Re: 3rd Annual Anchor Marine Big Bass Round-UP on Choke Canyon
OFFICIAL 2009 ANCHOR MARINE BIG BASS TOURNAMENT RULES :
To protect the integrity of Bass Champs and our anglers, all winners will be subject to a polygraph exam before the prizes are distributed at each event. Contestants must pass the polygraph exam at the tournament site to receive prize money, awards, and points for the event.
1. RULE CHANGES: Decisions of the Tournament Director are final and are not subject to appeal. Interpretation of these rules will be left exclusively to the Tournament Director in his sole and absolute discretion. Protests must be made in writing within 10 minutes after the official closing of the scales at each tournament, as announced at each such tournament.
2. Participation and Eligibility:
• Participation is open to amateur anglers who are 18 years old and older. Any person entering a Bass Champs Tournament under the age of 18 years must also have the signature of their parent or legal guardian in the provided space on the official entry form.
• Bass Champs Tournaments are open to all anglers except professional anglers. A professional angler is defined as any angler that has entered more than one bass tournament that required an entry fee greater than $2,500 in the 12 months prior to the date of the Bass Champs Tournament being entered.
• All contestants must have a valid fishing license.
3. Off-Limit Period:
Contestants may not be on Choke Canyon for the purpose of fishing between:
• 8:00pm Saturday, September 5th, 2009 thru 6:30am Sunday, September 6th, 2009
4. Fishing Times:
Competitors may launch from any ramp on Choke Canyon Lake. Fishing will begin at 6:30am on September 6th, 2009. The scales will open the top ½ of every hour beginning at 8:00am. Scales are closed the bottom ½ of each hour. The final weigh-in will begin at 2:00pm and end at 2:30pm during competition day.
5. Registration Times:
Each contestant must register in person at Calliham Park Ramp during the official registration hours, 10 AM - 6 PM Saturday, September 5th, 2009 or tournament morning beginning at 5:00am. A completed and signed entry form must be received before the start of competition.
6. Safety:
Safe boating must be observed at all times. Each contestant is required to wear a fastened (fully zipped and/or all clips fastened), U.S. Coast Guard approved, personal flotation device anytime the combustion engine is in operation from boat check until weigh-in. All boats must be equipped with an emergency ignition shut-off device, which must be securely attached to the driver's body any time the combustion engine is in operation. The driver must be seated in the driver's seat anytime the combustion engine is engaged in gear. Tournament day may be shortened or canceled due to unsafe weather or any conditions that would endanger the safety of the competitors at the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion. Competitors are allowed to leave the boat and seek shelter in bad weather, at which time no fishing may occur.
7. Permitted Fishing Methods:
Only artificial lures may be used with the exception of Berkley Gulp products. Only one fishing rod per angler may be used at any one time. Additional rods may be in the boat and ready for use; however, each cast and retrieve must be completed before another cast is attempted or rod is used. Trolling with the combustion engine as a method of fishing is prohibited. Switching or sharing fish with other contestants is a violation of these rules and will result in immediate disqualification. All bass must be caught alive, in a conventional, sporting manner. All angling must be conducted from the boat. At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a fish, or to make the boat more accessible to fishing waters. Bank fishing is not permissible.
8. Sportsmanship and Conduct:
All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation. Examples of conduct not complying with those standards include, but are not limited to, the following:
o Consumption and/or possession of alcoholic beverages or any mind-altering substance during tournament hours extending through the weigh-in procedure;
o Conviction of a felony within the past 36 months;
o Actions or words which reflect unfavorably upon efforts to promote safety, sportsmanship, and fair competition;
o Chemical substance abuse or addiction.
o Disqualification from Bass Champs tournaments or other fishing organizations that resulted from unexplained rule violations that result in a contestant’s honesty, integrity, character, and qualifications for entry into a Bass Champs event being questionable in the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion.
Upon review of the circumstances by tournament director, Bass Champs, Inc., and the Tournament Director shall have the right to refuse any application, or to deny a confirmed application, by returning the entry fee of a previously accepted application, or disqualifying a contestant. Bass Champs reserves the right to place an official observer in a contestant's boat at any time during competition hours.
9. Assistance:
During hours of competition, contestants may not receive fishing information from non-competitors or participate in the practice of "hole sitting." The use of mobile communication devices such as cellular phones, marine radios, walkie-talkies, CBs, etc., to communicate fishing information during tournament hours is strictly prohibited. In the event of an emergency call “911” first and then contact tournament officials.
10. Boat and Horsepower Regulation:
Each boat must have all required U.S. Coast Guard safety equipment. Boats must contain a properly aerated live well space to maintain alive a limit catch of bass. Maximum horsepower for all outboards used in tournament competition may not exceed the horsepower limitations as set by the U. S. Coast Guard in such vessel. Falsifying information on entry forms or altering the horsepower numbers on the motor or rating plate to conceal such limitations will be cause for disqualification from the tournament.
11. Permitted Fishing Locations:
Contestants may fish anywhere on tournament waters accessible by boat, except areas designated as "off limits" or "no fishing" by state or federal officials, or within 50 yards of a competitor's boat which was first anchored (an anchored boat is a boat held in a stable position by a line attached to a weight with the trolling motor in the up position), or within 25 yards of a non-anchored competitor's boat unless otherwise agreed upon by the other tournament angler. The act of moving bass from one area of the lake to another confined area of the same lake at any time, whether or not during official practice days or competition days, is not permitted.
12. # of contestants in boat:
[highlight]Boats may have up to 3 paid entrants aboard.[/highlight] Non-contestants are not allowed in any competitors boat.
13. Off-limits areas:
Such areas established and announced at the registration for each Bass Champs event. Contestants fishing inside the established “off-limits” area will be immediately disqualified. Contestants' boats must remain in the tournament waters during the event.
14. Trailering is allowed:
Trailering is allowed throughout the competition day. Anglers may launch and leave from any available location on Choke Canyon starting at 4:30am tournament morning.
