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OAKLAND BASS MASTERS OF MICHIGAN INC.
CLUB TOURNAMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS
FORM 136 Rev 2008

ELIGIBILITY
ENTRY AND FEES

1. Club tournaments are limited to members in good standings.
2. All tournament entries and fees must be paid in full by the APRIL meeting. Entry fees are non-refundable. All fees will be turned over to the treasurer at this time
3. New members not yet voted into this club may not fish in a club tournament

EQUIPMENT, BAIT AND TACKLE

1. Boats must be a minimum length of 14' feet with a suitable capacity for (2) two persons catch and tackle. No barge type boats are allowed.
2. Each boat must be equipped with a livewell or suitable container to maintain all fish in a live and healthy condition. No stringers or baskets are permitted.
3. Any type fishing method with rod and reel will be permitted. Trolling is not allowed. Fly rods will not be permitted for safety reasons.
4. Artificial baits only. Pork rind baits are permitted.

SPORTSMANSHIP

1. No alcoholic beverages are allowed during a tournament.
2. No littering. Any contestant observed littering on land or water will be disqualified.
3. Courtesy to others and their property must be practiced at all times.
4. Each man should give his partners fishing method an equal amount of time.

SCORING

1. Only largemouth and small mouth bass will be scored.
2. State creel limit; (5) five bass per contestant. Fish must measure at least 14' inches long from tip closed mouth to farthest point of pinched tail while on a flat measuring surface. Only (5) five bass per person shall be allowed in the boat at any time.
3. In case of any ties in the final point’s standings, the total weight of that years tournament catches will break the tie and decide the winner
4. In case of any ties during a single tournament, both contestants will get the full amount of points for that position.
5. A penalty of (6) six ounces (.37 lbs.) will be deducted per each dead fish that is weighed in.
6. If a NON chosen boat owner decides to use his boat in a tournament he shall be penalized by forfeiting 50% of his points for that tournament.
7. If during a tournament a Coast Guard violation is issued to a contestant 50% of there points will be deducted as a penalty;

Upon proof of reversal of infraction, the points will be re-instated.

8. Contestants will receive the following points for placing in scheduled club tournaments:

PLACE-POINTS***PLACE-POINTS***PLACE-POINTS***PLACE-POINTS***PLACE-POINTS
     1st-------50                    7th-------39                  13th------32                   19th------25                  25th------19
     2nd------45                    8th-------38                  14th------31                   20th------24                  26th------18
     3rd------44                     9th-------37                  15th------30                   21st------23                   27th------17
     4th------43                     10th-----36                   16th------28                   22nd-----22                   28th------16
     5th------42                     11th-----34                   17th------27                   23rd------21                   29th------15
     6th------40                     12th-----33                   18th------26                   24th------20                   30th------15

9. No person weighing in a legal fish will receive less than 15 points. The exception will be if a rule violation is committed and a penalty is enforced. All decisions of these tournament rules by the tournament committee will be final. A person who participates in a tournament but does not catch a weigh able fish will receive 10 points.

SAFETY

1. A coast guard approved life jacket or vest must be worn properly whenever the gasoline motor is operating.

2. All boats must have a working kill switch, and must be attached to the driver of the boat in some manner, while the big motor is running.

3. Any boat under power while dark, must display proper navigational lights.

4. Contestants will observe all Michigan boating and safety regulations at all times. All boats will be checked by the tournament committee for proper equipment prior to launch at which time infractions will be disclosed.

5. Speed to pass a still or slow moving boat within 50' feet is "NO WAKE".

6. A driver may not leave the controls of his vessel while under power,( Under power is when the gas engine is running and in gear at any speed.) unless trailering boat.

7. The tournament chairman has the right to cancel any tournament due to severe weather

conditions. (2) two hours of continuous fishing must be accomplished during scheduled start and stop time before points will be counted.

DEFINITION AND GENERAL RULES

1. TOURNAMENT LAKE: The body of water that all contestants will launch and depart. All connecting water ways to   the tournament lake can be fished if passage to and from can be accomplished without the boat leaving the water or anyone leaving the boat.
2. LIVE RELEASE: A fish which is, in the opinion of the tournament committee, capable of
  surviving upon its release back into the water.
3. RODS: Those rods which can be used for spinning, bait casting or spin casting.
4. FISHING METHODS: All contestants must be in their boats to fish. No wading or bank
     fishing allowed.
5. START TIME: The time that the tournament officially starts. Check in time is up to 15 minutes prior to this official start time. A (6) six ounce late penalty will be enforced for persons checking in during this 15 minute get ready period. After the official start time a member is disqualified from the tournament.
6. STOP TIME: That time at which all contestants must be checked in and all fishing has stopped.
    .

A penalty of (6) ounces for each (5) five minutes late, up to 15 minutes will be enforced

After 15 minutes the contestant’s points will be disqualified.
7. PARTNERS: Partners will be drawn at random at the meeting prior to the tournament. The same (2) two persons may not fish together more than twice in the tournament season. If a partner fails to show up at the launch site, then the contestant must fish alone in their own boat, or a borrowed boat. Providing the borrowed boat meets all club specifications.

If no boat is available then the non-boater will be placed in the next available boat that has “NOT” previously drawn a partner.

If there are no single boaters, then the non-boater shall be placed in a general drawing with all the single person boats available at the start of the tournament.

   As the club is not responsible for each man attending a function, it will be up to each contestant to make sure their partner;
   A) Is notified of the date, time and place of each tournament.
   B) As worked out any details such as boat, fuel, launch fees and other expenses.
   C) Is awake and ready to go at launch time.
8. UNDERSIZED FISH: If in the opinion of the tournament committee a fish being weighed is under 14 inches long then the weight of the largest legal sized will be deducted from the total weight of the catch. Undersized fish will not be weighed. If the undersized fish is the only fish caught, then the contestant will loose their 10 points given, therefore a score of zero.
9. There will be no “courtesy bumps” after the official ending time of a club tournament.

However a contestant may check the size of fish on another contestant’s board to verify a legal/illegal fish.

All fish in a contestant’s livewell “must” be brought to the scales for measurement and weight at the official end of a tournament. No fish may be discarded after that time.

All contestants shall be responsible for their own weigh-in bags. These will not be provided by the club.

Any fish brought to shore will be weighed in and becomes property of the club.
10.Boats may be trailered prior to the weigh-in at the end of the tournament.
11. Using nets is left to the discretion of the fisherman and should be discussed between partners prior to the tournament.
12. Fishing within 50' feet of another boat is illegal, if that boats anchor is down and the trolling motor is up. After verbal warning has been issued, a protest may lead to disqualification before the weigh-in.
13. OFF LIMITS: There is a 24 hour off limits enforced on all club tournament waters
14. There shall be no electronic communication between contestants during a club tournament, (I.E. cell phones, 2-way radios etc.) other than verbal or in the case of an emergency.