2010 Club Rules - updated Jan. 7, 2010
1. Date of meetings:
a. Club meeting will be held on the Thursday before the scheduled tournament, except for two-day (2) tournaments...
b. Two-day (2) tournament meeting will be held the Thursday of the week prior.
2. Membership Limit:
a. The membership limit is twenty-five (25) teams.
b. One exception to the rule is if a team splits during the year each member of the team will be allowed form it own team. The exception applies up to a 30 teams maximum.
c. After the 30 team maximum has been reached and a team splits up and both members want to continue to fish in the club, both team members names will be put in a hat and the name that is drawn from the hat will be allowed to form a new team. The other member will have to resign from the club.
d. No new teams will be allowed to join the club unless club membership is below 25 teams.
e. If more teams want to join the club than opening then a drawing will take place to fill the open slots.
3. Membership Annual Dues:
a. The annual membership dues shall be forty dollars ($40.00) per member, payable at before the 1st club tournament.
b. Membership dues are 100% paid back to the top 4 teams of the year (see section 12).
c. Four places will be paid in this order:
I. 1st place - 40%
II. 2nd place - 30%;
III. 3rd place - 20%
IV. 4th place - 10%.
4. Tournaments:
a. Annual membership dues must be paid in full prior to fishing your first tournament. (An exception to this rule is a member may bring a guest to a tournament that is less than 16 years old when your partner is not fishing.)
5. Tournament Fees:
a. Tournament fee shall be thirty ($30.00) per tournament per team and twenty-five ($25.00) for single boater.
b. All tournament fees will be paid at or prior to the club meeting (section 1.a).
c. If fees are not paid before the end of the club meeting, then you will not be eligible to fish in the tournament.
6. Distribution of Tournament Fees:
a. All entry fees from the tournament shall be divided as follows: Five ($5.00) per member fishing will go into the big fish pot. Balance remaining shall be distributed as follows: Four places will be paid in this order:
I. 1st place - 40%
II. 2nd place - 30%;
III. 3rd place - 20%
IV. 4th place - 10%.
b. Big Fish Payout
I. 1st big fish 60 %
II. 2nd big fish 40%
7. Late for Tournament
a. A late team will launch their boat and proceed to find another tournament participant before doing any fishing.
b. The team must have their live well checked, confirm the tournament weigh-in time and check his watch before he is officially in the tournament.
8. Tackle and Equipment:
a. Only artificial lures may be used.
b. No live bait or prepared bait will be permitted, however, pork or pork type strips, rinds, etc., may be used.
c. All bass must be caught live and in a conventional sporting manner.
d. Only casting, spin casting, or spinning rods and reels may be used. All other types are prohibited.
e. Only one rod may be used at a time.
9. Official Checkpoints:
a. Tournament headquarters shall be in the launch site area.
b. All fishermen must start and end each tournament day in this area.
c. The official weigh-in station shall also be in this area.
10. Permitted Fishing Locations
a. Fishing is permitted any place on the tournament waters that local lake rules allow, except within fifty (50) yards of another contestant's boat that was first anchored at a location.
b. All fishing must be done from the boat.
c. Contestants are not permitted to leave the boat to land a fish.
d. Tournament Lake is off limits (no fishing) 8 hours before and up to blast off time.
11. Determination of Tournament Winners (Scoring):
a. Pounds and hundredths of a pound will determine placement in each tournament.
b. Tournament winners will be determined by the total pounds and hundredths accumulated during the time of the tournament.
c. Only black, largemouth, spotted or smallmouth bass may be weighed.
d. There will be a five (5) bass per day limit per team.
e. The team with the highest total weight will be declared the tournament winner, with the next highest weight being second place, etc., until each team has been ranked.
f. At the end of each tournament, the Tournament Director will total each team’s total weigh and announce the top four (4) places for the tournament.
12. Awarding of Points for Determining Club Standings:
a. A point system will be used to rank teams in the club. The points will be accumulated throughout the year to determine the end of the year standings; points will be awarded to the teams in the following manner.
b. Meeting: When at least one team member is present for the pre tournament meeting five (5) points will be awarded to the team. You must per present during the meeting to receive points.
c. Tournaments: All teams will receive five (5) points for participating in a tournament. If your team does not fish in the tournament you will receive zero points.
d. In addition, placement points will be awarded on a decreasing scale with first place receiving thirty (30) points, second place twenty-four (29) points, and decreasing by one (1) point each so long as your team weighs in fish.
e. You will also receive points based on your weigh-in total. Example – if you weigh-in 6.5 lbs you will receive 6.5 points
f. If a team does not weigh-in a fish you will receive zero placement points.
13. Size Limits and Measurement of Fish:
a. All bass must be a minimum of fourteen (14) inches in length in order to be weighed-in unless other size limits shall be as per state regulations governing that specific lake or body of water.
b. All questionable fish will be measured on the official measuring board. As a penalty, any fish that is weighed in under the legal size or outside a slot size will not be counted, plus a two (2) pound penalty will be deducted from the total weight.
c. All Game and Fish laws that apply to length or size of fish apply to each individual lake regardless of the above rules. (You may not bring more fish to the scale than the club limit).
14. Late Penalty:
a. Teams must be represented at the official weigh-in station on time. Any team (s) not reporting in by weigh-in time will forfeit one (1) pound per minute late.
15. In Case of Ties:
a. In case of tie the places in question will be combined and the two (2) contestants will divide the money and tournament points equally.
16. Changing of Partner
a. You may change partners one time during the year (season). If you change partners you will lose ½ of your club standing points.
17. Selection of Lakes, Launch Sites and Tournament Times:
a. Selection of lakes and dates will occur during last meeting of the prior season.
b. We have selected the 3rd Saturday of the month as the scheduled tournament date, unless it falls on a holiday weekend or if we have more than on tournament during the month.
c. Once the schedule has been set, dates will not be changed unless life-threatening events are present.
d. Ramp and start/finish times will be set during the pre tournament club meeting.
18. Dead Fish
a. A one-dollar penalty will be accessed for weighing in a dead fish.
b. Dead Fish money goes into the No Fish Money Pot.
19. No Fish Money
a. Team will pay fifty cents ($.50) per fish not caught out of a five fish limit per tournament.
b. Two-day tournaments are five fish limit per day.
c. Once you become a member of the club, if your team misses a tournament you are still required to pay the “NO FISH MONEY”.
d. You are required to pay the “NO FISH MONEY” even if you do not fish the FISH OFF.
e. All “NO FISH MONEY” to be paid before or at the next scheduled meeting.
f. No fish money is paid out at the end of the year in the Fish Off Tournament.
20. Fish-Off Tournament
a. To fish the FISH OFF, a team must have fished 6 tournaments or paid their entry fees for at least 6 tournaments.
b. NO FISH MONEY must be paid in full for all 10 tournaments. (An exception to this rule is if a team joined the club late they will only need to pay no fish money for the tournaments after joining the club.)
c. The fish off tournament is divided equally into two divisions by point standing, with the fish-off money divided equally between the two divisions.
d. Tournament fees are same as section 5.
e. FISH-OFF payout will be 60% for 1st place and 40% for second place for each division.
f. Big Fish payout based on the two largest fish in the tournament.
g. FISH-OFF lake will be drawn from a hat at the meeting place on the day of the fish-off
h. FISH-OFF lakes are High Rock, Tuckertown, Badin or Tillery