Please See below details for entry fees and locations of note.
Rules and regulations are at the bottom of this page.

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1st ANNUAL ENCOUNTER COVE BENEFIT BASS TOURNAMENT
2022 RULES AND REGULATIONS (Updated Aug 26, 2022)
 
1. PARTICIPANTS AND ELIGIBILITY
Open to all individuals, male and female.
*Encounter Cove reserves the right to reject any entries which we feel are not in the best interest of the tournament.
Those under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

 2. ENTRY FEE
The 1st annual Encounter Cove Benefit Bass Tournament entry fees shall be $150.00 per team per tournament, which includes Big Fish cash prizes. Entry fees for the tournament should be paid online at EncounterCove.com prior to or by October 22, 2022 start time of the tournament.

 3. PRIZE PAYOUT
Prize money will be awarded following the weigh-in at the event for two separate categories. First, second and third place will be paid out per five bass limits. The “Big Bass” prizes will be paid one place per 25 boats to teams with the largest bass of the tournament. Winners/Anglers are responsible for all applicable taxes on moneys and merchandise awards. 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.

4.  TOURNAMENT HOURS
Tournament hours will be from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. We reserve the right to assign flights and change hours if necessary.

 5.  LAUNCH SEQUENCE
Starting positions will be assigned per registration in the order registrations are received online at EncounterCove.com and registrations paid in sequence onsite the day of tournament but not to exceed the assigned flight day of the tournament. Blast off numbers are nontransferable. All competitors must keep the number they are assigned.

 6. 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 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 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 live well system capable of keeping a tournament limit of bass alive. 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.

 7. SPORTSMANSHIP
Each contestant is expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, and conservation. No team may fish within 50 yards of another 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.

 8.  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.

 9. 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 12. 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 the Encounter Cove Bass Tournament will have their catch disqualified. (Prescribed medications taken per doctor’s instructions are excluded)

 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 the legal limit. Lengths will be measured with mouth closed. A short fish or slot fish brought to the scales will not be weighed, and 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 at the time the 6th fish is caught; no team may continue fishing with more than the tournament limit in the live well at any time during the tournament, with the exception of dead fish that is not included in their limit. The penalty for possessing more than 5 fish, bringing more than 5 fish to the scales, or culling at the ramp will be 1 pound. That 1 pound will be deducted from the total weight of the team’s best 5 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 severe storm or other such hazard. It is permitted for a competitor to leave the boat for marina services. On competition days, competitors may leave the boat to dislodge it, but only to return the boat in the direction it came from. Leaving the boat on a competition day 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.) 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 Encounter Cove tournament staff 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. All weigh ins Once fish have been presented to a tournament official to be weighed-in all fish become the property of Encounter Cove and Fishers Of Men National Tournament Trail and no additional fish may be brought to the scales. All fish will be weighed in bags provided by Fishers of Men National Tournament and 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. 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.

 13. AFTERNOON CHECK-IN AND LATE PENALTIES
All teams must be back and checked in by their appointed time. Competitors who are not checked in by their check-in deadline will be penalized at a rate of 1 pound per minute, up to 15 minutes at which time their catch will be disqualified. Late penalties will be deducted from "Big Fish" weight as well as total weight. The check-in procedure may be a staff person with a check-in list, a check-in board with numbered chips, or other process as deemed necessary by the director. It is each competitor’s responsibility to know their check-in time and the check in procedure.

 14. CHANGE OF PARTNERS & USE OF SUBS
A permanent partner change may only be made prior to the start of the tournament. A participant may fish solo in the tournament as necessary. A substitute may not fish alone. A team may use any combination of original partners and legal subs to have two anglers in the boat. One of the team members must always be one of the original partners. At least one of the original team members must compete in the tournament for the team to receive tournament points.

15. PROTEST
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, the director must consult with the leadership of the organization before making a ruling.

16. ADULT/JUNIOR AND MALE/FEMALE TEAMS
An Adult/Junior team is defined as a team made up of one adult member who has reached his/her nineteenth birthday on or before December 31 of the current year, and one or more members who have not reached his/her nineteenth birthday on or before December 31 of the current year. In the event that a legal sub is unavailable, a member may fish alone. In the event that bad weather forces the cancellation of EC Tournament, there will be no cut, and all teams will fish the next day.

17.  LIABILITY INSURANCE
All members must carry liability insurance on any boat they use during an Encounter Cove Tournament. Failure to do so or reporting of false information will result in disqualification of catch.

 18. 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 future events. If a team is disqualified from a tournament their weight will be recorded as 0 lb. 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 and may inform all other Encounter Cove and Fishers of Men directors of the situation.

 19.  CHANGE OF RULES
These rules will remain unchanged for the 2022 season unless unforeseen circumstances create a situation where changes are absolutely necessary. The Encounter Cove Office reserves the right to amend and/or adjust these rules if necessary.

20. RULES ENFORCEMENT
It is the tournament director’s responsibility to enforce all of these rules as they are written. Infractions