BCSC Team Event Rules and Regulations
BCSC Revised and Temporary rules for the fall Tournaments in 2024
100% Tournament Entry Fee payback
Guaranteed! No early or Prepay entry fee is required at any BCSC events.
Members can only pay at the event on Friday before each event.
Special note:
All Bass Clubs interested in competing must email their Bass Clubs rosters at least 30 days prior to each event. Submitting your club roster does not obligate your Bass Club or Guarantee your Bass Club a spot in the tournament! Availability to participate will be on a first come first serve bases. The Roster information is used for planning and Venue locations.
There will be Six tournament weight master (one per state) Their Bass
Clubs will also Co-host the tournament with the BCSC
New Payout Rules
Any (two man) team can win the tournament and represent their bass
club as The Bass Clubs State
Champion.
Each two man team will be eligible to win and place in each event!
Absolutely no sharing or combining of fish with be allowed. Any violation of this rule will cause your team and club to be disqualified.
Special note: BCSC Rule #2 rules for bass clubs top (6) requirements, and $120 annual membership will be excluded
Rule #3 BCSC top (6) rules are excluded as well
Sharing and combining of fish will not apply under rule number #16! Any violation of this rule will cause your team and club to be disqualified. Each (2) man team bag limit is (5) total. Under no circumstances can you share or have more than 5 fish in your possession at any time. Sharing information with your club members
is allowed.
1.OFFICIAL BASS CLUBS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM EVENT RULES: All decisions of the Tournament Director are final and are not subject to appeal. Interpretation of these rules will be left solely up to the Tournament Director in his/her sole and absolute discretion. Each competitor should report any rule violation to the Tournament Director immediately upon discovery of the violation. The violation of a tournament rule may result in the disqualification of the entire team and the ineligibility to participate in future BCSC Team Events, or any other penalty deemed appropriate by the Tournament Director. Protests must be made in writing within 15 minutes of the official closing of the scales at each tournament.
2. PARTICIPATION AND ELIGIBILITY: All eligible participants must qualify and be a current member of BCSC and must be at least 18 years old;
•Angler must be in the top 6 or (top 12 for the larger clubs) in their Bass Club. Each individual bass club will be solely responsible for establishing their top 6 or top 12 qualifiers. If you opt to fish 12 anglers you must have 16 members on your roster to account for the alternates. Your 12 man team will consist of two (6) man teams. BCSC will have no involvement in this process. BCSC will rely solely on the information provided by each Bass Club's President or Secretary to be true and factual.
• Angler must be a member of a Bass Club.
• Bass Clubs ONLY need 12 active PAID members to BCSC.
• PAY AN ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP OF $120 per/member TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NO ENTRY FEE TOURNAMENT.
• Texas and Florida membership dues must be paid by 12/31. Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee must be paid by 12/31.
• Insurance: A minimum of $100,000 liability insurance is required of all contestants utilizing their boats in any BCSC tournament event.
• BCSC Tournaments are not open to all anglers. No professional anglers will be allowed to participate at any BCSC team events. A professional angler is defined as:
• Any angler that has entered more than one bass tournament that required an entry fee greater than $2,500 or any angler competing in the Major League Fishing, BASS/MLF or any professional trail in the immediately preceding six months prior to the date of the BCSC tournament being entered.
• Any angler that has guided for bass on tournament waters within 12 days of the official event for any method of compensation.
• All contestants must have a valid fishing license.
3. TEAMS: All BCSC events are team events. A team shall consist of no more than two (6) man teams plus two alternates. No angler will be allowed to fish alone as a single person team. Only registered contestants may be in the boat during official tournament days. If either partner enters tournament waters during the official off-limits period such partner shall be ineligible for the event and may not participate in the event.
4. INFORMATION: Participants can use publicly-available information (e.g. newspaper reports and internet reports) Fishing information may also be solicited from fellow team members. Participants can not receive information from any non team member who entered official tournament waters during the established practice period for all BCSC Team events, specifically including, but not limited to, an ineligible team member.
5. PRE-TOURNAMENT PRACTICE: There will be no off water limits prior to each scheduled tournament. We ask that everyone be off the water by 3 P.M. on the Friday evening before the tournament to attend the mandatory meeting. All tournaments will be scheduled in advance to allow for adequate practice days.
6 REGISTRATION TIMES: Registration for all BCSC Team Events will be held from 4:00pm to 8:00pm the evening before the event. There will be no registration the morning of the event. Each team must register in person at the designated site during official registration. A completed and signed entry form for each team member must be received during official registration. Contestants will randomly draw flight numbers during registration hours only.
7. SAFETY: Safe boating must be observed at all times. Each contestant is required to wear a fastened (fully zipped and/or all clips fastened), U.S. Coast Guard approved, personal flotation device anytime the combustion engine is in operation from boat check until weigh-in. All boats must be equipped with an emergency ignition shut-off device, which must be securely attached to the driver's body any time the combustion engine is in operation. The driver must be seated in the driver's seat anytime the combustion engine is engaged in gear. Tournament days may be shortened or canceled due to unsafe weather or any conditions that would endanger the safety of the competitors at the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion. Competitors are allowed to leave the boat and seek shelter in bad weather, at which time no fishing may occur.
8. PERMITTED FISHING METHODS: Only artificial lures may be used. Only one fishing rod per angler may be used at any one time. Additional rods may be in the boat and ready for use; however, each cast and retrieve must be completed before another cast is attempted or rod is used. Trolling with the combustion engine as a method of fishing is prohibited. Switching or sharing fish with other teams or individuals is a violation of these rules and will result in immediate disqualification. All bass must be caught alive, in a conventional, sporting manner. When sight fishing for bass, all fish must be hooked inside the mouth to be counted as a legal fish. All angling must be conducted from the boat. At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a fish to make the boat more accessible to fishing waters, or locate bass.
9. SPORTSMANSHIP AND CONDUCT: All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation. Examples of conduct not complying with those standards include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Consumption and/or possession of alcoholic beverages or any mind-altering substance during tournament hours extending through the weigh-in procedure;
• Any previous conviction, charge, arrest, or investigation for a felony, a crime involving moral turpitude, or a crime related to, arising out of, or involving any fishing tournament or event, except with full, prior written disclosure to the Tournament Director under oath and by affidavit of all facts and circumstances surrounding such conviction, charge, arrest, or investigation at least ten (10) days before the BCSC Event being entered, and thereafter subject to the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion that such conviction, charge, arrest, or investigation does not result in the contestant’s honesty, integrity, character or qualifications to enter the event being questionable;
• Actions or words which reflect unfavorably upon efforts to promote safety, sportsmanship, and fair competition;
• Chemical substance abuse or addiction;
• Disqualification from BCSC current and future events or other fishing organizations that resulted from unexplained rule violations that result in a contestant’s honesty, integrity, character, and qualifications for entry into a BCSC Event being questionable in the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion.
Upon review of the circumstances by the BCSC Tournament Director, the Tournament Director shall have the right to refuse any application, or to deny a confirmed application, by returning the membership fee of a previously accepted application, or disqualifying a contestant.
10. ASSISTANCE: During hours of competition, contestants may receive fishing information from competitors, but not participate in the practice of "hole sitting." The use of mobile communication devices such as cellular phones, marine radios, walkie-talkies, CBs, etc., to communicate fishing information during tournament hours is allowed between team members. In the event of an emergency situation, competitors should call 911 first and then notify the Tournament Director at 281-713-3619.
11. BOAT AND HORSEPOWER REGULATION: Each boat must have all required U.S. Coast Guard safety equipment. boats must contain a properly aerated live well space to maintain alive a limit catch of bass. Maximum horsepower for all outboards used in tournament competition may not exceed the horsepower limitations as set by the U. S. Coast Guard in such vessel. Falsifying information on entry forms or altering the horsepower numbers on the motor or rating plate to conceal such limitations will be cause for disqualification from the tournament. No contestant may have a platform, raised deck, or ladder which is higher than the gunnel of the boat. Standing on the fishing seats or outboard motor will not be allowed in BCSC Team events. All boats must be propeller driven and must be equipped with wheel steering, no other steering device will be permitted. No air, jet drive, or surface drive boats will be permitted during official practice or competition days. “Official practice” days are those days, if any, designated by BCSC Team Event as such on its website with respect to a particular tournament.
12. PERMITTED FISHING LOCATIONS: Contestants may fish anywhere on tournament waters accessible by boat and available to the public, except areas designated as "off limits" or "no fishing" by state or federal officials, or within 50 yards of a competitor's boat which was first anchored (an anchored boat is a boat held in a stable position by a line attached to a weight or anchored by any shallow water type anchoring device with the trolling motor in the up position), or within 25 yards of a non-anchored competitor's boat unless otherwise agreed upon by the other tournament angler. The act of moving bass from one area of the lake to another confined area of the same lake at any time, whether or not during official practice days or competition days, is not permitted.
13. OFF-LIMITS AREAS: Such areas established and announced at the registration for each BCSC Team Event. Contestants may not fish inside the established “off-limits” area. Violation of the rule will result in immediate disqualification. Contestants' boats must remain in the tournament waters during the event. Non-qualifying Bass Club members or alternates will not be allowed on the tournament waters for any reason during the tournament ( whichincludes recreational boating). If such is established and verified, the entire Bass Club will be disqualified.
14. TRAILERING IS NOT ALLOWED: All boats must leave the official check point by boat in the order designated at registration. Contestants may launch their boat at a ramp other than the designated take-off location, but all contestants must come through the official check point location before leaving to fish. In the event of severe weather alternate take-off instructions will be given at the registration site, at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director.
15. OFFICIAL CHECKPOINTS: : There will be only one official checkpoint for boat inspection in the morning and one official check-in point in the afternoon. Failure to go through boat check-out in the morning or failure to officially check-in at the check-in point will result in disqualification from such event. During morning check-out, all teams are required to idle a minimum of 100 yards before putting the boat on plane. It is the sole responsibility of each contestant to arrive at the designated check-in location on time. Regardless of what you are told or understand, it is the angler's responsibility to verify their provided flight card time. All fishing must cease upon check-in, or upon such other time as may be designated by the Tournament Director.
16. SCORING Will be determined by the pounds and ounces of each angler's catch during the tournament. Only Largemouth, Spotted, Red Eye or Smallmouth Bass (collectively, “Bass”) are accepted species. The overall team limit for each club’s “top six” will be nine (9) bass. A qualifying team member may assist with completing the nine (9) fish overall team limit. Under no circumstance can any individual two-man team have more than nine (9) fish in their possession. No culling of fish at the ramp or weigh-in will be allowed. Culling can be done by calling or texting team members. Any two-man team who possesses more than the nine (9) fish individual team limit at any time will have their catch disqualified. The minimum official length limit for all species for BCSC team events will be provided at each event. Bass presented for weigh-in, which fail to measure the prescribed length limit, will result in loss of that particular fish and a one pound penalty to the weight of the remaining fish. No regurgitated forage or other foreign matter may be placed in bass. Any artificially weighed, preserved, or altered bass will be disqualified and that contestant will be subject to prosecution under federal and state laws. The Pro-Rule Measuring Board is the official measuring board of BCSC. Bass will be measured with mouth closed, tail compressed and swiped to achieve overall greatest length. Any club’s “top six” team presenting more than the (9) fish to the weigh master will be disqualified. All fish must be presented to the weigh master at the same time. All fish will be weighed at the same time to determine the team final weight.
17.LIVE FISH: Every attempt must be made to keep bass alive through the use of a properly aerated live well. The use of chemical live well additives may be used, which promote the healthy return of bass to their natural habitat, are recommended. A one pound penalty will be deducted for each dead Bass presented for weigh-in. Any team that weighs in a dead fish for the big bass award will receive a one pound penalty from the total big bass weight. Culling of dead bass is prohibited.
18. LATE PENALTY: Contestants who are not at the official check-in point at the appointed time will be assessed a ONE (1) pound per minute penalty from their total weight including any weight to be counted toward a Big Bass Award. Any contestant more than 15 minutes late will forfeit that day's catch. In the event of a mechanical breakdown, a contestant may return to the check-in location with their catch by receiving a ride from another registered contestant or tournament official only. The contestants must return to the official check-in location by the methods set forth above by their assigned check-in time to avoid late penalty.
19. CLOSING OF THE SCALES: Scales will close 30 minutes after the last flight is due in. Due to certain weigh-in locations this time may be lengthened or shortened at the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion. Any change to the above stated official scale closing time will be announced during registration, during boat check-out or during weigh-in.
It is the angler’s responsibility to verify the official scale closing time and to be in the weigh-in line by such time.
20. TIES: A tie for 1st place in all BCSC Team Events will be broken by a One Hour Fish Off. All other ties will be resolved by splitting that place and the next place's money.
21. CASH PAYOUTS: The actual cash payout may be plus or minus. The final payouts will be determined by state. The amount will be based on each state bass club and member participation. The final cash payout will be posted on the BCSC website by state within 30 days after all membership dues have been received.
>>Please be aware that all Federal, State, and Local rules and Regulations will override any and or all of BCSC rules and regulations if so deemed by Authorities. <<
>>>>>>>Every professional effort has been taken to prevent such from happening<<<<<<<
