Good Ole Boys

Junior Bassmasters

Home of the 2009-2010 CLUB TEAM Champions, the 2010 Connecticut Divisional Qualifier & 2009 Divisional Qualifier

The Good Ole Boys Junior Bassmasters is a certified 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Club

2010 Connecticut Div. Qualifier                 2009 / 2010 CLUB TEAM Champions                 2009 Canadian Div. Qualifier

           Good Ole Boys Bass Club

1. RULE CHANGES: Great effort, study and research have gone into the formulation of these rules. The rules for this tournament year will remain unchanged. In the event of a rule violation, the Tournament Director may impose such sanctions as he/she deems appropriate, including, and without limitation to, the disqualification and forfeiture of prizes, hotel allowance and prohibition in subsequent tournaments. The decision of the Tournament Director and tournament officials shall be FINAL word in ALL matters.

2. PARTICIPANTS AND ELIGIBILITY: Participation in these tournaments is by invitation only. These tournaments are only open to members in good standing with a Junior Bassmaster Club and/or Chapter and BASS State Federation Nation Chapter. Contenders must meet age and eligibility requirements as set forth by the following: Contenders must have obtained the age of 11 years, but not yet 19 years, based on the date of each and or final qualifying event as so structured by the Junior Bassmaster Club in the year of competition. BASS will allow only one (1) properly qualified Junior Bassmaster in each age group to represent their BASS State Federation Nation. Proof of age to the satisfaction of tournament officials is the responsibility of the competitor.

Any contestant that is handicapped in such a manner as to unfairly hinder his partner or endanger the safety and well-being of his partner, boat captain or himself shall not be eligible to compete. The Tournament Director reserves the right to discontinue acceptance of applications prior to the deadline and also the right to extend the acceptance date.

QUALIFYING FOR THE CLUB TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM (CTC),

The GOB Junior Bassmasters will conduct approximately (6) six Club Tournaments each year in an effort to qualify the best (6) six anglers for the CTC team. Each angler will drop his/her worst (2) two events. They will take the total score of their best (4) four events towards qualification. The GOB Club Team will be made up of the best (5) five Junior-Pros and the top Junior angler. If any of the top (5) five Junior-Pro (age group) members cannot participate in the CTC, then the remaining or open positions will be filled from the Junior (age group) anglers that finished in 2nd place or 3rd place, etc., respectively until all the positions are filled.

Additionally, if one of our Junior or Junior-Pro members reaches the finals and represents New York State in the Divisionals, they will automatically qualify for the following year CTC event as long as they compete in 50% of the Club qualifying tournaments or a minimum of (3) three club tournaments in that calendar year. In a case where that occurs, the divisional finisher will occupy the 5th Junior-Pro position on the team.

3. ANGLER CODE OF CONDUCT: Anglers / parents participating in any BASS sanctioned event shall observe the code of conduct and the applicable rules for the specific event in which they are participating. To this end, anglers / parents shall use their best efforts to demonstrate professionalism and integrity in support of the sport of fishing. Anglers / parents shall, at all times, conduct themselves in a manner becoming of these basic sporting principles and in a manner that will not reflect unfavorably on BASS, its members, officers or representatives, tournaments or sponsors.

MEDIA COMMENTS, PUBLIC ATTACKS: The favorable public reputation of BASS as a sanctioning organization in the sport of fishing, the integrity of its officials, and the reputation of its media properties are valuable assets and tangible benefits for BASS. Accordingly, it is an obligation of competitors or family members to refrain from comments to the news media that unreasonably attack or disparage the integrity of tournaments, tournament officials, sponsors, fellow members, fellow anglers or the BASS organization.

4. PRE-TOURNAMENT PRACTICE: During official practice and during the tournament, a competitor may not "SKIN DIVE" or "SCUBA DIVE" on the tournament waters. No competitor may buy or barter a fishing location from guides or other contenders for use during any competition day.

Contenders are permitted to transmit by radio or telephone ONLY in the event of an emergency. If so equipped, contestants may listen to the marine-band weather information.

5. REGISTRATION: Each contender is required to pre-register and return completed entry forms. It shall be the contender's responsibility to check the schedule of events for registration time and location or obtain times from the Tournament Director or his designees.

6. SPORTSMANSHIP AND SAFETY: Contenders in ALL tournaments are expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation. Any infraction of these fundamental sporting principles may be deemed cause for disqualification. Use of alcohol or drugs (other than those purchased over the counter or prescribed by a licensed physician) by any contender during the official practice or during the tournament will not be tolerated and shall be cause for automatic disqualification from this and all future BASS tournaments. Maximum courtesy must be practiced at all times, especially with regard to boating and angling in the vicinity of non-competitors who may also be on tournament waters.

SAFETY: Safe boat conduct must be observed at all times by tournament contenders, observers and boat captains. During the official practice and the tournament, each competitor is required to wear a US Coast Guard approved chest type life preserver. The preserver must be strapped, snapped or zippered securely and maintained in that condition AT ALL TIMES.  Contenders must wear their life preservers AT ALL TIMES. The pro-angler must wear his life preserver any time the combustion engine is operating. Violation of this rule shall be reason for disqualification.  Tournament officials have the right to delay or cancel the start of an official tournament day because of bad weather or over factors that would endanger the safety of the competitors. Tournament waters may also be restricted at any time because of bad weather. BASS reserves the right to impose speed limits on any or all tournament waters.

Whether or not to impose a speed limit, the area covered by the speed limit and/or the actual speed limit imposed shall be left exclusively to the discretion of the Tournament Director. All persons in a tournament boat shall remain seated in a recommended on-plane seating location when the combustion engine is running. Sitting on pedestal seats while the combustion engine is in operation is not permitted.

7. 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, spincasting, or spinning rod (8 ft. max. length from butt of handle to rod tip) and reel may be used at any one time.

However, only one (1) outfit is permitted in use at any given time. All bass must be caught alive and in a conventional sporting manner. Anyone guilty of snatching or snagging visible fish will have their day's catch disqualified.

When visually fishing for bedding bass, all bass must be hooked inside the mouth and must be verified by your partner before unhooked to be counted as a legal fish. Gaffs may not be used to boat bass nor be permitted in the boat at any time. The use of grippers in landing bass is prohibited. Dip nets will be allowed, but not provided.

8. HORSEPOWER REGULATIONS: Maximum horsepower for all outboard motorboats used in practice or tournament competition will be 250 hp, not to exceed the horsepower limitations set by the U.S. Coast Guard in its ruling of Nov. 1, 1972.

9. BOAT AND MOTOR: Bassmaster Classic rigs only, will be used for the tournaments. For the safety of all, boats will be equipped with some type of ignition kill switch. The ignition-kill device must be attached to the driver's body any time the combustion engine is operating. Anytime the combustion engine is operating and in gear, there must be a driver in the driver's seat in full control of the boat. A small electric trolling motor may be used for slow maneuvering; however, trolling, as a method of fishing is prohibited.

10. BASIC BOAT EQUIPMENT: Every boat must have all required safety equipment. In addition, it must have a functional bilge pump and livewell space, properly aerated, to adequately maintain alive, 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."

11. BOAT IDENTIFICATION: Each boat will be numbered and a boat is officially checked-in when anglers check-in with a designated BASS official at a designated location.

12. BOAT OPERATION: A full discussion between partners must be held prior to the morning departure as to the schedule of boat operations. This schedule must permit each partner equal time to fish from the front of the boat and operate the trolling motor, so as to afford each partner the opportunity to fish his/her selected water an equal number of hours. Distance traveled to fishing locations must be considered in order not to deprive either partner fishing time while traveling to and from fishing waters. If a contestant waives the above rights, he/she shall retain the right to select the fishing water for one-half the tournament day. Any contestant, who, in the judgment of the officials operates the boat in such a manner as to unfairly handicap his partner, shall be disqualified. The boat captain has sole discretion to repudiate any selected location for safety reasons.

13. PERMITTED FISHING LOCATIONS: Tournament waters shall be established by the Tournament Director for each tournament. Each competitor must obtain this information from the Tournament Director and/or designees. Any water within these boundaries that are posted Off-Limits or No Fishing by state or federal agencies WILL BE OFF-LIMITS.

Also, the live-bass-release area established by the Tournament Director will be OFF-LIMITS and will be announced at the Tournament Briefing. Only that water open to ALL public fishing will be considered tournament waters.

14. CONTESTANTS MUST REMAIN IN BOAT: The momentary condition of being out of sight of each other for restroom breaks is permitted. Otherwise, contestants may not leave their boats to land a fish or make the boats mere accessible to fishing waters. Boats must remain in tournament waters during tournament days. Contestants must leave and return to official checkpoint by boat. Both competitors must remain in boat at all times except in case of dire emergency. In such an emergency, competitors may be removed from their boats to A BOAT OPERATED BY OTHER COMPETITORS OR A RESCUE BOAT DESIGNATED BY THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR. Partners must remain together at all times, in sight of each other and each other's catch, under the conditions cited above, in order for their catch of that day to be scored in the tournament. If a competitor must violate any of the above conditions (to contact a tournament official by phone or other means or to report an emergency or breakdown), both competitors must cease fishing at this point, and their catch must be verified by a tournament official in order to be counted in the tournament. If after the emergency situation is resolved by tournament officials and enough time is left for the competitors to resume fishing, a RESTART will be allowed and the competitors will continue and their catch will be counted. This applies only to dire emergency situations.

15. OFFICIAL CHECKPOINT: There shall be only one official point for check-out in the morning and check-in, in the afternoon, and this point shall be designated at the Tournament Briefing. At the time of check- out, all competitors and their boats shall be in full conformance with all rules set forth by the Tournament Director; at check-in, all boats shall identify themselves by means of the numbers and proceed immediately to the designated weigh-in area. Partners must stay together.

16. 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 and Smallmouth bass will be weighed. The official tournament competition limit shall be 5 of the above species per competitor, unless specified by tournament officials. At no time shall a competitor have in his or her possession more than the specified tournament limit. Tournament officials will conduct checks for any violation of this provision, and in the event that a competitor has reduced more than the above-described limits to his/her possession, he/she shall cull the largest bass first, down to the limit described. The official length for bass shall be determined by the Tournament Director and announced at the Tournament Briefing. In most cases it will be the longest state limit covering the tournament waters.

ONLY bass as described above which measure the official length or more on the longest straight line, shall be weighed in. Bass presented for weigh-in which fail to measure the official length, shall accrue penalties at the rate of 1 pound for each such bass. This penalty shall be deducted from the total score of the competitor. Any bass that appears to have been mangled, mashed, mauled or otherwise altered will be weighed and credited only at the discretion of tournament officials. After competitors check-in at the official checkpoint, they MUST present all LEGAL fish in their possession to a tournament official to be counted, measured and weighed. Once a competitor's catch is measured, counted and verified by a Tournament official, that competitor may not return to the boat until his catch has been weighed and recorded. Bass must not be stringered at any time during the tournament. Specially designed bags, which increase survival rate, will be furnished by the Tournament Director, and these bags must be used for the weigh-in.

In accordance with BASS, all competitors will be scored separately in the 3 different age groups; (Junior-Pro’s, Junior’s and Minnow’s) with the 1st place finisher in each age group receiving 25 points. The 2nd place finishers will receive 24 points, 3rd place finishers will receive 23, continuing and decreasing accordingly.

17. CATCH-&-RELEASE: lf it becomes necessary for a contender to cull his catch, every effort must be made by the contender to handle his own fish.

18. DON'T KILL YOUR CATCH: Each contender is expected to keep his bass alive by the proper use of the boat's livewell system. For each legal dead bass presented to weigh-in officials, the competitor shall be penalized the following, to be deducted from their daily score: (1) one dead fish - 4 oz., (2) two dead fish - 10 oz., (3) three dead fish - 18 oz., (4) four dead fish - 28 oz., (5) five dead fish - 40 oz. If a fish dies in the livewell during the course of the tournament, this fish cannot be culled and disposed back into the water. The Tournament Director or his designees shall have sole authority for assessing penalty points. The Tournament Director and his designated appointees shall have sole authority for assessing penalty points.  The few bass which do not survive will be used for scientific study and for charity.

19. LATE PENALTY: Competitors who are not in the official checkpoint area as described in Rule 15 at the appointed time shall be penalized at the

rate of 1 pound per minute, to be deducted from the total weight of his catch that day, including any weight to be counted toward a "big bass award," for each 1 minute he is late. Any competitor more than 15 minutes late shall lose all credit for that day's catch. There shall be no excuse for tardiness, and in no case shall a competitor be allowed to make up "lost time." After proper recognition at the check-in point, competitors will be allowed ample time to proceed to the weigh- in site; however, all fishing must cease upon check-in. After the tournament begins, fishing the tournament waters is prohibited except during tournament hours. Exact starting and check-in times will be announced at the Tournament Briefing. It is the angler's responsibility to confirm check-in times each day on the daily pairings.

20. TIES: In case of a tie for champions, the following tie-breakers will be used in order:

21. PAIRING OF CONTESTANTS: Whenever possible, two contestants will be assigned to each boat, with one boat captain (pro angler). If for any reason only one contestant is available to go with a boat captain, an observer will be assigned to ride in that boat with them. Whenever possible, no contestants from the same club, state or age group will be paired together.

22. TOURNAMENT OFFICIALS: None of the above rules shall prohibit a properly designated tournament official from approaching or boarding any competitor's boat at any time during Practice and the Tournament.

23. PATCHES AND/OR SIGNAGE: Anglers are encouraged to wear their own club clothing which may bear patches, logos and other signage promoting the angler's sponsors. BASS may, however restrict the use of patches, logos, signage, etc. that promote or advertise products which are, in BASS's sole judgment, in competition with the products or services of official BASS sponsors or which are, in BASS' sole judgment, in poor taste.  BASS will provide as much advance notice as possible to the competitors in such instances.

24. PROFESSIONAL ANGLER BOAT CAPTAINS: Professional Angler Boat captains will not fish during practice and the Tournament.  They are there to act as boat captains and observers. With the exception of specific Team Events and an emergency situation, Pro anglers will not assist the Junior Bassmaster Anglers in a manner as to ultimately impact the final outcome of the tournament and/or angler standings. Pro angler captains shall not select fishing areas, determine baits, tie knots, cast lines or lures, set the hook, play or bring fish to the boat and/or net any fish.

25. WAIVER AND RELEASE: As a condition of participation in this tournament, each competitor must execute a waiver and release of liability and a name and likeness release.