BIG BASS TOURNAMENT RULES
1. PARTICIPANTS | ELIGIBILITY
· All contestants regardless of age who register and pay entry fees may participate.
· Only registered contestants may be in the boat during official tournament hours.
· This is a Big Bass tournament, contestants fish as a single person not as a team.
· You may have as many contestants in one boat as permitted by the maximum occupancy and weight rating of the vessel.
· The Tournament Director reserves the right to refuse any contestant or tournament entry fees or entry forms for any reason.
2. PAYOUTS
· First place at each weigh-in will be $500 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Second place at each weigh-in will be $250 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Little Lephrechaun (smallest legal catch) at each weigh-in will be $25.
3. REGISTRATION | TOURNAMENT HOURS
· Registration will be available online at www.valentinelakeside.com/luckylunker until midnight before the day of the tournament. In-person entries at Valentine Lakeside will be accepted until the day before the event.
· On-site registration will begin at 6:00 am the morning of the event at Valentine Lakeside. A completed and signed entry form and payment must be received before the start of each tournament.
· This is a Trailing event. Contestants may launch their boat from any ramp on LBJ no earlier than 6:30am the morning of the tournament, but must not have a line in the water until the official start time of 7:15am. An optional blast-off will be held at Valentine Lakeside at 7am.
· In the event of severe weather, the tournament may be canceled at any time.
· All lines out of the water by 2:30pm
· Weigh-ins will be at 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am, 1pm and 2:30pm.
FIVE-BAG TOURNAMENT RULES
1. PARTICIPANTS | ELIGIBILITY
· All contestants regardless of age who register and pay entry fees may participate.
· Only registered contestants may be in the boat during official tournament hours.
· Contestants fish as a boat (one or two-person team).
· You may have up to two anglers in one boat.
· A limit of five bass Largemouth Bass may be weighed in per team.
· No team may have more than the tournament limit (5 bass) in the live well at any time during the tournament except during the short time frame of culling a bass.
· Culling of dead bass is prohibited.
· Dead fish WILL NOT be eligible for Big Bass.
· The Tournament Director reserves the right to refuse any contestant or tournament entry fees or entry forms for any reason.
2. PAYOUTS
· First place will be $2000 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Second place will be $1750 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Third place will be $1500 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Fourth place will be $1250 based on a minimum of 50 entries.
· Best Tale prize will be $125 for the best fish story from the day, judged solely by Pat Muller.
3. REGISTRATION | TOURNAMENT HOURS
· Registration will be available online at www.valentinelakeside.com/luckylunker until midnight before the day of the tournament. In-person entries at Valentine Lakeside will be accepted until the day before the event.
· On-site registration will begin at 6am the morning of the event at Valentine Lakeside. A completed and signed entry form and payment must be received before the start of the tournament.
· This is a Trailing event. Contestants may launch their boat from any ramp on LBJ no earlier than 6:30am the morning of the tournament, but must not have a line in the water until the official start time of 7:15am. An optional blast-off will be held at Valentine Lakeside at 7am.
· In the event of severe weather, the tournament may be canceled at any time.
· Scales will close at exactly 2:35 P.M. unless otherwise noted by a Tournament Director. All bass that are not weighed in by the closing time of the scales are disqualified from the tournament and are not eligible for a prize. Contestants must be in line for weigh-in no later than 2:30pm
RULES APPLICABLE TO BOTH TOURNAMENT DAYS
PERMITTED FISHING METHODS
· Only artificial baits may be used. No live or cut bait is permitted (pork baits are permitted).
· All bass must be caught alive in a legal and sporting manner. No snagging.
· Each contestant may only use 1 rod at a time. No more than 1 line in the water at a time per angler.
· All fishing must be conducted from the boat. At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a fish.
· Trolling with the combustion motor is not permitted.
OFF LIMITS
· There is 48 Hour off limits period. No contestant may be on fishing water during the 48 Hours prior to the day of the tournament.
· No contestant may launch their boats before 6:30am
· 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.
SCORING
· Each contestants’ weight will be measured in pounds and hundredths of ounces. The highest weight over 5lbs will be declared 1st place per weigh-in period and 1 overall.
· If a contestant is disqualified for any reason they will forfeit any prize for the event.
SPORTSMANSHIP | SAFETY
· All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation.
· 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 any time the boat is above idle. 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 boat is above idle.
· Tournament hours 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.
· In case of inclement weather it will be the contestant’s decision to stay and fish or seek shelter/leave. Once tournament fees are paid and the tournament has begun there will be no refunds for any reason.
· Mobile communication devices are encouraged for safety reasons but their use is prohibited during tournament hours for the purposes of finding or locating fish.
· Consumption of alcohol or any non-prescribed drug is prohibited during tournament hours.
· All boat operators must comply with the laws of the State of Texas, for a complete list of TexasPWC Operation Laws please visit: http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/laws/pwc/.
MEDIA DISCLAIMER
· Valentine Lakeside has the irrevocable right and permission to use photographs and/or video recordings of tournament anglers on valentinelakeside.com, facebook.com, youtube.com and other websites, as well as in publications, promotional flyers, or for any other similar purpose without compensation.
· Photographs and/or video recordings of anglers may be placed on the Internet. Anglers may be identified by name and/or title in printed, Internet or broadcast information that might accompany the photographs and/or video recordings. All anglers waive the right to approve the final product. All such portraits, pictures, photographs, video and audio recordings, and any reproductions thereof, and all plates, negatives, recording tape and digital files are and shall remain the property of Valentine Lakeside.
· Tournament anglers hereby release, acquit and forever discharge Valentine Lakeside, its owner and employees from any and all claims, demands, rights, promises, damages and liabilities arising out of or in connection with the use or distribution of said photographs and/or video recordings, including but not limited to any claims for invasion of privacy, appropriation of likeness or defamation.
· All contestants may 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 or awards for the event. The Tournament Director reserves the rights to waive any violation of these rules that are disclosed to him before the polygraph exam, in his sole and absolute discretion.
· Protests must be made in writing within 10 minutes of the official closing of the scales at each tournament.
· 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.
· All participants expressly assume all risk(s) associated with each tournament event and hereby release, indemnify and hold harmless Valentine Lakeside, the host, all sponsors and Tournament Directors from all claims or injury and/or damage arising out of, or related to and/or incurred in connection with any event.