Cart
You have no items in your shopping cart
Rock Outdoors 2023 Fall Team Tournament Trail
RULES AND REGULATIONS 2023
1. PARTICIPANTS AND ELIGIBILITY
Open to all individuals, male and female, except:
Those under 18 years of age, not fishing with a parent, must have written permission from a parent or guardian. Each competitor in each tournament, must be a current Rock Outdoors member in good standing. Rock Outdoors reserves the right to reject any entries which we feel are not in the best interest of the tournament.
Rock Outdoors tournament directors are eligible to compete in events in which they are the director.
Individual membership is $30 per person (includes hat). Memberships can be purchased, cash only at Rock Outdoors Store, or the morning of the tournament.
Events 1 – 5 tournament entry fees shall be $150.00 per team per tournament, and an optional $20 Big Fish, if desired.
Acceptable method of payment is cash.
All entry fees, memberships, and Big Fish monies are non-refundable.
Payment Options:
• Cash at Rock Outdoors store located at 7440 NC-8, Lexington, NC 27292, Monday through Friday 8:30-5,
• Cash the morning before each event
Starting positions will be determined in the order of when the payment is received.
Registration opens around 1 hour before each event.
2. 100% PAYBACK
• Pay back is 100% of events entry fees.
• Prize money will be awarded following the weigh-in of each event.
• Total of 8 places paid per tournament.
• The big bass optional monies will be paid to the team with the biggest bass of the tournament.
• Winners are responsible for any, and all taxes on any moneys or prizes won.
• In the event of a tie, prize money for the place tied for and the subsequent place will be combined and evenly split between the tying teams.
3. CONTINGENCY MONEY
• Every tournament, if a team does not finish in the top 8 or win big fish, they will be entered in a drawing for a $200 Rock Outdoors Gift Card. Drawing after weigh-in and must be present to win
• $250 Rock Outdoors gift card for the top finisher in a new boat purchased from Rock Outdoors in the last 36 months.
4. OFF LIMITS
Any designated off-limit area identified by NC Wildlife, and there are no practice rules prior to each event.
The use of electronic communication devices for the purpose of sharing fishing information during tournament hours is prohibited.
Trailered weigh-in at the tournament ramp is permitted.
5. TOURNAMENT HOURS
Tournament hours will be as per the tournament schedule, or safe flight. Rock Outdoors reserves the right to assign flights, and change hours if deemed necessary by the Tournament Director.
6. TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION, WAVIER & LAUNCH SEQUENCE
• Tournament registration is mandatory for each participant the morning of each event
• All anglers are required to sign a wavier form prior to take off. This is not required for subsequent events.
7. SAFETY
Safe boating conduct must be observed at all times. Each competitor is required to wear a Coast Guard approved personal floatation device, securely fastened, at all times while the boat is on plane, and a kill switch must be fastened to the driver. Failure to do so is grounds for disqualification of the offending team’s catch. Running lights must be operational and turned on at the blast-off of each tournament. Each competitor‘s boat must be equipped with a livewell system capable of keeping a tournament limit of bass alive. Any boat equipped with a motor that exceeds the horsepower rating of the boat according to the manufacturer is prohibited. 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 authorized 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 the boat. 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.
In the event that bad weather forces the cancellation by the Tournament Director, the event will be rescheduled as feasible.
8. SPORTSMANSHIP
Each contestant is expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, and conservation. No team may fish within 50 yards of any other boat which is anchored with the trolling motor up. Furthermore, no team may fish within 25 yards of any other boat without the other boater’s permission. No hole sitting by a non-competitor or by another competitor, to aid a tournament participant will be allowed. Violators will have their catch disqualified.
9. TACKLE AND FISHING METHODS
Only artificial baits may be used. No live or cut bait is permitted (pork baits are 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 angler. Trolling with the combustion motor is not permitted. No competitor may leave the boat to land or catch fish. Lures that have been banned by state or local authorities are not allowed in Rock Outdoors tournaments in the areas where the ban is in place.
10. STATE AND FEDERAL GAME REGULATIONS
All participants are expected to abide by all state and federal laws and game regulations. Any team who intentionally violates a law or regulation in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage will have their catch disqualified. Bringing short fish or slot fish to the scales will be penalized as described in rule. In the case of multiple governing authorities, the strictest law is applicable. Any participant who consumes, or is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, stimulants or depressants during any Rock Outdoors function will have their catch disqualified. (prescribed medications taken per doctor’s instructions are excluded)
11. SCORING
• A limit of 5 bass that measure a minimum of 14” (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass) may be weighed in
• Lengths will be measured with mouth closed and touching the end of the measure board
• Courtesy measurement board will be available for anglers
• A short fish brought to the scales will not be weighed, and will result in loss of the short fish, per Tournament Director
• Each 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 at the time the 6th fish is caught; no team may continue fishing with more than the tournament limit in the livewell at any time during the tournament.
12. EMERGENCIES
Ø 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.
• It is permitted for a competitor to leave the boat for marina services.
• Competitors may leave the boat to dislodge it, but only to return the boat in the direction it came from. Leaving the boat to advance it is not permitted
• In falling water conditions, a team may leave the boat to advance it only to return from water they accessed without leaving the boat.
• If for any reason either or both team members decide to leave the tournament waters early, both members shall bear full responsibility for notifying a tournament official.
• If one team member leaves the water early, he/she must notify the director before returning to fish and the other team member may continue fishing in his/her absence. In the event that he/she does not intend to return, his/her partner may continue fishing alone for the remainder of the tournament hours.
• In case of a breakdown, one partner may return with fish by another tournament boat or a boat designated by Rock Outdoors staff while the other partner is permitted to stay with the disabled boat.
13. 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 the property of Rock Outdoors and no additional fish may be brought to the scales.
• Anglers may bring fish to tanks in their own bags, but the Tournament Director bags will be used to weigh all fish
• Teams not weighing any fish are still required to check in with tournament officials in order to account for all teams.
• Once a team member has checked in or left the boat for the purpose of checking in, neither team member may fish or continue fishing.
14. AFTERNOON CHECK-IN AND LATE PENALTIES
• All teams must be back and checked in by their appointed time, and location will be identified by the Tournament Director the morning of the event
• Competitors who are not checked in by their check-in deadline will be penalized at a rate of 1 pound per minute, up to 10 minutes at which time their catch will be disqualified.
• Late penalties will be deducted from "Big Fish" weight as well as total weight
15. CHANGE OF PARTNERS
Teams will register themselves as a ‘team’ prior to the first tournament of the year. A team member may fish alone but will pay the full entry fee OR the team may use a substitute for 1 tournament.
16. 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. In any case when a written protest is filed with the director, it is required that the director must contact Rock Outdoors office before making a ruling. The Rock Outdoors Tournament Trail reserves the right to give a polygraph or other truth verification test to any participant at any time. This test does not have to be administered on site and may be set up by the tournament director at his discretion. All participants agree to abide by the results of any polygraph or other truth verification test administered. In the event of a protest and an off-site polygraph or other truth verification test the tournament director will have the option of mailing all the checks to the teams in the money pending the outcome of the test.
17. ROCK OUTDOORS AND KERNERSVILLE DODGE TEAM OF YEAR POINTS
• Winner of the Team of Year will receive $3000 and trophies after Event 5 weights have been calculated.
• In each tournament, the winning team will receive 150 points, 2nd place 145 points, 3rd place 140 points, and so on.
• In the event of a tie in a tournament both teams will receive the points for the place they are tied at, and the subsequent place will remain vacant. (Example: A tie for 3rd place would
result in both 3rd place teams receiving 140 points. The next team behind them would be the 5th place team and would receive 130 points.)
• Teams not weighing any fish will receive 10 less points than the last place team(s) with fish.
• In the event of a tie with the Points Championship/Team of Year, the highest cumulative weight of all 5 tournaments, will determine winner.
18. BOAT MANUFACTURERS INCENTATIVES
Basscat Quest - defer to Basscat website
Caymas Cash Bronze Level - defer to Caymas website
Vexus Rev Rewards - defer to Vexus website
19. LIABILITY INSURANCE
All members must carry a minimum of $100,000 of liability insurance on any boat they use during any Rock Outdoors Tournament. Failure to do so or reporting of false information will result in disqualification of catch.
20. VIOLATION OF RULES AND DISQUALIFICATION
The violation of a tournament rule by either team member may result in weight loss, the loss of weight up to a particular time in the tournament day (eligible for a restart), loss of weight for the entire day, disqualification for the entire tournament or, in an extreme circumstance, ineligibility to participate in any future events.
If a team is disqualified from a tournament their weight will be recorded as 0 lb. However, they will still receive tournament points as if they had just caught no fish. If the director feels that their violation was a willful attempt to gain an unfair advantage or to intentionally cheat, then the director has the right to refuse entry from that team or team members in the future.
21. CHANGE OF RULES
These rules will remain unchanged for the 2023 season unless unforeseen circumstances create a situation where changes are absolutely necessary. Rock Outdoors reserves the right to amend and/or adjust these rules if necessary.
22. RULES ENFORCEMENT
It is the tournament director’s responsibility to enforce all of these rules as they are written. Infractions of any rule may result in a penalty or disqualification of catch.
Final 1/2/2023