Team Trail & Federated Club
Northern NY Bassmasters Club
Club rules 2024
Membership: There will be a $50 annual membership fee per team. Membership runs from spring meeting to spring meeting. Must be a member to fish the club events. Events are a two person team with a five bass limit. A team may consist of two adults over 18 years of age or one adult and one child under 18, if the child's parents have signed the insurance waiver prior to the child competing. Each team must have a minimum of one adult over 18 years of age on it, no exception. Applications must be in the hands of the tournament director at least 5 days before the tournament or you are not eligible to fish that event. (Exception: 1st tournament of the season...all members from the previous season may sign up that morning for membership but NO NEW members may join that morning. You must be signed up 5 day prior to the event to be eligible if you are new.) Any team not signed up prior to blastoff of the 1st tournament of the year is required to pay the late membership fees. $100 per team and $25 for any alternative team member) All alternative team member issues are under the directors discretion.
Registration: Registration starts at 5:30 AM at the boat launch site. Launch time is 6:30 AM. Entry fee is $80 per team. You must have your boat in the water prior to the event, failure to do so will eliminate you from the event. Club championship cost will be $120 per team (covers entry and lunker for both days) (AMERICAN CASH ONLY)
Payback: 100% payback is as follows: $60 of the entry will contribute to the following 1st-45% 2nd-30% 3rd-15% and 4th-10% of the entry fees of the event. ** New for 2023** Each tournament will have a Lunker Largemouth and Lunker Smallmouth Category. $10 will contribute to the Lunker Largemouth category and $10 will contribute to the Lunker Smallmouth category. Membership fees and sponsor donations will be used to purchase plaques and other necessary items for the continuance of these tournaments. **Also new for 2023** There will be plaques handed out for 1st-4th Place finishes at each tournament that will have the name of the fishery, date, and finish place. These will not be personalized to the placing team.
*new for 2020 - 40 or more teams participating Payback will be amended as follows: 1st – 45% 2nd – 25% 3rd – 15% 4th – 10% 5th – 5%
Lunker Of The Year Team Pool: This is not required by teams but is a separate pool the team must be signed up before the start of the 1st tournament of the year to participate in and win the lunker of the year team pool. The largest fish by a lunker of the year pool team from each event will be submitted into the contest. So if lunker for the day winner at a tournament is not in the pool the next biggest fish caught by a lunker of the year pool member will be the fish entry for that tournament in the pool. Both team members must be signed up. If a team has already signed up for lunker of the year pool prior to the season starting and an alternate partner is used during the season, the alternate can have the option to sign up for the lunker pool. If the alternate does not enter the lunker pool, then that boat is not eligible to submit a lunker pool fish since both members are not in the pool.
Event Time & Regulations: Tournament starts at 6:30 AM. Ending at 3:00 PM unless specified otherwise. The club director can delay, cancel, or reschedule the start of any event if weather conditions pose a threat to the welfare and safety of the event participants. The director of the event will hold a meeting to ask for a vote of those who wish to fish the event and fees will be returned to those who decide that they will not fish. No fishing until the event has officially started. Only two participants per boat.
Water & Draw: Starting order will be determined by blind draw and a trickle start will commence with the boat #1 until all the boats have left the staging area. Boundaries are all waters accessible by boat without exiting the boat and in accordance to state laws. Anyone found violating these regulations will be disqualified from the event without refund of fees. If you are found to have violated these regulations in any two events you will not be allowed to participate in any future events with the club.
Equipment & Regulations: All boats will have working live wells. All boats will have all coast guard required and approved equipment. All boats will be equipped with a working kill switch. All participants are required to wear their PDFs while the big engine is in use. First infraction will be a warning, a second infraction in that event or thereafter will be a loss of weigh for that event.
INSURANCE: Boat Owners must have at least $100,000 of Boating Liability Insurance. Proof of insurance may be asked for at any time.
Fishing Equipment Regulations: No live bait. Artificial lures only. Multiple rods may be in the boat but only one rod may be used per participant at a time. Fish must be caught by the participants during the hours of the event and only by the team who is weighing them in.
INSURANCE: Boat Owners must have at least $100,000 of Boating Liability Insurance. Proof of insurance may be asked for at any time.
Offlimits: No offllimits.....but you may not be on the water fishing the day of the tournament prior to the start of the tournament
Sportsmanship: Sportsmanship will be practiced at all times. Unsportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated. Once an event has started you must maintain 100 ft from any other participants’ boat who is fishing or about to fish. A formal compliant must be signed by the participants who feel that someone violated this infraction and event officials will listen to both sides before assessing the penalty for the violation.
Navigation/Conservation Law: Any angler who is ticketed by law enforcement breaking any conservation law, NY State law, Canadian law, or National Coast Guard boating law in any body of water shall be disqualified from that tournament.Alcohol: No alcohol during tournament hours.
Points System & Penalties: Will be based on 200 pt system. Ex. 1st Place = 200 pts, 2nd 199 pts etc. Each team will have one throw away tournament applied for team of the year standings. Teams must fish 3 of 7 pt tournaments to fish the championship.Weigh in: 3:00 PM sharp at the launch site. Teams must be in the staging area by 3 PM. A lb penalty will be assessed for each minute late up to 10 minutes. After 10 minutes a team is disqualified. All fish must be of legal length for the tournament water. Any angler weighing in fish not of legal length for the tournament’s body of water is subject to disqualification from the tournament director. Fish must be alive and returned to the water unless there is an exception for a trophy fish. 0.5 lb penalty will be assessed for each dead fish. If all 5 fish in the bag are brought to the scales dead then that bag will be disqualified for the tournament. Each team must have their lunker picked out prior to weighing in. Dead fish do not qualify for lunker.
Year-end points/TOTY tiebreakers will be broken by total weight from the events included in each team’s points calculation. In the event this tiebreaker does not determine the TOTY Champion, the tie will be broken by the highest finishing team at the Championship Event. In the event these teams tie at the Championship the TOTY tie will be broken by heaviest fish of the Championship, then 2nd heaviest fish etc. until the tie is broken. 2.
For events with 40 or more teams participating
Payback will be amended as follows: 1st – 45% 2nd – 25% 3rd – 15% 4th – 10% 5th – 5%
*Weigh in exception: If a team’s boat breaks down while in route to a weigh in and they can get in contact with another teams boat, they may send one of their team members with their fish to weigh in.
Club Director: The club director is in charge of the club each season. This position will not have a term limit but will be voted on yearly at the end of the year banquet. The tournament director has the right to make a call on any situation/interpretation that may be in the gray area of the club rules or any situation not previously stated. All decisions by the tournament director are final.
Devices: No competitors shall use cell phones to have communications about the fishing day with other competitors during the event. Cell phones can be used for emergency or safety purposes. No underwater cameras or any underwater viewing devices may be used during tournament hours. Floggers are now allowed for use during all tournaments.
Sign up: Signing the application for the NNY Bassmasters club you give the club the right to use your name, picture, image, voice, video footage and other personal identifiable information for club promotional and outreach purposes.
Removal: All members removed from the NNY Bassmasters club by previous or current tournament directors are banned for life. Any angler/team can be DQ’ed by the tournament director but permanent banning from the club will be administered after an official vote of the NNY Bassmaster members conducted by the tournament director.
Dead Fish: ALL TEAMS MUST CLAIM ANY AND ALL DEAD FISH IN THEIR BAG WHEN THEY COME TO THE SCALES. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION. PLEASE ALSO MENTION ANY FISH THAT DO NOT LOOK WELL OR MAY BE DYING SO THEY CAN BE ATTENDED TO. IF FISH ARE RELEASED AND ARE FOUND DEAD YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. FIZZING OF FISH IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ANGLER, BUT PLEASE ASK FOR ASSISTANCE IF NEEDED.
New for 2024 - St. Lawrence River/Lake Ontario 4 Fish Limit: For 2024, all tournaments taking place on Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River will switch to a 4 fish limit. This is to attempt to limit the mortality rate of fish brought to the scales. If you bring 5 fish to the scales during one of these tournaments, you will be disqualified from the tournament.
Positions:
Director: Jesse Spellicy
Weigh masters: Tim Ogrady & Steve Garrabrant
Tournament Rule Enforcer: John Narrow
Treasurer: James Moore
Website: Donnie Duprey
REMINDER: New DEC LAW: Clean & Dry - All livewells/boats will be checked for water/weeds/invasives. If you do not meet the tournament director or rules enforcers standard of clean/dry you will NOT be allowed to compete for the day with the Northern New York Bassmasters.
*Pull your plugs, clean the boats and empty livewells between tournaments and entering different bodies of water.
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