Last updated: 23-August-2024 (Weigh-in procedure 4).

2024 Rules

Licensing / Insurance / Maritime Rules

1. All anglers must have a current Ontario Sports Fishing license or be age or status exempted.

2. Members’ boats must be insured and have liability coverage, a copy of which must be provided upon request of a BAA Executive member.

3. Each angler and boat owner must digitally sign a waiver of liability for the club, the club’s volunteers, and the club’s members.

4. Life jackets must be worn while under sustained (more than idling short distances) power of the main motor.

5. No wake zones and all other maritime rules must be obeyed. No wake zones are also subject to a 10km/h speed limit regardless of the signage used. Specifically: (Muskrat Lake) from the Hwy 17 bridge into Mud Lake, and (Newboro Lake) the cut from Newboro to Clear Lake, also any passage/creek/cut where the boat is less than 30m from shore.

6. No alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs are permitted on boats.

Pre-Fishing

1. Pre-fishing the tournament lake is prohibited twelve hours prior to the tournament start time. (i.e.: After 7pm of the day prior).

Weighmaster and Weigh-In

1. The Weigh Master has total and final authority over the entire weigh-in procedure.

2. Weight totals and Big Fish for the day is based upon official Weigh Master weights. Only a teams’ single heaviest fish will qualify for Big Fish prizing.

3. In case of a tie, the prize money will be divided equally between the teams tied.

4. A 12-inch minimum length is required (from tip to tip). Any fish weighed-in under 12” will not count towards total weight for the day.

5. Up to five (5) fish (largemouth or smallmouth bass only) can be weighed in for each daily event.

6. There will be a ½ pound penalty for each dead fish. A fish must be alive (able to swim away at release) to qualify for the Big Fish Prize or avoid the penalty. You will have five minutes to revive a failing fish. A club executive member must observe or the fish is considered dead.

Tournament Hours

1. Tournament hours are 7:00am to 4:00pm. One pound per minute will be deducted for each minute that a team is late returning to dock.

2. In the event of heavy fog, the tournament will be delayed until visibility returns to a safe level. The event end time will not be extended.

General Rules

1. Teams that are not present to obtain a boat inspection by 6:55am will be required to find an Executive boat to do their live-well, equipment, and kill-switch check prior to fishing. No weight will be counted for any team failing to be present by 6:55am to obtain a boat inspection.

2. Functioning live wells (or equivalent) are mandatory. No live bait is permitted. Only artificial baits or pork rinds are permitted. Landing nets are permitted.

3. Teams may only have five (5) fish on board while under sustained power of the main motor during all events. Your largest bass will be released back into the lake/river by club Executives if caught with more than 5 bass under sustained power of the main motor, until you are at your 5 bass limit.

4. Tournament officials are allowed on your boat at any time during the tournament for the purpose of ensuring compliance with these rules.

5. Competitors may not transfer fish or tackle between boats during tournament hours.

6. A boat may not come to shore during the tournament except for thunderstorms or washroom duties. (Private property rights must be respected.)

7. Use of locks/locking to other areas of a body of water is NOT PERMITTED. It goes against MNR rules for transporting fish.

8. Teams many only use non-piercing cull clips.

Teams and Substitutions

1. Teams competing in the previous year will be provided first right to join. We reserve the right to cap the number of entries for the season.

2. At least one of the regular team members will be required to fish any of the regular season events.

3. Substitutions: Unlimited for Regular Season Events. Only two different substitute people will be permitted in any given season for a team. Substitute anglers may be permitted for The Classic but subject to the following conditions: 1- The substitute angler should have fished BAA for at least one event in the current season, and 2- The substitute is subject to pre-approval by BAA Executive and should only be requested for extenuating circumstances (injury, illness, etc.), as far in advance as possible.

Code of Conduct

1. Club members will obey all rules of the BAA, MNR, and other maritime rules. Pre-fishing bass out-of-season (poaching) is grounds for disqualification without refund of fees. We are visible resource stewards in Eastern Ontario, and will not accept this from our Club members.

2. Club Members will at all times conduct themselves civilly, with common courtesy and respect.

3. Intimidating, threatening or slanderous/libellous behaviour or comments will be grounds for immediate disqualification from a particular event or from BAA, at the majority decision of the Executive. There will be NO refund of fees for any action resulting in disqualification from BAA.

4. Infractions of these rules will be subject to a formal protest for review by the BAA Executive. If a member of the Executive is a subject of complaints then that member will be excluded from the process. BAA Executives do not require a formal protest to enforce penalty on an infraction. Infractions to ANY rule, or approved protests, may result in a penalty to the offending team as decided by the club executive. This penalty can range from a weight deduction, to event disqualification, to ejection from BAA entirely.

5. A process to file a formal protest will be in effect for the season. A $50 cash deposit will be required from anyone wishing to do so. BAA will issue a protest sheet to the protesting team which must be filled out and returned to one of the executives as soon as possible so that it can be reviewed, approved, or denied, after talking to ALL involved. This protest sheet must be returned prior to the awarding of prizing for that day. If the protest is found valid, the deposit is returned. If the protest is found not valid, The Club will retain the deposit. BAA Executive decisions are final.

Official Procedures

Morning Inspections

1. There will be a random boat inspection at the beginning of each event, between the hours of 5:30am and 6:55am. Have your PFD’s visible, your live wells open, and please show your kill switch cord. Once the inspection is done, if requested, launch your boat, and park the tow vehicle. Meet your partner at the dock AFTER this is done. If arriving by water, your MANDATORY boat check timeslot is 6:40am-6:45am at the main dock.

2. Boats must be in the water no later than 15 minutes prior to blast-off. Any later, and you forfeit your blast-off to the last position for that event.

Blast-off

1. Event 1, 3, 5: 1 through 40 as directed by the blastoff coordinator. Event 2, 4, 6: 40 through 1 as directed by the blastoff coordinator. Classic: Team Of The Year order.

2. Weigh Master may blast off in regular and Classic events any time after 6:45am recognizing they will return by 3:45pm to set up weigh-in. Blast-off Coordinator boat is permitted to return to the weigh-in 10 minutes after the posted check-in time (4:10pm).

3. Boats must maintain a respectful and safe distance from other boats. Do not cut in front of another boats’ path.

Weigh-In

1. All teams intending to weigh-in must be back near the weigh-in site by 4:00pm.

2. All boats must remain AWAY from the dock(s) until the weigh-in commences on instruction of the weighmaster. Approach the dock in an orderly fashion SINGLE FILE. Boats will remain AT the dock until weighed-in, at which time they must vacate the area and allow another boat to weigh-in.

3. Dead fish are to remain in the possession of the team in accordance with MNR regulations.

4. Teams must release fish at least 100m away from the weigh-in site. This rule does not apply to BAA executive; for fish care reasons it may be better to release at dock vs waiting to release fish and keeping them in the livewell until the final team has weighed.

Other

Team of the Year and Big Fish Recognition

1. Team Of The Year (TOY) will be based on the best 5 of 6 regular season weights for each team. TOY prizing includes the teams’ 2025 Entry Fees PAID, and two plaques.

2. “Big Fish” recognition will be based on the biggest single-fish weight for the regular season. Big Fish prizing is a single plaque for the lucky angler who caught the Big Fish.

Fees

1. Fees are $600 for the season, per team, which includes all regular season events, the Classic, and Big Fish pool for all events.

2. Failing to pay the full fees by the time specified by BAA Executives will result in potential replacement by a team on the waiting list, if applicable.

Club Executive

1. There will be three Co-Executives. Effective September 14, 2023, the Executive are Eric Pruys, Cody Brine, and Adam Lapensee.

2. All key decisions will be made by the Executive committee and communicated through the website and/or emails.

Volunteer Positions

1. Boat Check: BAA executives. They may check your boat for PFD’s, kill switch, empty livewell(s), and no live bait. Boat checks will happen near the launch ramp and you are asked to have everything READY to be inspected.
2. Blast-Off Coordinator: Eric Pruys, boat 7. Coordinate blast-off.  They will be permitted to return to the docks 10 minutes late for each event.