2017 KAYAK BASS LEAGUE ONLINE OPEN EVENT RULES AND REQUIREMENTS

Transcription

1 2017 KAYAK BASS LEAGUE ONLINE OPEN EVENT RULES AND REQUIREMENTS **ALL TOURNAMENT RULES EXPRESSED IN THIS DOCUMENT CAN AND WILL BE CHANGED AT THE DISCRETION OF THE KBL TEAM ON AN AS NEEDED BASIS. THE KBL TEAM HOLDS THE RIGHT TO DISQUALIFY AND/OR BAN ANY COMPETITOR THAT DOES NOT ABIDE BY THE RULES OF THIS SERIES** Last revised on 08/25/2017 LEGEND I) COMPETITION KAYAK REQUIREMENTS II) ACCEPTABLE KAYAK PROPULSION III) MINIMUM LICENSE, REGISTRATION, OR PASS REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION DURING KBL EVENTS IV) ELIGIBLE FISHING WATERS V) ELIGIBLE FISHING TIME VI) MINIMUM SAFETY EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS VII) CATCH, PHOTO, AND RELEASE (CPR) PROCEDURE VIII) MINIMUM FISH PICTURE EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS IX) HAWG TROUGH BUMP BOARD RULES X) CHECK LIST FOR ACCEPTABLE FISH PICTURES XI) FISH PICTURE SUBMISSIONS XII) TOURNAMENT SCORING XIII) TOURNAMENT JUDGING PROCESS XIV) FISH PENALTIES AND DISQUALIFICATIONS XV) ENTRY FEES AND CASH PRIZES XVI) AGE REQUIREMENT XVII) ANGLER DISQUALIFICATIONS XVIII) CHEATING, FIGHTING, PROPERTY DAMAGE AND UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT I) COMPETITION KAYAK REQUIREMENTS: What is considered a kayak? A kayak is a plastic single hull vessel that is powered in most cases by a double bladed paddle and in some cases by a pedal drive system or small electric motor. A kayak can also either be a sit-in or a sit upon style hull of various length and width. The Kayak Bass League has determined a basic definition and requirements that qualify a kayak to be used in a KBL event a) The hull width of the kayak should not exceed 45 inches (based on manufacturer specifications for that model) b) The kayak must have a minimum length of 10 feet and be no longer than 16 feet (based on manufacturer specifications for that model). c) The vessel must be advertised and sold as a kayak by the manufacturer d) Vessels not considered an acceptable kayak would include canoes, aluminum jon boats, skiffs, 2 man pond hoppers or bass buggy, SUP (stand up paddleboards), and foldable or inflatable kayaks II) ACCEPTABLE KAYAK PROPULSION Kayaks can ONLY be powered by paddle, pedals or electric motor. Competitors can use any combination of these devices to propel themselves around the waterway. Any competitor using another watercraft as a propulsion method and not operating their watercraft under their own power will be disqualified. If another competitor is the watercraft aiding in the propulsion they will also be automatically disqualified. Only in an emergency situation should a competitor be tethered to another competitor to get them to shore quickly and safely. **Electric motors will also be limited to 55 pound thrust max**

2 III) MINIMUM LICENSE, REGISTRATION, OR PASS REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION DURING KBL EVENTS: a) Every angler must possess a current fishing license for the state you are fishing in, whether you are a resident or non-resident. b) Every angler must possess a current Water Usage Stamp (Paddle Pass), if participating in Illinois as a resident or non-resident. It should be adhered to the outside of your kayak hull or carried with the kayak angler at all times. The information needed to get this stamp is your kayak make/model, hull number and color. Water usage stamps can be purchased at any kiosk where fishing licenses are sold. c) In the case that a kayak is powered by an electric motor the owner of the kayak must have his kayak titled/registered with their state of residence if it is a state requirement (note that this applies only to residents of the state that have registration laws for motor powered vessels) d) A daily parking pass or launch fee may need to be purchased at certain venues. It is the responsibility of the participant to pay for any associated parking or daily passes. IV) ELIGIBLE FISHING WATERS a) All Kayak Bass League Opens must be fished from one of the waterways designated in the description of the TourneyX registration page. Any other waterways will not be allowed, and a competitor can only submit fish from one of the competition waterways. b) Anglers are allowed to fish any adjacent waterways as long as they are publicly accessible and the competitor is able to float their kayak from the main competition waterway to the adjacent waterway. Kayaks cannot be transported over any form of dividing land mass or physical structure that blocks entry from the main body of water into the adjacent waterway. c) Your GPS location settings must be turned ON when taking fish pictures. All pictures must then be uploaded on the property of the waterway (or as close as possible to regain cell service signal) to ensure that GPS information correlates to the location you were fishing. If any pictures are submitted with your location off of the waterway those fish pictures will be automatically disqualified. There will be no exceptions. V) ELIGIBLE FISHING TIME a) Every KBL Open falls on a Saturday and Sunday. It is up to you to fish only Saturday or Sunday you cannot fish and submit pictures from both days. b) You are allowed to compete within the designated time frame that is listed in the tournament description on the TourneyX registration page. caught before or after that time frame will not count. c) Every competitor must submit their catches to TourneyX by 4 PM CST on the day that they compete. Pictures submitted after that time will not count. d) In the case you cannot compete on Saturday, you are allowed to change plans and compete on Sunday. Each angler has the freedom to make a last minute call and change their plans. VI) MINIMUM SAFETY EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS: a) Every angler must wear a US Coast Guard approved life vest at all times while on the water. You will be disqualified from the event if you are found not wearing one. The vest must meet the minimum boating safety requirements required by the state you are fishing in. It is up to the participant to know and understand the minimum boating safety laws of the body of water they are fishing before they participate in this event. (Belt style PFD s will NOT BE ALLOWED!) b) All other US Coast Guard boating safety laws must be followed per the state regulations that you are fishing in. It is up to the angler to know and understand what those regulations are. Extra encouraged safety gear / products to carry: c) High visibility safety flag d) Whistle or air horn e) Paddle and paddle leash f) Proper clothing for the water and air temperature (non-cotton materials)

3 g) VHF/GMRF two way radio h) Extra change of dry clothes i) 3-4 long knife j) Lights for kayak for early morning/late evening boating k) Anchor VII) CATCH, PHOTO, AND RELEASE (CPR) PROCEDURE Every tournament is based on a Catch, and Release (CPR) format. This means that every fish caught will be measured and photographed on a Hawg Trough bump board after it is caught. After an acceptable photo is taken, the fish is to be immediately released. NO FISH will be held in a live-well, kept for weigh-in or held captive for any extended period of time. VIII) MINIMUM FISH PICTURE EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS: a) Hawg Trough brand bump board (no other bump boards are acceptable) b) Tournament identifier provided in your TourneyX Dashboard under View Identifiers/Codes c) High resolution camera or camera phone with GPS capability IX) HAWG TROUGH BUMP BOARD RULES: a) All legal Hawg Trough bump boards must be in their as purchased original condition. Boards that have been modified in length, broken, cracked, glued etc. will not be acceptable to use during the event. Items like wooden dowels or stickers can be added so long as the bump board itself still remains unaffected from its original purchased condition and does not affect fish length. b) All Hawg Troughs must have their measurement lines cleanly marked and defined at the peak or to the right of each measurement line with a black permanent marker (see picture below). Some boards come pre-marked from the manufacturer and are acceptable. If measurement marks are not darkened it will not be acceptable to use. Also if marks are darkened sloppily it leaves room for questionable measurements that will have to be judged accordingly. KBL staff has full authority to determine final fish length. **Please make every effort to touch up your bump board before every event if marks have faded** c) Stickers or marker marks may be placed on the upright and/or horizontal portion of the bump board as long as they do not transition from the upright face into the horizontal face or vice versa which makes it difficult to tell if a fish is touching the upright or zero mark. Also any stickers on the horizontal portion of the board should not cover up any measurement lines on the bump board. The Hawg Trough cannot not be used if either of those two conditions exist. d) Approved bump boards may be shared by competitors in an online event. Example of rule IX.b X) CHECK LIST FOR ACCEPTABLE FISH PICTURES: a) length must be a minimum (12) inches to qualify b) Fully close the fish s mouth and press the mouth against the upright or zero inch marker portion of the Hawg Trough bump board.

4 c) The fish s head should be facing to the left and the belly towards you (see example below) d) Pinch the tail of the fish at its ending mark on the bump board e) Ensure that your bump board is as level as possible in the picture f) Ensure that your camera is perpendicular to the plane of the bump board g) The tournament identifier must be filled out properly with both the tournament code and the user identification code. If either code is missing, then the fish will not count. **The 3 digit tournament code will be displayed on the available identifier at 4 PM CST the day before competition please note that the tournament code will change between Saturday and Sunday. The user identification code is located under the same tab in your TourneyX dashboard under view identifiers/codes this 4 digit code will be the same for the angler on Saturday and Sunday** h) Ensure that your GPS location data is turned ON both on your phone and camera settings. **Please go to the following link and under location services you will see steps on how to turn on your GPS location ** i) Take a picture of the entire fish and ensure that the entire tournament identifier can be visibly seen in the picture. j) Take multiple pictures to ensure that at least one good fish picture is taken Example of a bass with identifier present and both the tournament code and user identification code filled in properly: User Identification Code Tournament Code XI) FISH PICTURE SUBMISSIONS: a) All fish pictures must be submitted through your dashboard under Submit Catch either through the main website or the app. If you are having issues with the app, use the website.

5 b) Once one picture is submitted by a competitor (even if by accident), the angler will be officially locked in as submitting fish for that day of competition. If an angler deletes any catches (even if by accident) after the 4 PM cutoff on the day that they submit fish, they will not be able to resubmit them. c) Each angler will be able to weigh in up to (5) of their longest largemouth, smallmouth or combination of the two species. d) Each angler is allowed to cull as many fish as they want to increase their total fish length. (Culling example if you already have (5) fish and the shortest fish in your top (5) is 16 then you catch a 16.5 fish. The 16 fish is then replaced by your 16.5 fish). Each online event will have autocull turned on. This means that once you submit a fish that is larger than the smallest fish in your current stringer, the smallest fish will automatically be bumped out. e) If a fish is submitted and a DQ occurs, an angler is allowed to resubmit the fish if it still within the 4 PM CST fish submission cutoff time. f) If a fish is submitted to cull a fish and a DQ occurs, then the culled fish will be placed back into the angler s stringer XII) TOURNAMENT SCORING: a) Final length will be determined by the longest part of the fish s tail that touches or surpasses a length mark. Touching is defined as meeting or crossing the plane of the measurement mark. If there is a visible gap between the tail and measurement mark (event if it is minimal) the tail will not be considered touching. b) Length of the fish will then be rounded down to the nearest ¼ inch that the tail touches or crosses c) The live leaderboard on TourneyX will be turned OFF for the entire duration of the tournament. d) In the case of a tie for a total stringer, the tie breaker will be the angler s largest fish. If largest fish is also a tie, then the tie breaker will be the angler s second largest fish, and so on until the tie is broken. If all fish are identical in length between both anglers then the tie breaker will be determined by whoever submitted their biggest fish first. e) In the case of a big bass pot tie, the winner will be whoever submitted their fish first. f) All scores will be final 24 hours after the release of the results. It is up to the competitors to bring up any scoring adjustments that may need to take place after the results are live. After that 24 hour period has passed the scores will remain permanent. XIII) TOURNAMENT JUDGING PROCESS a) All fish pictures must be submitted to TourneyX.com for judging b) Tournament director/fish judge will inspect the picture to ensure that the entire fish is in view along with the competitors tournament identifier c) Judge will ensure that the picture time stamp is within the eligible competition time and that the fish picture was submitted to TourneyX before 4 PM CST d) Judge will ensure that the GPS location matches one of the eligible lakes for the event e) Judge will also inspect for any rule infractions that could cause a length penalty or disqualification. Penalties and disqualifications are all described in this document. f) Judge will ask a second judge for confirmation of final ruling

6 XIV) FISH PENALTIES AND DISQUALIFICATIONS: Type Penalty Description Penalty Value Bump Board Bump Board Items applied to the upright or fence of the bump board that will drastically alter the fish s total length (layers of stickers, foam padding, etc) Hawg Trough measurement lines not darkened with a permanent marker (all measurement lines must be colored in 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and full inch lines) submitted with head of fish to the right, fish submitted belly facing away from the angler, or tail of fish touching the upright of the bump board If the fish appears to be mutilated, mangled or dead without supporting evidence that the fish was alive when photographed Mouth of fish not touching the upright or 0 inch mark of the bump board, or nose of fish is cut out of view of the picture where it makes contact with the upright of the bump board Items still attached to the fish while on the bump board (i.e. fish grips, cull tags, clips, stringers, fishing line, lures, hooks, straps, bungees, tape, and other similar items) DQ of all fish weighed in is restrained to the bump board by any other means except for the angler s hands (i.e using your foot, knee, etc.) If an angler uses the gill plate of the fish as a means of restraint by shoving a hand, fingers, or other object underneath the gill plate. Or if an angler places any items or foreign objects under the gill plate while this fish is being photographed. If a fish picture is submitted with the fish s mouth open, meaning that the bump board is visible through the opening of the fish s mouth it will be considered mouth open. **Penalty will still apply even if the fish s mouth is deformed and prevents it from fully closing ** If a length penalty is applied and the total length of a fish goes below the 12 inch minimum length Tail curved up and not in contact with the bump board. Angler is allowed to hold down the tail of the fish only up until the end of the fish s body and not the actual tail fin of the fish inch penalty Identifier If the head of the fish is in full view and touching the upright of the bump board, but the tail of the fish is cut off out of view Tournament identifier not visible, filled out improperly, illegible, blurry, washed out from the sun, or incomplete total length will be decided by the last visible measurement mark in view that the body of the fish touches Kayak Competitors kayak not visible in the picture Hand or other object completely covering the view of the mouth, tail or eye of the fish

7 appears to be second-generation (photo of a photo) too blurry to accurately judge taken or submitted before or after competition hours, or photo submitted after the submission cutoff time Multiple digital photos intentionally submitted of the same fish or the same fish caught and submitted at a later time during the same tournament /Ban of Angler If the photo s exif data has been tampered with or altered from the original photo. (i.e. time stamp not matching the actual time the fish was caught, the GPS location not showing the same location where the fish was caught, etc) submitted with GPS location data that does not match the competition waterway /Ban of Angler XV) ENTRY FEES AND CASH PRIZES: Entry fee for the event will be $50 (paypal fees included) and will be refundable until the Friday before the start of the event. Please TD@KayakBassLeague.com for refunds. Payouts will include 100% payback of your entry fee with 1 place paid out for every 7 participants. Also, in addition there will be a prize of $100 awarded for the big bass of the event. All cash prizes will be awarded on the first Wednesday following the conclusion of the event. This gives KBL staff the opportunity to review each photo for the top placing anglers, and ensures that cash prizes go to the rightful winners. Any angler that wins any cash amounts during the 2017 season will be required to fill out a W9 prior to receiving their prize. Any angler accruing $600 or more in cash winnings for the year will receive a 1099 for their 2017 taxes. XVI) AGE REQUIREMENT: There is no age requirement for KBL online events. XVII) ANGLER DISQUALIFICATIONS: a) Any angler not wearing their PFD while on the water will be disqualified. If it occurs a second time the angler will be banned indefinitely from any future KBL events. b) Helping another competitor with a fish picture will not be allowed and will result in a disqualification for all parties involved. c) Helping another competitor land a fish will not be allowed and will result in a disqualification for all parties involved. d) Any angler fishing with more than one rod or line at a time will be disqualified e) Any angler weighing in a fish that was not caught on their own will be disqualified f) Any angler using live bait will be disqualified **If you are disqualified for any reason you will not receive a refund for the event or any other previous fees paid to the KBL prior to the disqualification** XVIII) CHEATING, FIGHTING, PROPERTY DAMAGE AND UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT: a) If cheating occurs or is suspected during a tournament it is up to the angler(s) to get in touch with a KBL Staff member to report the infraction. Once investigated, if any angler(s) were found cheating during the event the KBL Staff reserves the right to disqualify, ban and/or press charges based on the gravity of the cheating offense.

8 b) If any angler is caught cheating in another tournament series they will automatically be banned from the Kayak Bass League tournament series c) If any angler is accused of starting a fight at any point during an event the KBL Staff reserves the right to disqualify and/or ban any angler(s) involved. d) If any angler is found to have damaged or sabotaged another anglers boat or property the KBL staff reserves the right to disqualify and/or ban any angler(s) involved. e) If any angler is in possession of drugs or alcohol during a KBL event the angler will be immediately disqualified and banned from any future events. f) If any member or participant is found posting harmful or malicious content on any social media platform or is found verbally abusing another member or participant, partners or parties involved with the Kayak Bass League the member in question will receive an immediate lifetime ban. **Competitor understands and agrees that his participation in and attendance at the Event is knowing and voluntary. Competitor understands and agrees that strict observation of the Event rules and regulations is required and that use of the Event facilities and the Competitor s presence at the Event are at the sole risk of the Competitor. Competitor indemnifies and holds harmless the KAYAK BASS LEAGUE and ACS OUTDOORS and its officers, directors, employees and agents from and against any claims, demands, actions, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses, including court costs and reasonable attorneys fees arising out of or relating to: (i) Competitor s participation in the Event; (ii) claims against KAYAK BASS LEAGUE and ACS OUTDOORS by any third parties arising from or related to KAYAK BASS LEAGUE S and ACS OUTDOORS actions and/or omissions, (iii) claims relating to any violation or alleged violation by KAYAK BASS LEAGUE and ACS OUTDOORS and/or any third party of the applicable laws relating to the conduct of the Event; and/or (iv) claims arising from or relating to KAYAK BASS LEAGUE S and ACS OUTDOORS performance of its obligations hereunder. Competitor specifically understands and agrees that he is assuming the risk of any and all injuries that he may suffer or incur as a result of his registration and/or participation in the Event. Competitor s indemnification obligations shall survive the expiration or termination of this agreement.**