International Game Fish Association Announces
2026 Tommy Gifford Award Winners
Legendary captains and guides to be honored by the global authority on game fishing
January 09, 2026
The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has announced its 2026 IGFA Tommy Gifford Award recipients, an annually bestowed honor that recognizes captains, guides, and crew members who have made extraordinary contributions to recreational angling through innovation, leadership, or outstanding accomplishments in their trade.
Named for one of the greatest saltwater charter skippers of all time, Tommy Gifford (1896–1970) was considered one of the most innovative bluewater anglers who ever lived and one of the greatest captains in the sport. He began his chartering career in Miami in 1920 at the age of 23, and within a few seasons had earned a stellar reputation as one of the world’s best fishing captains.
The Tommy Gifford Award recipients are selected through a rigorous nomination and vetting process conducted by the IGFA Legendary Captains and Crew Committee. The 2026 recipients are Captain Frank Ardine (1903-1979), Captain Tim Carlile, Captain Eddie Herbert, Captain James Roberts, Captain Paul Whelan, and Captain Rom Whitaker, a distinguished group whose collective careers span decades of excellence across inshore and offshore fisheries around the world.
These industry legends will be honored at the IGFA Tommy Gifford Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Additional event details will be released in the coming weeks.
“The IGFA Tommy Gifford Awards shine a light on professionals who rarely seek recognition, yet play a critical role in advancing recreational angling,” said Jason Schratwieser, IGFA President. “The 2026 honorees represent captains who are so much more than people that sit behind the helm; they are teachers, innovators and stewards whose legacies have shaped the sport.”
The 2026 recipients were selected by the IGFA Legendary Captains and Crew Committee, a distinguished panel of internationally renowned captains and mates chaired by Captain Skip Smith. Previous recipients of the IGFA Tommy Gifford Award include Jose Wejebe, John Bayliss, Kevin Nakamaru, Paul Dixon, Steve Huff, Ray Rosher, Alex Adler, Peter Wright, Ron Hamlin, Charles Perry, Ralph Delph, Laurie Wright, Jimmie Albright, Bouncer Smith, Steve Lassley, Bubba Carter, R.T. Trosset, Billy Knowles, and more.
“The Tommy Gifford Award recognizes individuals who have consistently elevated the standard of professionalism and leadership in recreational fishing,” said 2021 honoree and committee chairman, Skip Smith. “Each recipient represents the very best of what this award stands for.”
The 2026 Tommy Gifford Award recipients are:
Frank Ardine (1903-1979)
Captain Frank Ardine was born in Queens, New York, in 1903 and lived through the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. As the economy recovered, many Northeastern families relocated to South Florida, drawn in part by the growing popularity of fishing for sailfish. Frank and his family were among them, moving to the Palm Beaches, where he launched a successful charter career and became an influential mentor to future captains.
Ardine began his career after purchasing a Fortescue sportfishing boat from IGFA Tommy Gifford Awardee Curt Whiticar, which became the original Sail Ahoy. He chartered out of Layton’s Park in Riviera Beach, Florida, before relocating operations to Sailfish Center, later known as Sailfish Marina. After several years, Frank and three other charter captains partnered with Bill Bachstet, fishing out of what became Bill’s Sailfish Marina.
He later purchased a 34-foot Rybovich originally named Miss Chevy II, built in 1947 as the first custom sportfishing boat for automobile dealer Charles Johnson. Frank chartered this boat for many years out of West Palm Beach. Despite increasing competition from private-boat charters, he fished relentlessly, earning recognition for consistently leading daily catch numbers. Many days, his charters returned with 15 to 30 sailfish.
At a time when boats traveled shorter distances, Frank primarily fished local waters along Florida’s southern coast, as well as Bimini, The Bahamas and Cuba, targeting sailfish, blue marlin and giant bluefin tuna. He earned a reputation as a “high hook” through hard work. His accomplishments include exceptional daily catch volumes, mentoring young captains, winning the 1957 Silver Sailfish Derby and building a thriving charter business without modern advancements in fishing technology that we have today.
Frank Ardine passed away in 1979 in Jupiter, Florida, but his legacy as a pioneer of sportfishing endures.
Tim Carlile
A Florida Keys native, Captain Tim Carlile has guided the flats for more than 65 years. His lifelong connection to the fishery began in childhood, when he spent countless hours exploring backwaters with his father, Cliff, learning fish behavior, tides, wildlife and the delicate ecosystems that define the Keys.
While Carlile once held the IGFA World Record for a bonefish weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces, his impact extends far beyond personal catches. He is best known for guiding anglers to success in some of the region’s most prestigious tournaments, including the Key West Fishing Tournament, Miami MET Tournament, Marathon International Bonefish Tournament, Mercury S.L.A.M. Celebrity Tournament, Sugarloaf Showdown, Florida Keys Tarpon Classic and the Redbone series. Many of his clients earned tournament victories, awards and grand slams for bonefish, tarpon and permit.
His consistent success reflects a deep understanding of fish movement, weather patterns and subtle flats conditions. Anglers aboard his flats boat, The Outcast, quickly recognize his respect for both the species and their habitats. For decades, Carlile has shared his knowledge with anglers of all ages, encouraging ethical angling and conservation.
That dedication extends beyond the water. He co-hosts the longest-running radio fishing show in the Florida Keys on the US1 Radio News Network (iHeartRadio) and has appeared on television programs, including George Poveromo’s A Different Kind of Backcountry and Backcountry Bonefish!. He is also featured on podcasts such as Florida Bay Forever and Mill House Podcast.
Carlile has been honored on the Middle Keys Top Spot Map, named a lifelong Hewes Ambassador and inducted into the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) 2025 Circle of Honor, receiving the Outstanding Guide Award. As BTT President and CEO Jim McDuffie noted, “Bonefish & Tarpon Trust stands today on a foundation that Tim Carlile helped lay.”
Eddie Herbert
Captain Eddie Herbert has spent more than five decades pursuing sportfishing around the world. Born and raised in Key Biscayne, Florida, Herbert grew up fishing whenever possible and spent time on charter docks studying daily catches. His career began after being invited aboard a charter, where he caught his first sailfish.
His first boat was a 23-foot SeaCraft named Bounty Hunter, aboard which he landed his first blue marlin off Bimini. He later operated his own charter boat, El Lobo, out of Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale, with IGFA Fishing Hall of Famer Skip Smith as mate. The pair ran charters and tournaments throughout the mid-1970s, and Herbert continued charter operations through the 1980s aboard Bootlegger.
In 1995, Herbert began an 18-year tenure running Jim Lambert Sr.’s renowned Reel Tight program, first on a 50-foot Bertram and later on an 80-foot Merritt. Fishing 200 to 240 days annually, the team traveled extensively to premier destinations including Panama, Costa Rica, Bermuda, The Bahamas and St. Thomas. Their dominance on the Virgin Islands’ North Drop became legendary, often releasing multiple blue marlin before sunrise.
Herbert refined his approach under mentors such as IGFA Fishing Hall of Famer Peter B. Wright and through the influence of innovative captains like IGFA Tommy Gifford Awards recipient Brad Simmons. Following Lambert’s passing in 2008, Herbert continued at the highest level, captaining Jim Carr’s Never Say Never, based in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and fishing throughout the Pacific, including Magdalena Bay.
After more than 50 years on the water, Capt. Eddie Herbert remains one of sportfishing’s most respected figures, defined by professionalism, passion and legacy.
James Roberts
Captain James Roberts began his maritime career in Corpus Christi, Texas, at age 13, working aboard a private Chris-Craft Commander. He later joined an operation managing a fleet of 31’ Bertrams and Tollycrafts, gaining extensive hands-on experience in vessel maintenance and operations. The following summer, he lived aboard a Hatteras while fishing for kingfish, sailfish and other species, and later worked with the SubSea dive operation in both the shop and on charter boats. During this time, he also cared for a 34-foot Trojan.
After graduating from high school, Roberts joined the Clipper Fleet out of Panama City, Florida, performing oil-field work that eventually took him to Morgan City, Louisiana. During summers, he worked as a deckhand on sportfishing boats in Port Aransas, steadily upgrading his licenses and moving onto larger vessels, including a 35-foot Bertram where he began targeting sailfish and marlin.
A defining opportunity came when legendary captain Tom O’Connell arrived from Cozumel with Skip Libby, IGFA Fishing Hall of Famer Skip Smith and Kunta Smith. Roberts was asked to deliver a boat ahead of the Poco Bueno tournament and, after doing so, earned a position aboard the vessel. While docked in Port Isabel, O’Connell asked Roberts if he could run the boat for the tournament. “I said, ‘Yeah, I think I can,’” Roberts recalled. That moment marked the start of his career aboard the Renegade, where he competed at the highest levels throughout the Gulf, The Bahamas and South Florida.
Over decades, Roberts earned a reputation as one of the sport’s most respected heavy-tackle captains. He has fished premier destinations worldwide, including Madeira, the Great Barrier Reef, Nova Scotia, the Canary Islands, the Ivory Coast, Brazil, Panama, and Costa Rica. He captained the French Look mothership operation run globally by Jean Paul Richard and is credited with catching five “grander” blue marlin in just 43 days of fishing in Madeira.
Roberts also played a key role in re-establishing the catch-and-release giant bluefin tuna fishery in Nova Scotia after years of collaboration with the Canadian government. In recognition of his lifetime achievements, he also received the IGFA’s prestigious Gil Keech Heavy-Tackle Award in 2022.
Paul Whelan
Captain Paul Whelan, widely known as “Wheels,” has been a foundational figure in the Cairns, Australia, game-fishing community since 1972. His career has played a major role in shaping both the growth and sustainability of Australia’s sportfishing industry.
Whelan’s passion for the ocean developed during his service with the Australian Army while stationed in Papua New Guinea. In Port Moresby, he became secretary of the Port Moresby Game Fishing Club, where he met John Costello, then head of Ports and Harbors of Papua New Guinea. In 1970, Paul joined Costello aboard the Olwen G to fish Cairns’ legendary waters, where he also met Captain George Bransford, a pioneer of the region’s big-game scene.
Whelan quickly built a reputation as one of Cairns’ premier captains, attracting anglers worldwide through skill, innovation and consistency. Among them was IGFA Fishing Hall of Famer and former IGFA Chairman Michael J. Levitt, who began fishing with Whelan in 1977. Over four decades, the pair set 10 IGFA world records, two of which still stand, pioneering ultra-light-tackle black marlin fishing.
Beyond competition, Whelan was instrumental in conservation advocacy, helping secure passage of the Fisheries Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) in 1997, which restricted commercial marlin harvest in the Coral Sea. He mobilized international support through fishing clubs and the IGFA.
Throughout his career, Whelan emphasized teamwork and mentorship, assembling elite crews whose members later became respected captains themselves. He retired from professional sportfishing in 2008 following the final Australian season of longtime client, Michael Levitt.
Rom Whitaker
Captain Rom Whitaker has been a full-time charter fisherman in Hatteras Village for more than three decades and is widely regarded as one of the most respected captains in the sport-fishing industry. He has operated Release, a 53-foot Bobby Sullivan sport-fisher, since 1999 and routinely fishes close to 200 days per year out of Hatteras Harbor Marina.
Whitaker’s love for fishing began in early childhood, sparked by long days on Atlantic Beach piers with his grandmother, who helped nurture his passion for the ocean. Raised in Kinston, North Carolina, he learned freshwater techniques from his father and grandfather while fishing Broad Creek on the lower Neuse River. His first offshore trip to Hatteras in 1970, aboard a 19-foot Thunderbird, opened his eyes to the scale and challenge of bluewater fishing. In the years that followed, he owned several small boats, including a 23-foot SeaCraft, trailering to Hatteras nearly every weekend.
After earning a business degree from East Carolina University, Whitaker built a successful corporate career before realizing it couldn’t compete with life on the water. With the full support of his wife, Elaine, known throughout the village as “Shugg”, he moved permanently to Hatteras in 1987 and began fishing professionally. Since then, he has built a loyal clientele and a reputation for hard work, fairness, and mentorship, training generations of mates who went on to become captains themselves.
Whitaker’s catches include blue and white marlin, bluefin tuna, wahoo, dolphin, king mackerel, striped bass, and red drum. He is a longtime advocate for fishermen, having served more than 14 years on the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel and other South Atlantic Fishery Management Council committees. A proud member of the Hatteras Marlin Club, he remains deeply involved in the local community.
In 2024, Whitaker achieved a career-defining milestone when Release won the Fabulous Fisherman category and $2.2 million at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament with a 504-pound blue marlin, an iconic victory that cemented his legacy. Today, when Release leaves the dock, boats often follow, a quiet tribute to a captain who has earned the respect of Hatteras and the sport-fishing world beyond.