Any attempt by the Ghost Angler to intentionally miss a strike or break off a hooked fish shall be considered an illegal act. The ghost rods must be fished by tournament rules. Anglers may not attempt to steal strikes from fellow anglers. Crews may not favor one angler over another. WBS Anglers and Ghost Anglers fishing from the same boat must rotate hourly from predetermined rod locations, where no one individual angler has an advantage over the other.
Observers announce the hourly rotation on the hour.
Anglers must provide their observers with their plan of rotation. Immediately at the time of hook-up, the boat captain must report the boat name, angler name, species and grid location to Tournament Control via VHF radio or cell phone. Captains must also immediately report released or lost fish to Tournament Control. The official time is GPS time and is recorded to the whole minute. All fish are to be released with the crew making its best effort to either remove the hook from the fish's mouth or cut the leader as close to the hook as possible.