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Fishing w/Jim Austin Tournament Rules
Fishing w/Jim Austin Tournament $12,000 to
1st Place (with 100 Boats Participants). Open and
print a Mail/Fax
Registration Form.
ANGLERS QUALIFIED TO FISH MUST HAVE FISHED
WITH SYNERGY SERIES, QUAD STATE, FWJA, BORDER TRAIL,
SABBA, METRO OR LIVE AT LEAST 100 MILES FROM LANDING.
Annual Membership:
$35.00
Tournament Rules
- Rules Changes: the following rules will remain
unchanged throughout the event unless State of local
laws are in conflict. Interpretation and enforcement of
these rules shall be left exclusively to the Tournament
director. In the event of a rule violation, the
tournaments Director may impose sanctions as he deems
appropriate, including, without limitation,
disqualification, forfeiture of prizes entry fee and
prohibition from participation in subsequent
tournaments. The decision of the Tournament Director and
tournament officials shall be final in all matters. It
is the Director s discretion to make a change where
safety of the contestants is a concern. All Federal,
State and local laws must be obeyed and it is the
contestant 's responsibility to know these laws.
Protests must be made in writing within 30 minutes of
the official check-in time of the final flight of each
tournaments day.
- Participants and Eligibility: Fishing w/Jim
Austin Tournaments are open to members of the Angler s
Paradise Club and Jim Austin Trail only.
Membership is open to men and women aged 18 and above. A
properly completed and signed official entry and full
entry fee payment must be received at headquarters no
later than the established deadline.
- Point Standings: 250 points will be awarded to
the winner of each tournament, 249 to 2nd, 248 to 3rd,
etc. All anglers who receive weight credit will receive
points.
All other contestants will compete for open field
prizes.
- Pre-Tournament Practice:
There will be no off
limits for FWJA tournaments from now on. No guides,
purchasing info or fishing with a non competitor 25 days
before tournament. Be off water by 4:00pm fri of
meeting.
- Registration and Pre-Tournament Meeting: Each
contestant must register in person at the designated
site during the official registration hours, 3:00 6:00
P.M. local time the day before the tournament.
** NEW RULE** tournament
fees or deposit must be received at least 5 days before
tournament, or a $25 late fee will be charged to fish.
** NEW RULE** Angler with
the most weight who attends meeting gets $150
$100.
** NEW RULE** fisherman 75
years or older pay no dues and only have to fish 2
tournaments to qualify for Classic.
For more information call:
Jim Austin at 770-912-6364 or 770-862-0657
Dan Bojo at 205-310-0213
- Safety: Safe boating must be observed at all
times. Each contestant is required to wear a fastened,
U.S. Coast Guard approved personal flotation device any
time the combustion engine is in operation from boat
check until weigh-in. All boats must be equipped with an
emergency ignition shut-off device that must be securely
attached to the driver s body whenever the combustion
engine is in operation. At the discretion of the
tournament director, tournament days may be shortened or
cancelled due to unsafe weather or water conditions.
- Sportsmanship: All contestants are required to
follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy and
conservation and to conduct themselves in a manner that
will be a credit to themselves. Fishing w/Jim
Austin Tournament, sponsors, the sport of
fishing and the efforts of Fishing w/Jim
Austin Tournament to promote the sport.
Examples of conduct not complying with those standards
include, but are not limited to: Consumption and/or
possession of alcoholic beverage or any kind of
mind-altering substance during registration, the
pre-tournament meeting or during tournament hours
extending through the weigh-in procedures. Abuse of, or
addiction to mind altering substance, conviction of a
felony within the past 36 months. Any other words,
conduct or actions reflecting unfavorably upon efforts
to promote safety, sportsmanship, fair competition and
compliance with tournament rules.
In case of any conduct not
complying with sportsmanship standards, Fishing
w/Jim Austin Tournament shall have the right
to refuse any application or to deny a confirmed
application by returning the entry fee of a previously
accepted application or by disqualifying a contestant.
- Boat and Horsepower Regulation: All boats must
be a minimum of 15 feet in length. All boats must be
equipped with wheel steering. No other steering device
will be permitted. No barges or similar cumbersome
crafts will be permitted. 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 by both contestants. Maximum
horsepower for all outboards used in tournament
competition must not exceed the horsepower limitations
as set by the U.S. Coast Guard, but have a minimum of 40
horsepower rating plate attached to the boat by the
manufacturer. The horsepower of the outboard engine must
not exceed the rating specified on this rating plate.
- Officials Boats: Officials will be on the lake
for boat inspection and observation during tournament
hours. Contestants are required to cooperate with all
requests made by tournament officials.
- Permitted Fishing Methods: All bass must be
caught alive in a conventional sporting manner. Only
artificial lures may be used, with the exception of pork
trailers. Only one fishing rod may be used at a time.
Trolling as a method of fishing is prohibited.
- Permitted Fishing Locations: Contestants may
fish anywhere on tournament waters accessible by boat
except for areas designated as off-limits or no
fishing by local, state or federal officials; within 50
yards of a marina gas pump; 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 with the trolling motor in the up
position). All angling must be conducted from the boat.
At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a
fish or to make the boat more accessible to fishing
waters. Contestants must leave and return to the
official checkpoint by boat. The boat must remain in the
tournament water during the tournament day. No
tournament boat may be loaded on the trailer before the
weigh-in except with the permission of the tournament
director. In the event of equipment failure or
emergency, there will be only two permitted methods of
returning to the official check-in: (1) by both partners
remaining in their boat and being towed by water or (2)
by both partners entering the boat of another tournament
contestant. Under these two conditions, the contestants
catches may be counted without a penalty (except for
late penalties, dead fish penalties or other penalties
pertaining to other tournament rules). Contestants who
elect to return to the official check-in by any other
means than cited above will forfeit their day s catch to
that point in time of the tournament day. Any contestant
returning to the check-in point will be eligible to
restart and resume competition only under the
supervision of the tournament director or his designated
tournament official. It is the sole responsibility of
contestants to locate the tournament director to request
a restart. Partners must remain together at all times
and within sight of each other until weigh-in slips are
signed in order for their catches for that day to be
counted. In the case of male/female partners sharing a
boat, the momentary condition of being out of sight of
each other for restroom breaks is permitted. If a
contestant must violate any part of this rule due to an
emergency or for any other reason, his catch for that
day will not be counted.
- Official Checkpoints: There will be only one
official checkpoint for boat check-in each morning and
one official check-in point each afternoon. Failure to
go through boat check and check-out in the morning or
failure to check in at the check-in point will result in
disqualification. All fishing must ease upon check-in.
- Late Penalty: Contestants who are not at the
official check-in area at the appointed time will be
penalized 1 pound per minute, which will be deducted
from the total weight including any weight to be counted
toward a big bass award. Any contestant more than 15
minutes late will lose credit for that day s weight.
- Live fish: Every effort must be made to keep
bass alive through the use of a properly aerated
livewell. Fishing w/Jim Austin Tournament
recommends use of chemical livewell additives that
promote the healthy return of bass to their natural
habitat.
Six Three ounces will be
deducted from the total weight for each dead bass
presented for weigh-in.
- Scoring: Scoring will be determined by the
pounds and ounces of each contestant s catch during
teach round of qualifying tournament. Only largemouth,
spotted, red eye or smallmouth bass are accepted
species. The limit will be five unless the state or lake
limit is less than five, in which case the state or lake
limit will prevail. Any contestant who possesses more
than the tournament limit will have his catch for that
day disqualified. The official minimum length limit for
bass will be 12 inches unless the state or lake limit is
more than 12 inches, in which case the state or lake
limit will prevail. Bass presented for weigh-in that
fail to measure the prescribed length limit will be
penalized at the rate of one pound for each non-legal
bass presented. Each contestant s catch must be
presented in an official weigh-in bag and verified by
the signature of this partner. On day 1 of the Classic
tournaments, the top 20 Pros and 20 Co-anglers from the
first round will compete starting over at zero.
- Ties: If both teams have the same number of
fish, then the contestant with the biggest fish will
break the tie. If the tied contestants share the same
number of fish and their largest fish have the same
weight, then the Tournament Director will determine
another method to break the tie.
- Insurance: Liability insurance is required of
all contestants in Fishing w/Jim Austin
Tournament.
- Polygraph: All contestants, winners and
non-winners are subject to a polygraph test. Failure to
submit to a polygraph test will result in immediate
disqualification. Any contestant who fails a polygraph
test for cheating in connection with the Fishing
w/Jim Austin Tournament or whose polygraph
results are inconclusive will not be eligible to compete
in any Fishing w/Jim Austin Tournament.
- Qualifying for classic:
(1) top ten teams at end of year that fished all 4
tournaments
(2) winner of 1st tournament finish next 3 tournaments
(3) winner tournament 2 pay for 1st if didn't fish it
and fish
last 2 tournaments
(4) winner 3rd tournament pay for 2nd tournament if
didn't fish it and fish last tournament
(5) winner 4th tournament pay for 2nd & 3rd
tournament
- Anyone who's income is 50% from sponsors or from
fishing and is used for fishing or guides are
restricted from fishing FWJA tournaments. FWJA restricts
the right to decline any
one from fishing at the trails discretion.
- To qualify for Classic you must fish three (3)
tournaments in border trail or
Fishing With Jim Austin Buddy Trail and have enough
points; or a combination of
the 2 trails if your points are high enough with 2
tournaments in one of the trails.
- NO A RIGS ON BORDER TRAIL TOURNAMENTS
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