West Michigan Bass Weeknight Division Tournament Rules

Rules for: Case of the Mondays, TACO Tuesdays, Midweek Therapy, Thirsty Thursday or any $40 entry weeknight tournament.

Participation

Tournaments will be held at the scheduled start date, time and location on this website and are scheduled to run 3.5 hours.   Weigh-in time may be affected by sunset times and therefore will be announced at the ramp prior to take-off.  It is the responsibility of the director to announce the weigh-in time prior to take off, however it is the responsibility of the angler to know the weigh-in time. If the angler misses the announcement, they should ask the director prior to take-off or on the water during competition.

There is a $50.00 yearly membership fee per angler (not team) to participate. This fee covers your membership for WMB and the membership Bassmaster Team Trail.  All members 18 years and older must read and sign liability waiver before participating in any WMB tournament.  A signed waiver is considered valid for one tournament season.

The membership fee is waived for participants 15 years of age or younger. These participants must be accompanied by a chaperone who is 18 years of age or older. Minors fishing with non-related or non-legal guardian partners as chaperones must also have a signed permission slip from a parent or legal guardian expressly permitting the activity. Donating sponsors and directors are also exempt from this fee, but must however pay all entry fees in full at every event.

The entry fee for Weeknight events is $40.00 per boat includes a $5.00 entry for the nightly big bass pot.  $5.00 from each entry will be held from the payback and kept for the year end classic tournament.

There is no boat limit. Commitment to participate will be decided upon by the angler by paying the entry and membership fees. In many cases, events are held at boat ramps with parking for a maximum of 15 trailers. Parking tickets or other infractions because of limited space or creative parking are the responsibility of the angler. Anglers should plan to arrive as early as possible to ensure a parking space.

General Rules

The winner of the tournament is determined by the weight of the 5 bass or less.  Only largemouth or smallmouth bass can be weighted.  In the event of a tie, big bass weight will be used to determine the winning team.Anglers may only activley fish with one rod at a time. Anglers may not drag a bait/rod while activley fishing with a rod.

Tournament participates are only allowed to use artificial baits to catch bass during the tournament

The Great Lakes are off limits on any body of water that is connected to the Great Lakes.  You may not go past the end of the pier heads.

The resolution of protests will be handled by the director(s) at the time of the protest is presented.  All protests must be presented within 10 minutes of the scales closing.

West Michigan Bass recommends the use of USGC approved life vest and kill switch lanyards at any time when using the outboard engine.

Boat and Boat Operation

It is the boat owner’s responsibility to comply with all state and local regulations and have the watercraft quipped properly with safety equipment.

It is the boat operator’s responsibility to know and understand any and all boating laws, no wake restrictions, high speed boating restrictions, lake speed limits or other similar rules or restrictions.

Teams

• A Classic qualifying team is established at the HOTD Early Draw or at the registration of first tournament fishing.
• Teams are a maximum 2 anglers per boat.
• Anglers may fish alone or with any partner they wish at any event.  Not fishing with same partner will affect classic eligibility and end of the year points scoring.  Please read thoroughly and understand The Year End Classic and Eligibility section below.
• A substitute may fish in place of either teammate but a team can only use two (2) substitute per season.
• A 3rd angler, 12 years old or younger, may also accompany and participate in the tournament.

Tournament Conduct

All state and local laws must be followed. Sportsmanship and courtesy will be shown by all teams entered towards fellow tournament anglers as well as any local fishermen, other boaters or property owners. Failure to comply can result in disqualification at the discretion of the Director(s). Disqualification will include forfeit of entry fees.

Penalties

Late To Weigh-in:

• Boats must be stationary or at idle speed within 150 feet of the ramp by the Weigh-In time.
• There will be NO grace period.
• There will be a 1 pound per minute penalty
• Returning to the ramp 5 minutes late will disqualify the day’s catch

Fish Care / Dead Fish

• Every effort should be made to keep fish alive.
• Dead fish will result in a 1/4 pound (4oz) penalty.
• You may weigh in only ONE dead bass.
• You may NOT weigh a dead fish for Big Bass

Short Fish

• All fish must meet or exceed legal size limit.
• Fish length is determined as the longest length from the mouth to tail, being measured with the mouth closed.
• Suspect fish, may be bumped on the official measuring stick prior to weigh-in.
• If the Director bumps a short fish, the short fish and the largest fish of the sack are immediately culled.

Culling

• A Team’s catch must be culled to 5 fish before the end of the tournament.
• Failure to cull will result in the following:
  • The Team’s best 5 fish bag will be separated
  • The remaining fish will be immediately released
  • 1 fish from the final bag will be culled for each fish over the 5 fish limit – each time culling the smallest fish from final bag. 
  • If the infraction is discovered after the bag has already been weighed - the big fish of the bag will be forfeited for the 1st fish over the 5 limit and a 2lb penalty for each subsequent fish shall be applied 
• EXCEPTION: a team may poses greater than 5 fish without penalty if the excess fish have expired and are not being weighed. Please do not cull expired fish back into the water. A dead fish will be considered "in excess" if it is smaller than the best 5 fish or cannot be weighed in due mutliple expired fish. 

Points & Scoring

Points can be accumulated as follows (per team, per event):

• Single Event Participation: 10pts
• Points Per Boat: (see below)
• 1st Place Finish Bonus: 3pts
• 2nd Place Finish Bonus: 2pts
• 3rd Place Finish Bonus: 1pts
• Big Bass Bonus: 2pts
• 2nd Big Bass Bonus: 1pts

Points per Boat One point per boat will be given based on the number of boats (Number of Boats - (Place + 1) = Points) for example with 11 boats, 1st place receives 11 pts, 2nd 10pts, 3rd 9pts and so on. Zero fish ties and/or last place will be awarded 0 additional points.

Team of Year

Team of the year will be determined by a fish off between the top points getters from each division.  The fish off will take place during the classic and the top finishing team will be presented an award.

Year End Classic & Eligibility

The classic entry fee will be free to those teams that qualify through a division point’s race.  Teams that have fished 10 of 12 Weeknight tournaments may participate in the WMB Classic for an entry fee of $100.00.  The Classic payouts may include any paid entries topped with the money kept from each tournament, sponsor donated cash or prizes and trophies/awards.

The top ~30% of each division will be eligible for free entry. Launch order will be determined by point standing.

Points per team are calculated as the sum of:

• Points earned by single angler team
• Points earned by both teammates fishing together
• Points earned by a single teammate fishing alone where the 2nd teammate is not present
• Points earned by a single teammate fishing with substitute, where the 2nd teammate is not present
• Each teammate must fish at least 1/3^rd rounded up of a divisions events. For weekday events that means each partner must fish at least 4 events.
• A substitute may fish in the place of either teammate. A team is allowed 2 substitutions for a weekday division. The director must be alerted to the substitution at registration for the event.
• The substitute must pay the yearly membership fee
• Any angler fishing alone must provide his/her teammate's name to the director at registration if they wish for the points of that tournament to be included toward their team's final standings.

Directors

West Michigan Bass directors are volunteers and will be allowed to fish the tournament(s) they run at no cost providing there is at least 5 boats present not including the director’s boat.