INDY BASS CLUB RULES
Membership: Individuals 16 years and older
are eligible for club membership. Individuals under the age of 16 may fish with
their parent or legal guardian. Teams
will consist of one (1) or two (2) people per boat. Club membership fee will be
$50 per team or $25 per individual. The
club is open to any teams or individual to fish an event and be eligible for
75% payout. A team is required to pay
membership dues prior to the first tournament to be eligible for any cash
payout. Each club member prior to the
start of the first tournament must sign a release form and/or liability
waiver. If a sub is used, he/she must
also sign a liability waiver prior to the start of the tournament fished (see
Substitutions’ Rule).
Club Officers: The Officers of the chapter
shall consist of:
President – one-year term
Vice President – one-year term
Tournament Director – one-year term
Asst. Tournament Director –
one-year term
Secretary – one-year term
Treasurer – one-year term
Weigh Master – one-year term
Web Designer – one-year term
The Officers of the chapter will ensure proper
enforcement of the rules. The Officers
shall reserve all rights for rule interpretations. Furthermore, the Officers have the authority
to announce or present any rule revisions (printed or not) as deemed
appropriate. Any rules changed at the
lake by tournament officials, takes precedence over written rules, this
statement only applies to start and finish time as well as current lake official
rule changes. Knowledge of these rules
is the responsibility of each contestant; failure to read these rules or
ignorance is no excuse and can lead to disqualification. All protests must be submitted within 15
minutes of the weigh-in completion to the Tournament Director. The Officers will handle all protests.
ALL OFFICERS’ DECISIONS WILL BE FINAL.
Cheating: Cheating will in no way be
tolerated. Deceiving tournament officials or doing anything deemed an unfair
advantage will lead to disqualification, forfeiture of all monies and banishment
from the club.
Team Numbers: Team numbers
will be drawn prior to the start of the season. The first place team if
complete from the previous season will have the honor of being designated as
team #1.
Check-In and Pre-Meeting: One team member must check in prior to the
tournament. A pre-tournament meeting
will take place at the launch site approximately fifteen minutes prior to the
official start time. The starting order
will be announced at the pre-tournament meeting. Teams will start according to designated team
number. Any small horse powered boat (25
hp or lower) will have the option of going in order or waiting until last. The boat that is designated to take off last
will be considered the official starter boat.
If a team is late to the designated starting point and their number has
been called, that team will go to the end of the starting order.
Boat Equipment: Every boat
must have all required Coast Guard safety equipment. In addition, it must have
a functional bilge pump and live well.
The live well must be properly aerated to adequately maintain a limit
catch of bass by both fishermen using the boat.
Tournament officials shall have the sole responsibility for determining
whether aeration and capacity is “proper and adequate.” Each
boat must be given, prior to each day’s start, an inspection check by a
tournament official. If a team is late
to the launch site, the team must find a club member to check the live wells
before the team can begin fishing. The
team must also notify said member if the team will be participating in the
optional “Big Bass” pots. If
notification is not given, the team will be considered ineligible for the
optional “Big Bass” payoffs.
Sportsmanship and Safety: Safe fishing and safe boating practices are expected
during tournament hours. Competitors are expected to follow high standards of
sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation. You must stay 50 yards away
from a tied or anchored tournament angler (anchored is anchored to the bottom
and/or tied to an object with the trolling motor up). Alcohol and controlled substances are not
permitted in a boat during tournament hours.
Horsepower of your boat may not exceed the maximum horsepower
regulations set by the U.S. Coast Guard in their ruling of November 1972.
Tackle and Equipment: Only artificial lures may be used. No “live bait” or “prepared bait” will be
permitted, with the exception of pork strips, rinds, etc. Only ONE casting, spin-casting or spinning
rod and reel may be used at any one time.
All other types prohibited. Other rigs as specified as above may be in
the boat ready for use. However, only
ONE is permitted in use at any given time. All bass must be caught live and in
a conventional sporting manner. Anyone
guilty of snatching or snagging visible fish will have their days catch
disqualified. No trolling.
Entry Fees: Entry fees of $70.00 per boat with an optional $10.00 Big Bass Pot shall be paid
prior to the event or at the launch site of the event to the club
Treasurer. There will also be an
optional $10 “rollover” Big Bass Pot. To
be eligible for the 75% ramp payout, each team must be paid concurrent prior to
each tournament. Teams not concurrent,
or have not worked out an agreement with the Treasurer, will not be eligible
for 75% ramp payout. Teams not
concurrent by the last tournament will face possible forfeiture of all year-end
payout monies.
Substitutions: All
substitutes will not have to pay the club membership fee of $25 to participate
in any tournaments. Officers are to be
notified previous to any seasonal tournament or the classic tournament if a
substitute is needed (see Classic Rules). The IBC officers have the right to monitor
and decline a substitute for any tournament if the team has shown previous
abuse of the substitution rule.
Lakes and Schedule: Lakes
will be voted on and picked by appointed
officers prior to the start of each season. Any postponements due to unforeseen
circumstances will be rescheduled or continued on an alternate lake. The officers will then create the schedule. Current standings, schedules and starting
dates and times will be available online and issued by e-mail prior to each
tournament to each team.
Permitted Fishing Locations: The Tournament Director for each tournament
shall establish tournament waters. Any
water within these boundaries posted Off-Limits or No Fishing by state or
federal agencies will be OFF-LIMITS. Only the water open to all public fishing
will be considered tournament waters. Any
water closed to public fishing will be closed to tournament’s contestants. All angling must be done from the boat. Any
team or individual that receives a citation given by DNR authorities is subject
to the possibility of disqualification.
Tournament Hours:
Tournament days will consist of no more than ten hours of fishing for
one-day tournaments or night tournaments. Two-day tournaments will be limited to no more
then eight hours of fishing for each tournament day. For any team leaving early without notifying a
club member, a one-pound penalty will be assessed to the team’s current total
weight. All boats are to be at the check-in location at the designated finish
time. There will be a ten-minute grace
period with a ten percent reduction in weight. After the grace period has
expired, the team will be disqualified.
Fish Measuring: Fish will be measured
and weighed by the presently appointed officers (President, Vice President, Tournament Director, Asst. Tournament
Director, and Weigh Master) using the appointed measuring rule and
scale. The appointed officers will be the only individuals to handle the
fish. The Asst. Tournament Director will
be the primary officer to remove each fish from the contestant’s bag and
measure it. In the event of the Asst.
Tournament Director’s absence, the fish will be measured by the Weigh
Master. The Weigh Master will be the
primary officer to weigh the fish on to the scale. In the event of the Weigh Master’s absence,
the fish will be weighed by the Vice President.
The primary appointed officers’ fish will be measured and weighed by the
secondary appointed club officer.
The Asst. Tournament Director’s
and Weigh Master’s decision on a measurement and weight are final. Fish will be measured using the standard
legal method as outlined by the state DNR.
Dead Fish: For each legal
dead bass presented to weigh-in officials, the competitor shall be penalized eight(8)-ounces. The Tournament Director and his designated
appointees shall have sole authority for accessing penalty points. All live bass are to be released after
weigh-in. If an angler catches a bass
over 6.5 lbs we consider that a trophy and he/she will have the option to keep
the fish.
Scoring: Tournament
standings, auxiliary awards and final winners shall be determined by the pound
and ounce weight of each competitor’s catch during the competition days of the
tournament. Only Largemouth, Smallmouth
and Kentucky/Spotted Bass will be measured and weighed. The limit shall be five (5) fish per boat of
the above species and varieties per day. Only 5 fish shall be allowed in
your live well at any given time therefore only 5 fish are allowed to the
scales. Any team holding more than 5 fish in their live well might lead
to disqualification. You can however
have a sixth fish in your possession just long enough to cull another
fish. The official length for bass shall
be in accordance with prevailing state law and announced by the Tournament
Director at the pre-tournament meeting.
The overall team standings will be derived from a points system (100
points system). Tournaments are worth a
maximum of 100 points. Under this system, the tournament winning team will be
awarded 100 points. The points will be
awarded in five (5) point decreasing increments depending on place of finish down
to 5th place, four (4) point decreasing increments down to 10th
place, three (3) point decreasing increments down to 15th place and
two (2) point decreasing increments for the rest of the field (see example
below). In a tie, both teams will get
the points for the position of finish.
Teams not weighing a fish will be awarded 40 points with 15 boats or
less, 16 boats and more will be awarded 25 points. Teams who are not represented at a scheduled
tournament by at least one team member, will be awarded zero (0) points for
that event.
Points System Example
1st = 100 points 2nd = 95 points 3rd
= 90 points 4th = 85
points 5th = 80 points
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6th = 76 points 7th = 72 points 8th
= 68 points 9th = 64
points 10th = 60 points
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11th = 57 points 12th = 54 points 13th
= 51 points 14th = 48 points 15th = 45 points
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16th = 43 points 17th = 41 points 18th
= 39 points 19th = 37 points 20th = 35 points
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Awards: Trophies will
be awarded to the Team of the Year. The
angler with the big bass of the year will receive a trophy. All team awards will be awarded according
to the points system outlined above. At
the conclusion of each tournament, there will be a 75% payout of all monies
collected. In the event of a tie, all
monies will be added together and split evenly between the teams. All of the end of year monies and awards will
be given out at the banquet.
Classic: The last tournament of the
season is considered to be the classic.
To qualify for the classic, a team must fish 4 of the 5 tournaments
(qualifiers) or pay a total of 4 tournament entry fees ($280), prior to the
classic. Officers are to be notified previous to the classic tournament if a
substitute is needed. Substitutes are
permitted to fish in the classic. The
IBC officers have the right to monitor and decline a substitute for the classic
if the team has shown abuse of the substitution rule throughout the tournament
season. Awards for or the classic
include embroidered shirts, name plate on the classic trophy, and the top 7
places will be awarded. **Please note:
the number of places to be awarded could change at the officer’s
discretion. This will be dependent on
the number of boats competing.
Optional Big Bass and “Rollover” Big Bass Pot: Each Team wanting to enter the optional side pots will
need to pay the fees at the pre-meeting or make arrangements with the organizer
to pay. An appointed organizer will
collect the rollover big bass money and the treasurer will collect the big bass
money. If a team decides to enter, then
both team members must pay to enter the side pots with no exceptions. This goes for both the Big Bass and
the “Rollover” Big Bass Pot. The big
bass pot shall be awarded at the end of each tournament to the team/individual
that catches the heaviest bass. The
“Rollover” big bass pot shall be awarded to the first team who catches the
heaviest bass over 5 pounds. Once this
pot has been awarded the pot starts back at a zero dollar balance and rolls
over until someone lands a bass over 5 pounds.
Any remaining balance on the “Rollover” side pot will be awarded at the
banquet. Any team who has paid 4 or more
Big Bass rollover entries will be eligible for the winnings. We will payout the top 3 heaviest bass for
the season, only one big bass award can be claimed per eligible team and the
only eligible fish are ones caught after the pot has been hit. Once the pot has been hit, all fish from that
point and prior are disqualified and all weights start over.