These are the 2008 rules. So far only one change has been made from last year. That change is written in red on rule #13. We reserve the right to make rule changes before the start of the first tournament. Once the season begins, all rules will be absolutely final for the duration of the season.
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 Trinity Fishing Ministries is required to fish any tournament and each member must be a member in good standing. We reserve the right to reject any entries we feel are not in the best interests of the tournament. Full membership is $35 per season. Family membership is $50 per family per season. Memberships are to be submitted to the Division Director prior to fishing your first tournament. Trinity Muskie Trail Division Directors are not eligible to compete in the division they direct.
Full Membership Benefits: Membership packet and eligibility to participate in any Trinity event. Family Membership Benefits: One (1) membership packet and eligibility for any family member residing in that household to compete in any Trinity Muskie Trail Divisional Tournament.
2. ENTRY FEES
Entry fees will be $135 per boat per tournament. Teams that declare their intentions to fish all 4 qualifiers will be called trail teams and be given preferential starting positions. To gaurantee a spot as a trail team, teams must send in $340 ($170 per person) by Friday March 30th, 2008. This money will cover the annual membership fees and the full entry fees for the first two tournaments. In fact, ALL membership and entry fees should be mailed to the Division Director and must be received by the Friday 8 days before the tournamnet or participants will be charged $50 for the membership fee instead of $35. All entries paid on the Friday night are on a cash only basis. NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED THE MORNING OF THE TOURNAMENT! There will be a $25 fee charged for any checks returned for insufficient funds. At least one place will be paid out per ten teams entered. Winners are responsible for any and all taxes on any moneys or prizes won. Prize money will be given out during the awards presentation promptly following the tournament.
This tournament trail features a 100% payback of all tournament entry fees. Of the $135 entry fee, $110 will be paid out in each divisional tournament, and the remaining $25 will be held back and paid out in the Championship tournament. If no fish are caught in a tournament, then the total purse will be carried over and split evenly between the next two qualifiers.
Additionally, teams may choose to participate in the big fish pool. Teams wishing to participate will pay $65 in addition to the regular $135 entry fee. Participation in the big fish pool is purely OPTIONAL. 100% of this additional $65 per boat will be paid out in two places (70% and 30%) for the two biggest fish boated during the tournament. This option is designed soley to cater to those teams wishing to pay a little bit more and compete for some extra prize money.
3. TOURNAMENT HOURS
Tournament hours may vary depending on the time of year and local weather conditions. Typically hours will be approximately 6:30 AM to about 3 PM.
4. LAUNCH SEQUENCE
All trail teams will be assigned one number for the entire year. At the Friday night meeting we will randomly draw one number to determine starting order. If we have 30 trail teams and #12 is drawn, then #12 will go first followed by 13 through 30 and then 1 through 11. Also, no one team may be drawn to start first more than once. All local or non-trail teams will be assigned subsequent starting positions in the order that their registration was received. Team number stickers will be given to each team and must be placed on both sides of the outboard motor cowling or as specified by a tournament official for inboard motors such that they can be seen from a distance at all times.
5. BOAT INSPECTIONS
All teams must allow and pass a boat and livewell inspection at Tournament Central (or alternate starting point if designated by the Division Director) immediately before their starting position number is released to begin the tournament day.
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 above trolling speed. Furthermore, appropriate use of kill switches must be observed. All tournament boats must have all the Coast Guard required safety equipment. 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 a boat. During that 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. TACKLE AND FISHING METHODS
Only artificial baits may be used. No live bait, dead natural bait, or quick strike rigs will be allowed! Each team member may only use 1 rod and 1 lure at a time. No more than 1 line in the water at a time per team member. Trolling is allowed. If an angler fishes alone, then that angler may troll with two rods. All fish must be caught alive in a legal manner. No snagging. No competitor may leave the boat to land or catch a fish.
8. SPORTSMANSHIP
Each contestant is expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, and conservation. Contestants who are trolling should maintain a minimum distance of 100 feet from all other boats and should not follow a trolling path that will cause them to pass by a boat of casting anglers closer than 200 feet. If a caster can reach any trolling boat with a cast, the trolling boat's path is too close.
9. STATE GAME REGULATIONS
All participants are required to abide by all state laws and game regulations. No alcoholic beverages, stimulants or depressants may be consumed by any participant during any Trinity Muskie Trail function.
10. SCORING
The minimum length is set at 30 inches (this may be adjusted higher on some lakes with different size limits). Teams will receive 5 points for each muskie caught, plus 1 point for every inch over 30. Fish will be measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail, rounding down to the nearest ½ inch. For example, a 37.75 inch fish is worth 12.5 points. In addition there will be 5 bonus points for a successful release. A successful release is defined as a muskie that swims away upright under its own power. This determination is left solely to the discretion of the judge or tournament official presiding over the measurement and release. These points for fish caught will be used only to rank the contestants in that tournament, and are NOT carried over towards the team of the year points race. Judge boats will be utilized. Judges will have marine radios and cell phones. Contestants bear the responsibility for being able to contact a judge boat. Details about judging and zones will be discussed at the Friday night meeting (if for some reason a team cannot attend the Friday night meeting that team then bears the responsibility for finding out that information from an appropriate tournament official). In the event of a tie, the total prize money for the two places will be split evenly between the two teams who are tied. If two teams each tie with a 30 inch fish, but one of the fish was actually 30.25 inches, this does not constitute a tie break. For the purposes of the points standings the time of catch will be used as the tie breaker.
11. DEATH OF A FISH
In the event that a fish dies then the angler who caught the fish must stop fishing for the remainder of the tournament. However, that angler’s partner may continue fishing. If trolling this means that only one rod may be used. If a team has only one member participating in the tournament and that angler catches and kills a fish, then that angler must stop fishing for the rest of the tournament, but the fish does count as a caught fish (minus the bonus release points).
12. POINTS
The winning team will receive 100 points, 2nd place 95 points, 3rd place 90 points, 4th place 85 points and so on. In the event of a tie in a tournament both teams will receive the points for the place at which they are tied and the subsequent place will remain vacant. (example: A tie for 3rd place would result in both 3rd place teams receiving 90 points.) Teams participating in the tournament but not catching a fish will receive 25 points. Any team paying an entry fee but not actually showing up to fish will earn 10 points. If no fish are caught, all teams participating in the tournament will receive 25 points.
Furthermore, the 4 Friday night pre-tournament meetings will be worth a total of 100 points. Each team member must attend at least 2 out of the 4 meetings to receive the full 100 points. However team members do not necessarily have to attend the same 2 meetings to receive the full points. Also, participants must be in attendance until the end of the meeting to receive the points. Points may not be transferred to any other division. The team having the highest cumulative point total in each Divsion will be declared the Team of the Year and receive the Team of the Year prize. The points earned for the Championship will count towards the team of the year.
13. CHAMPIONSHIP
To qualify for the Championship teams must fish at least 2 of the 4 qualifiers, and catch at least one legal fish in one of the qualifiers. Once those qualifications are met then the top 10 teams in the point standings will advance to compete in the Championship tournament. This will be a 2 day event held on Friday and Saturday October 24th & 25th, 2008. If there is a tie for 10th place, then the points earned for fish caught throughout the year will be the tie breaker. If we do not have at least 10 teams that qualify based on the above criteria, then all teams that have fished all 4 qualifiers and received full points for attending the Friday night meetings will be eligible to participate. This could possibly result in having a championship field of more than 10 teams. There will be no entry fee for this event. Starting positions for day 1 (Friday) will be drawn at the Thursday night meeting, and contestants will start in reverse order on day 2 (Saturday). Prizes will consist of the $25 per boat per tournament entry fees from the 4 divisional tournaments, plus any additional prize money or other prizes obtained from sponsors.
14. 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 the event of lightening, all competitors must return to the starting point. At that time a decision will be made as to whether to wait out the storm and modify the tournament hours, or conclude the event early.
15. LATE PENALTY
Competitors must be at the check-in area to register any fish caught by end of tournament hours. Any team that catches a fish and does not check-in by the scheduled time will be disqualified, although they may retain participation points toward their yearly total. Awards presentation will be held as quickly as possible following the conclusion of the tournament.
16. CHANGE OF PARTNERS
All participants must have a declared partner to begin their season. A permanent partner change may only be made prior to the start of the first tournament. Partner changes will not be allowed after the season begins. If one team member cannot make a tournament for any reason, then that participant's partner may choose to fish the tournament alone.
17. INSURANCE
Each angler must assume the responsibility for himself/herself and his/her equipment, including his/her boat, at and during each event.
18. RULES INTERPRETATION/ETHICS COMMITTEE
Due to the nature and goals of this tournament trail, we expect all our anglers to exhibit the highest quality of character and sportsmanship. Thus we will always anticipate having a minimum of problems relating to cheating or other misconduct. However, we have appointed a mixture of anglers and judges to serve on an Ethics committee that will be responsible for handling any disputes that arise regarding a particular rule or the conduct of any particular individual during an event. If a dispute arises, any protest must be submitted in writing to the Tournament Director before the awards presentation. Interpretation of these rules will be left soley to the discretion of the Ethics committee. If for some reason the Ethics committee is divided on an issue or unable to make a decision, then the decision of the Division Director will be final. As always, infractions of any rule may result in disqualification.
"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:3-11 ESV
