RULES: The following rules will be interpreted solely by the officials and their decisions will be final.

ELIGIBILITY: All persons who have paid their entry fee. Minors accompanied by a parent or guardian are eligible. A maximum of two persons per boat. One person from a team will be allowed to fish alone no more than twice, when his partner is unavailable to fish that tournament.  The Championship tournament must be fished with a partner that has fished at least 2 tournaments during the regular thursday evening tournaments.

TOURNAMENT HOURS: 6:00 PM to 9:15 PM, safe light or as weather permits.

TIES: All ties will result in the money from the two places in question being added together and divided evenly between the two places.

TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT: Only artificial baits and lures are permitted except for pork rind products. All bass must be caught on rod and reel from your boat during tournament hours.

BOAT AND MOTOR: All boats must be powered by a gasoline motor and be equipped with an aerated livewell that will adequately keep five keeper bass alive.

SCORING: Five (5) fish limit per boat. Only largemouth, small mouth, and kentucky bass which are legal 15 inch keepers will be weighed. SHORT FISH: will result in a 2 pound deduction from the total stringer weight ( not big bass ) and loss of the short fish. DEAD FISH: will not be weighed.

BIG BASS: Only one fish per team will be weighed for big bass.

CHECK IN TIME: The tournament will end at 9:15 PM. unless announced differently at take off. All boats entering the no wake after this time will be disqualified.  Please listen to the announcements at the beginning of the tournament as the ending time will change according to the amount of daylight. 

PERMITTED FISHING LOCATIONS: Any area with the exception of inside the no wake area at Ruark Bluff and within 50 yards of any public dock.  A public dock is considered any dock that sales gas to the public.

SAFETY: Each contestant must wear a personal flotation device which must be on and zipped any time the combustion engine is in operation and the boat is above an idle speed.   All state and federal boating regulations will apply.

PROTESTS: Must be presented to the tournament director prior to the conclusion of weigh-in or it will not be considered. 

POLYGRAPH TEST: The tournament director will randomly and at his discretion require any team to take a polygraph test.  Anyone who refuses the test will forfeit all winnings and be banned from any future tournaments.

POINTS SYSTEM: 75 points will be awarded to the winner of each tournament. Points will decrease by 1 per place for the teams which weigh in a legal fish. All teams which participate and do not weigh in a fish will receive 30 points. The team member designated as boater will be the individual receiving the points. You must declare a partner in writing upon the conclusion of the tournament series. A partner may be anyone who has fished at least two Thursday night tournaments.

ENTRY REFUNDS: Prepaid entry’s will be refunded or moved to the next tournament with 24 hours prior notice to the tournament. When 24 hours notice has NOT been received all entries will be paid out at that tournament.

SPORTSMANSHIP: These rules shall apply to all tournament anglers when they come in contact with other tournament anglers, non-tournament fun fishermen and pleasure boaters:

As the water is public domain, all have the right of use. Your entry into a tournament gives you no extra privileges. All anglers will respect the rights of others to use or be on the water whether they are under power of trolling motor, tied up or drifting.

No tournament angler may put any other angler or boater in danger. They may not harass or encroach on others. Example: Go around the little old man by himself fishing down the bank. If you want to fish their, ask. He has as much right to that spot as you do.