location services are ON and permitted for the Camera app.
• iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → set to “While Using the App” and enable “Precise Location”.
• Android: Settings → Location ON; Camera app settings → enable “Save location” (or “Geotag photos”).
• Use original photos: Upload the original image files. Avoid screenshots or apps that strip EXIF (some messengers or social apps may remove metadata).
• Avoid heavy edits: Basic crops are fine, but exporting via certain editors can remove EXIF. If you edit, export with metadata preserved.
• Check device time: Confirm your phone’s date, time, and time zone are correct (Automatic preferred). November submissions must show correct local time.
• Verify EXIF locally: On desktop, you can check photo properties/details to confirm Date/Time Original and GPS are present before uploading.
• Transfer carefully: When moving photos from phone to computer, use methods that preserve metadata (AirDrop “Keep Originals”, direct cable import, or cloud originals).