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TOURNAMENT RULES SPORTSMANSHIP: Any contestant, who displays poor sportsmanship, violates these rules or violates state fish and game regulations will be disqualified. Good sportsmanship shall also be directed at nontournament fishermen. SAFETY: Safe boating conduct and all safety precautions must be observed at all times by all contestants. Everyone fishing the tournament must have a life vest and other safety equipment as specified by the Coast Guard. Life vest must be worn when the combustion motor is running, period. AGE: Adults will be considered as anyone sixteen (16) or older at the beginning of the fishing season. If a youth participant begins the season and is fifteen years old at that time, they will be considered fifteen (15) for the entire season. FAMILY MEMBERS: Members of the same family cannot fish out of the same boat from January 1 to July 1 which is the paper weigh-ins. TACKLE: Only artificial lures may be used. No prepared live bait other than pork type strips or rinds are permitted. Only rods and reels are permitted. No flies or fly rods are permitted. Only one rod may be in use at anyone time. Electrical and mechanical devices such as fish finders and thermometers are permitted. Landing nets are permitted. A live well or suitable substitute is required if fish are brought in to be weighed. No underwater cameras are allowed. FISHING WATERS: All club tournaments will be known as no-touch tournaments. All fishing must be done from a boat. All contestants must leave and return to the starting point by boat. Boats cannot be trailered from one fishing location to another during tournament hours. FISHING HOURS: Will be determined at pre-tournament meeting. Any club member wanting to fish but cannot be there at the start of the tournament, can fish the tournament once they find a club member on the lake and that club member conducts a live well check. Those who do not do this are not eligible to compete in the tournament. PENALTIES: Contestants who have not checked in at the official checkpoint on time will be penalized 8 ounces for every minute they are late. An officer of the club will be responsible for keeping the official time and assess any penalties. Lateness will be excused for boat and motor troubles, although this has to be verified by another contestant. Anyone weighing in a fish smaller than the legal lake length will be disqualified. Culling is not permitted in weigh-in area. If a contestant brings in a dead fish that contestant is now in possession of the legal limit and can no longer fish, except in the case of a boater who must run the boat for his/her non boater. Anyone weighing in more than the determined limit for the tournament will be disqualified. Culling dead fish is not allowed. The limit will be five (4) fish unless otherwise stated at the pretournament meeting. To qualify for big fish, the fish must be alive. FEES: Each adult club member will pay $30 to fish a tournament. Guests are eligible to participate in this fee. Each member can also participate in the big fish option pots by paying $10 (during paper tournaments) and $5 for each weigh-in (during non paper tournaments). Guests can participate in the option pot. (See payout schedule for breakdown of $30). GUESTS: Each member can bring a guest at anytime. A guest can only fish as a guest one time in a calendar year. SCORING: Scoring will be determined by total weight for each contestant’s catch for the overall event. In case of ties, big fish will determine the winner. If there is a tie for big fish as well, 1st and 2nd place funds will be added together and split 50/50. In case of a tie for big fish, total weight determines the winner. A year end big fish award will be made for both largemouth and smallmouth caught during a club tournament. POINT SYSTEM: Each contestant will be awarded points based on where they place in the tournament. 300 points for 1st place, 295 for 2nd place etc. Any contestant not weighing fish (skunked) will be awarded 50% of the points of the contestant who placed last in the tournament. Points for tournaments will be cumulative and the individual at the end of the year with the most points with one meeting throw-out will be the Angler of the Year. The top ten members in points will be designated as the team representing EBC in the annual Fall tournament. Each member will also earn 10 points for attending any regular monthly meeting. Year end awards for biggest Small Mouth and Large Mouth will be based only on Club Tournaments. THROW OUT: Each member can throw out 1 tournament per year toward angler of the year award.
CHALLENGES: Any contestant wishing to challenge the actions of another contestant must do the following: a) Notify an officer of the club of his/her concern within 30 minutes of the official weigh-in time. b) Provide written documentation of his/her challenge to the club President within 48 hours of the completion of the tournament. CHALLENGE REVIEW: a) Once a written challenge is received within 48 hours of a tournament completion, the officers of the club will meet and review the challenge. b) The challenger will be brought before the officer committee to present his or her concern. c) The challenged contestant will be brought before the officer committee to present his or her explanation. d) Upon completion of the above process, the officers committee will discuss and decide on whether the challenge is valid or not and decide on how to resolve the challenge. The officer committee’s decision will be final. e) No tournament winnings will be disbursed until all challenges have been resolved. DRAWING OF BOATER PAIRS: Boaters and non-boaters will be placed in a draw except immediate family members under age 16 who fish in one boat but compete against each other. When there are more non-boaters than boaters, an additional draw of boaters will be held. All boaters will enter that draw except those who may have taken a second non-boater on the previous tournament. If a 3rd person draw is necessary, then a non-boater guest must fish as a 3rd person with their sponsoring club member. Non-sponsored guests will not be allowed in a 3rd person draw. Volunteers to host a 3rd person in their boat will take precedence over a 3rd person draw. If there is an extra boater or non boater, boaters will have a draw to take a 3rd person in their boat or in the case of an extra boater, the club will decide by majority vote if that person fishes alone or club redraws for a 3rd person. |