Woods Sporting Goods Bass Tournament
Rules and Regulations 2008

PARTICIPANTS AND ELIGIBILITY
Open to all individuals. Those under 18 years of age may participate with written permission from parent or guardian. Woods reserves the right to reject any entries we feel are not in the best interest of the Tournament.

ENTRY FEES
Entry fees shall be $80 per boat per tournament. $5 will go toward the TOC, $2 to lie detector fund. The tournament payout will be 75%, 1 place for every 5 boats up to the top 5 teams. Optional $20 Big Bass per boat entries are also available at 100% payback. Winners must be present to win and are responsible for any and all taxes on any monies or prizes won. A drawing will be held the Tuesday before each Tournament where launch positions will be determined. Any entries received after the drawing will be added in the order they are received. Entries will be accepted until 7pm the Friday before the tournament at the store or via phone. Ramp entries will be accepted with an addition $20 late entry fee.

OFF LIMITS
There is no off limits.

TOURNAMENT HOURS
Tournament hours will be from safe light for 8 hours. We reserve the right to change the hours if necessary.

SAFETY
Safe boating conduct must be observed at all times. Each competitor is required to wear a Coast Guard approved life vest, securely fastened at all times when the boat is being propelled by the combustion engine. Furthermore a kill switch must be fastened to the driver anytime the combustion engine is propelling the boat. Failure to do so is grounds for disqualification. Running lights must be operational. Each competitor’s boat must be equipped with a live well system capable of keeping a tournament limit of bass alive.

SPORTSMANSHIP
Each contestant is expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy and conservation. No boat may fish within 50 yards of another competitor who is anchored with the trolling motor up. Furthermore no team may fish within 25 yards of another team without the other teams permission. Permission may not be granted to any team at the exclusion of any other team. No hole sitting or prefishing by a non-competitor to aid a tournament participant will be allowed. Violators will be disqualified.

TACKLE AND FISHING METHODS
Only artificial baits may be used. No live or cut bait is permitted with the exceptions of pork strips, rinds, etc. All bass must be caught alive in a legal and sporting manner. No snagging. Each competitor may only use 1 rod at a time. No more than 1 bait in the water at a time per fisherman. Trolling with the big motor is not permitted. No competitor may leave the boat to land or catch fish. No underwater cameras are allowed during the tournament.

STATE GAME REGULATIONS
All participants are required to abide by all state laws and game regulations. No alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs may be consumed by any participant during tournament hours.

SCORING
A limit of 5 bass (largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass) may be weighed in. Minimum lengths will be 15 inches unless a longer limit is required at the lake being fished. Lengths will be measured with mouth closed on a “Golden Rule”. A short fish brought to the scales will result in disqualification. Dead fish will be penalized 1 pound, the dead fish penalty will also apply to any fish weighed as a Big fish if that fish is dead. All culling must be done on the lake with the exception of dead fish. No team may have more than the tournament limit in the livewell at any time during the tournament. Big bass will break heavy stringer ties. A heavy stringer will break big bass ties. Primary scoring will be based on the heaviest stringer.

EMERGENCIES
Competitors shall remain with their partners in the boat at all times during the tournament except in the event of sickness or brief excursions for “nature calling”, severe storm or other such hazard. If for any reason a team decides to leave the tournament waters early, both members shall bear full responsibility for notifying a tournament official. In case of a breakdown, one partner may return with fish by another tournament boat while the other partner is permitted to stay with the disabled boat.

WEIGH IN PROCEDURES
Weigh-in will begin 15 minutes after the end of the tournament. No early weigh-ins. Weigh-in will be on a first come first serve basis. You may weigh your fish in one of Woods official weigh in bags. Your fish must be kept in your livewell until an official bag is available. Once fish have been presented to a tournament Official to be weighed in, no additional fish may be brought to the scales. Teams not weighing fish are still required to check in with the tournament officials in order to account for all teams.

LATE PENELTY
Competitors who are not at the check in area will be penalized at a rate of 1 pound per minute up to 15 minutes at which time they will be disqualified. The contestants will retain their participation points for their yearly total.

CHANGE OF PARTNER AND USE OF SUBS
All teams must have a declared partner to begin their season. A permanent partner change may only be made prior to the start of the second Tournament with all points retained or by unanimous vote of the Tournament Directors in an extreme situation. A participant may fish solo in any tournaments and retain all points for your team. You are allowed to fish with a different partner, however a new team will be created for the Tournament of Champs eligibility.

PROTEST AND POLYGRAPH TEST
Any protest must be submitted in writing to the Tournament Director within 15 minutes of the close of the weigh in. Woods Sporting Goods reserves the right to give a polygraph test to any participant at any time. This test does not have to be administered on site and may be set up by the Tournament Director at his discretion. All participants agree to abide by the results of any polygraph test administered. In the event of a protest and an off site polygraph test, the Tournament Director will have the option of mailing check to all teams in the money pending the outcome of the polygraph.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
All teams participating in a tournament will receive 30 points for showing up. The 1 st place team will receive 100 points, 2 nd place 98 points, 3 rd place 96 points and so on. Teams not weighing any fish will receive only the 30 points for showing up.

INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Teams with 325 points or more at the end of the season will be invited to participate in a Woods Sporting Goods Tournament which is yet to be determined.

LIABILITY INSURANCE
All participants must carry a minimum of $100,000 of liability insurance on any boat they might use during any Woods Sporting Goods Tournaments. Failure to do so reporting of false information will result in disqualification. Participants must be able to present proof of insurance at the request of the any of Tournament Directors or advisors.

RULES INTERPRETION
Interpretation of these rules will be exclusively to the Tournament Directors and the advisory board. The decision of these people will be final in all matters. Infractions of any rule can results in disqualification.

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