The McKinney Bass Club Tournament Rules
Last Revised March 19, 2017
1. Anyone who is a member of The McKinney Bass Club is eligible to fish in any club bass tournament.
2. All boats must meet all State and Coast Guard regulations and must have a working kill switch, an adequate and working live well and a “Check-It-Stick”. Emergency kill switch must be attached to driver at all times the outboard motor is running.
3. All tournament fishermen must have a valid fishing license and adhere to all state and tournament lake fishing regulations.
4. At the Tournament Director's discretion; teams may launch from any boat ramp of their choosing but cannot start fishing until the designated starting time. The honor system shall prevail. Trailering is allowed but check in at the official launch site is mandatory. Boats and those trailering may not leave the launch site until the official launch time determined by the Tournament Director.
5. A U.S. Coast Guard approved life preserver must be worn at all times the combustion engine is in operation.
6. In the interest of good sportsmanship, tournament participants are not allowed to use a fishing guide on the tournament lake within 14 days prior to the tournament.
7. Bass accepted to be weighed will be largemouth, smallmouth, Kentucky (spotted), and Guadalupe bass. Striped, white (sand) and yellow, hybrid, and rock bass are not allowed for weighing.
8. All bass must be caught in a legal and sportsmanship manner by rod and reel using artificial lures. No live or prepared bait is permitted with the exception of pork rind. In the interest of good sportsmanship, bedding bass that are caught and released back to their bed should only be caught and scored once per team.
9. No trolling with the combustion engine is allowed.
10. Only one rod may be used at a time. A cast must be retrieved before another rod may be used.
11. All teams must be at the weigh-in site on or before designated weigh-in time. Due to occasional boat loading problems, all visible tournament boats in a holding pattern at the weigh-in site will be considered on time. A late penalty will be assessed as follows:
1 to 10 minutes late - 2 ½ pound penalty from total team weight
10 minutes or more - Disqualification of total weight for team and individual member results.
Penalty assessment for mechanical issues will be at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
12. Each team will consist of one boater and one non-boater. Every team will have at least one active member to allow guests the opportunity to fish one tournament annually. In the case of not having enough non-boaters needed to complete teams, the remaining boaters will have the option to fish as a team or solo (excluding paper tournaments, in which they will be paired). Non-boaters attending monthly meetings will have first opportunity to fish in that months tournament. Teams will be drawn randomly at the monthly meeting. If we have more non-boaters than boaters the club will make every effort to solicit a boater from other sources. In the event boaters cannot be found, the excluded non-boaters become the first eligible non-boaters in the next months tournament draw.
13. Pairings; Every effort will be made to promote club camaraderie and redraw pairings if partners have already fished together that season. Toward the end of the year, repeat pairings may be unavoidable and the TD will handle at his discretion.
14. Each participating tournament team is allowed to possess up to 5 fish at one time and may cull these fish during the tournament day. All state and lake rules and guidelines must be followed. (If a fish dies in your possession, it must be weighed as one of your five fish).
15. Total weight of up to the limit of five fish will be used to determine total team weight. Team weight less any penalties will be used as individual weights towards annual awards and towards qualification for the Classic tourney (in each of their perspective classification).
16. Each team is responsible to maintain all bass caught in a healthy condition during the tournament day. It is recommended that ice should be used in extreme heat situations to preserve fish. Chemicals are allowed to be used to assist and maintain fish in live well.
17. A dead fish penalty will be assessed to the team’s results as follows:
1 to 2 dead fish ½ pound penalty for each dead fish
3 to 4 dead fish 1 pound penalty for each dead fish
5 dead fish 1 ½ pound penalty for each dead fish
18. If the "Big Bass" of the tournament is not alive, it will be assessed a dead fish penalty, the amount will be based on the rule 17 standard.
For example: if an angler has 3 dead fish & one of them is the tournaments Big Bass (7lbs), then it will be assessed a 1lb penalty & recorded as 6lbs.
Also, if the tournament is a paper tournament, an "over" must be brought in & weighed, in accordance with state and lake rules and regulations.
19. The official measuring device for The McKinney Bass Club will be the Check-It Stick. It is required that each boater have one for their use in their boat. Questionable fish should be re-measured by the participants before being brought up to weigh-in. No penalty will result from a short fish, it simply will not count. However, a short fish is still subject to a possible fine by a game warden.
20. Monthly tournament winners will be based on the highest total team weight.
21. The cost of each tournament will be set at $40 per participant. This money will be divided as follows:
· $30 goes towards to tournament winner payouts.
· $2 goes towards Big Bass for that tournament.
· $3 goes to the MBC expense fund and annual awards.
· $5 goes to the Year End Classic tournament pot
The Annual Big Bass of the Year winner must already be a MBC member at the time of the catch. This fish must be a weighed fish, not a paper fish. Guests are able to win the Big Bass pot for a tournament, but only members are eligible for the Annual BB pot.
22. Guest will be allowed to fish 1 tournament only and must pay the $40.00 tournament fee. If the guest finishes the tournament in the money, they will receive their share of the winnings. By the next bass club meeting, the guest must decide if they wish to become a member or not. If they elect to become a member, the previous month’s results will go towards “Angler of the Year” and qualifying for the Classic. Guests can fish with a sponsoring member on non slot lakes only. If a guest fishes a slot lake paper tournament, they will be in the draw for a partner.
23. Payouts to monthly tournament winners will be as follows;
First Place Team - 50% of tournament money collected
Second Place Team – 30% of tournament money collected
Third Place Team - 20% of tournament money collected
Payment to winning teams will be equally distributed between boaters and non-boaters; if a solo boater ‘team’ places then the non-boater portion of the winnings will be divided among the winners as specified above. The MBC Treasurer will pay the winning teams at the end of the tournament. The Treasurer may opt for winnings to be paid at the next meeting if protests or other issues arise.
24. All protests must be submitted in writing to the tournament director within 30 minutes of the conclusion of tournament weigh-in.
25. Paper Tournaments: Lakes with non-standard size regulations may be paper tournaments. (Example: Fork or Welsh) Any bass in the slot or under the slot (minimum 12 inches) will be paper recorded and any bass caught over the slot must be brought in for weighing. Team members are responsible for measuring, verifying and recording the other team members catch. If the tournament fisherman catches two or more fish over the slot, but state and lake regulations allow only 1 fish over the slot, the largest fish by weight should be brought in for weighing and the other over slot fish may be paper recorded. The top five sized fish will be used towards team results. Size and weight charts will be handed out at meeting or at launch site prior to tournament for recording of bass caught.
26. In an effort to reduce the cost of fishing trips, all tournament lakes will be within approximately 100 miles of McKinney. The costs of transporting the boat to and from the tournament lake, as well as the cost of boat gas and oil are to be split by team members. The non-boater will pay their boater a minimum of $40 per tournament. It is recommended that team members try to ride to tournaments together.
27. Tournament Scoring:
AOY will be based on the same points scale as the one used for the Classic.
Classic qualifying will be based on the following:
Boaters/Non-boaters - combined total of a member’s top 10 tournaments.
Tournament points will be determined by:
· # of anglers in the tournament. Any member that participates in a tournament but does not weigh any fish, will receive 1/2 of the points of the last team to weigh fish.
· Bonus points - Top five winners will receive bonus points; 10 for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 6 for 3rd, 4 for 4th and 2 for 5th.
· Meeting points - Members will receive 5 points for attending a monthly meeting,
· Community Event points – Members will receive 5 additional points for participation in a club sponsored event such as the Allen or Stonebridge Ranch youth fishing tournaments. Maximum of 10 points can be earned for community events per year. These points are added to the member’s total annual points.
· In lieu of atie between two anglersin the Classic Points System, the winner will be the angler with the highest overall yearly weight.
Example:
1st place = 35 points
(20 for # of anglers that tournament, plus 10 bonus points, and 5 mtg. points)
Members are responsible for proofing their recorded tournament points for each tournament. Errors/typos that are over a couple of months old may not be able to be corrected. Each member should review their points as soon as the results are emailed to them & let the TD and officers know if there are any questions.
Scoring to be explained by the TD at the start of every season.
28. Classic Rules and Qualifying criteria:
Club Championship in November
· Top 5 boater and Top 5 Non-boaters = Qualify
o Must fish a minimum of 6 tournaments this season
o Top 5 boaters are paired with Top 5 non-boaters
· Boater / Non boaters #6-10 can “buy in” to the Championship
o Must meet 6 tournament minimum
o Buy in Fee = $100/boat ( $50/each )
o 6-10 are paired with 6-10.
o The total of allowed paid entry’s will be equal to the # of WHOLE qualified boater/non-boater. Meaning, we must have the same # of both B/N-B. If there’s 8 boaters qualify but on 6 non-boaters, then on 6 can go to the Championship.
29. Interpretation of all rules is subject to the discretion of the Tournament Director and officers.