Entry Form

$200 membership per team, $200 entry fee for each tournament

Complete the entry form below and mail with your check payable to Fish the Fall to:

Fish the Fall
c/o Dennis Landrum
1313 Beaverdam Rd.
Williamston, S.C. 29697

Call Dennis Landrum at 864.979.1567 if you have any questions.
If paying by credit card, please contact Port-tronics Fishing World at 864.299.1432.

• Download 2012-13 Event Entry Form
•  2012-13 Flyer/Schedule
  

Download 2012-13 Fish the Fall Team Tournament Rules

Fish the Fall Team Tournament Rules

1. PARTICIPANTS AND ELIGIBILITY: Open to all individuals, male and female. Those under 18 years of age may participate with written permission from a parent or guardian. Full membership in the Fish the Fall Tournament Trail is required to fish any tournament and each member must be a member in good standing. Tournament officials reserve the right to reject any entries we feel are not in the best interest of the Tournament. Full membership is $200 per team per season.

2. ENTRY FEES: Entry fees shall be $200 per boat per tournament, which does not include Big Fish. Entry fees should be mailed to the Division Director and must be postmarked no later than the Friday 8 days prior to the tournament if paying by check.. Paying of an entry fee will constitute as having shown up for a tournament.  There will be a $35 fee charged on all checks returned for insufficient funds. Winners are responsible for any and all taxes on any monies or prizes won.

3. OFF LIMITS:  skimmer wall and hot hole on Lake Keowee.

4. TOURNAMENT HOURS: Tournament hours will be from safe light to 3:00 PM. We reserve the right to assign flights and change hours if necessary.

5. LAUNCH SEQUENCE: Starting positions will be determined by the order of registration received, except for the championship. All teams will have to check in the morning of the tournament to confirm their blast-off position. Those teams that are late for check in will be assigned to the back of the blast-off regardless of when entry was paid. This is done to ensure that all checks are clear.

6. SAFETY: Safe boating conduct must be observed at all times. Each competitor is required to wear a Coast Guard approved life vest, securely fastened, at all times while the boat is being propelled by the combustion engine. Furthermore a kill switch must be fastened to the driver any time the combustion engine is propelling the boat. Failure to do so is grounds for disqualification. Running lights must be operational and turned on at the blast-off of each tournament. Each competitor’s boat must be equipped with a live well system capable of keeping a tournament limit of bass alive. All AUXILIARY gas tanks and BLADDER tanks that are not installed by the boat manufacturer are prohibited. Additional gas tanks that are factory options and installed by a manufacturer’s dealer are legal. Boats that do not have factory-installed gas tanks are restricted to a maximum of 18 gallons of gasoline in tanks that meet U.S. Coast Guard regulations. Gas tanks must be properly secured or strapped in a boat. During the official practice and during the tournament, no portable gas tanks or containers capable of holding gasoline can be placed anywhere on the tournament waters or shoreline for use by any tournament competitor.

7. SPORTSMANSHIP: Each contestant is expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, and conservation. NO BOAT MAY FISH WITHIN 50 YARDS OF ANOTHER COMPETITOR WHO IS ANCHORED WITH THE TROLLING MOTOR UP. FURTHERMORE NO TEAM MAY FISH WITHIN 25 YARDS OF ANOTHER TEAM WITHOUT THE OTHER TEAM’S PERMISSION. PERMISSION MAY NOT BE GRANTED TO ANY TEAM AT THE EXCLUSION OF ANY OTHER TEAM. No hole sitting by a non-competitor to aid a tournament participant will be allowed. Violators will be disqualified.

8. TACKLE AND FISHING METHODS: Only artificial baits may be used. No Alabama rigs with more than three hooks.  No live or cut bait is permitted. All bass must be caught alive in a legal and sporting manner. No snagging. Each competitor may only use 1 rod at a time. No more than 1 line in the water at a time per fisherman. No rods over 8 feet are permitted. Trolling with the combustion motor is not permitted. No competitor may leave the boat to land or catch fish.

9. STATE GAME REGULATIONS: All participants are required to abide by all state laws and game regulations. No alcoholic beverages may be consumed by any participant during tournament hours.

10. SCORING: A limit of 5 bass (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass) may be weighed in. Minimum lengths will be set at the discretion of the Division Director, but at no time will be less than 12 inches. Lengths will be measured with mouth closed on a “Golden Rule.” A short fish brought to the scales will result in a 1 pound penalty. Dead fish will be penalized .25 (1/4) pound. The dead fish penalty will also apply to any fish weighed as a Big Fish if that fish is dead. All culling must be done on the lake. No team may have more than the tournament limit in the live well at any time during the tournament, with the exception of dead fish.

11. EMERGENCIES: Competitors shall remain with their partners in the boat at all times during the tournament, except in the event of sickness or brief excursions for “nature calling,” severe storm, or other such hazard. If for any reason a team decides to leave the tournament waters early, both members shall bear full responsibility for notifying a tournament official. In case of a breakdown, one partner may return with fish by another tournament boat while the other partner is permitted to stay with the disabled boat.

12. WEIGH-IN PROCEDURES: Weigh-in will be on a first come, first serve basis. Once fish have been presented to a tournament official to be weighed in all fish become property of the Fish the Fall Team Trail and no additional fish may be brought to the scales. Bags will be limited in order to avoid a bottleneck at the weigh-in tanks. Teams not weighing any fish are still required to check in with tournament officials in order to account for all teams.

13. LATE PENALTY: Competitors who are not at the check-in area will be penalized at a rate of 1 pound per minute up to 15 minutes, at which time they will be disqualified.

14. CHANGE OF PARTNERS & USE OF SUBS: All participants must have declared a partner to begin their season. A permanent partner change may only be made prior to the start of the fifth tournament. A participant may fish solo in as many tournaments as become necessary. Participating teams may use a substitute in three events for the year. There will be no subs at the championship.

15. PROTEST AND POLYGRAPH TEST: Any protest must be submitted in writing to the tournament director within 15 minutes of the close of the weigh-in. All participants agree to abide by the results of any polygraph test administered. In the event of a protest and an off-site polygraph test the tournament director will have the option of mailing all the checks to the teams in the money pending the outcome of the polygraph. BOTH PARTNERS MUST TAKE THE POLYGRAPH TEST.

16. LIABILITY INSURANCE: All members must carry a minimum of $100,00 of liability insurance on any boat they might use during any Fish the Fall Tournament. Failure to do so or reporting of false information will result in disqualification. Participants must include the company name and either the policy number or the name of the agent binding the coverage on the entry form for each tournament.

17. RULES INTERPRETATION: Interpretation of these rules will be left exclusively to the Division Director. The decisions of the Division Director will be final in all matters. Infractions of any rule can result in disqualification.

18. FISH THE FALL CHAMPIONSHIP WILL WORK AS FOLLOWS: The championship will be a two day format. Blast-off positions will be assigned by the way that participants finish in the point race for 2012-13. First place team will go off first, second place team second, etc. The teams will not flip on the second day. This is one way of rewarding those that fish all of our tournaments.

19. FISH THE FALL POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP WILL WORK AS FOLLOWS: Points will be accrued by the way you finish in each individual tournament. A win is worth 100 points, 2nd 99, 3rd 98, 4th 97, all the way down to the last position. In the case of a tie both teams will accrue the larger of the points (ie. A tie for 2nd both teams receive 99 points and the next team will receive 97 for 4th with no 3rd place points accrued).  You must fish 8 of 8 regular season events to qualify for the championship while using 3 substitutes, not to include the championship. You can buy three tournament entries.

Liability Release: By signing the Official Entry Form, I hereby release Fish the Fall, its officers, sponsors, hosts, employees, and anyone working in association with them from any damages, injuries, or death that may occur as a result of competing in these events, whether by negligence of the said parties or otherwise to the fullest extent of the law. I also submit to a polygraph upon any winnings or protest, and fully submit to findings of polygraph as final. BOTH PARTNERS MUST TAKE THE POLYGRAPH. I will certify that I have read the rules and state that I have not failed a polygraph within the last 7 years.