Rules & Regulations
1. INTERPRETATION & ENFORCEMENT: ALL RAHFISH Team Series events will follow RAHFISH rules, guidelines, and practices. Rules will remain unchanged for the season, except for special events or if the Tournament Committee deems changes or additions necessary. Such as the Classic and festival sept 14&15. Strict adherence is expected by all participants. Interpretation and enforcement of these rules shall be left to the Tournament Committee and the Tournament Director. The only appeal is to a the Tournament Director and Committee. Officials may impose such sanctions, as deemed appropriate including, without limitation, disqualification, forfeiture of prizes and prohibition from participation in any RAH tournament. Each contestant agrees to report any rule violation to the tournament director immediately upon discovery. Failure to report violations (Captain or Co-Angler) may be cause for disqualification. Protests should be in writing within 30 minutes of final flight check-in time of each tournament day.
2. PARTICIPATION, ELIGIBILITY & ADVANCEMENT: Participating anglers must be 15 years of age or older. Any person under the age of 18 must have permission from a parent or guardian. Proof of age is the responsibility of the participant. All participants must have in their possession a valid fishing license covering the waters and all days to be fished. All zone 14 rules regarding fishing will be observed unless otherwise specified by Tournament officials. Each team is allowed one sub for one of the three qualifying tournaments, however you must fish the Classic with who you register with. If your partner is terminally ill, a doctors note will be required to sub for the Classic. If the Captain misses a tournament, the co-angler either runs the Captain’s boat, or can submit a new boat. The new boat must abide by and meet all rules mentioned below. The co-angler must submit valid insurance information to the tournament director, no later than the Wednesday at 5pm before the tournament date. The co-angler must have a valid operators card. Any current B.A.S.S Elite or MLF anglers are not permitted to participate in the Rahfish GBay Team Series.
3. REGISTRATION & FORMAT: Online registration will open Dec 16th, 2024 at 6am and close May 1st, 2024 at 11:59pm. Rahfish reserves the right to discontinue, extend the acceptance of applications prior to or after the above mentioned timeline. Entries must be received before the entry deadline online at Rahfish.com. Team entry fees are as follows; $1300 registration to fish the first three qualifying tournaments, parking / launch fee for the season $70 and $60 for Big Fish. Total $1,430 + tax. Teams are required to sign up for all 3 qualifying events, for a chance to make the Classic. This is an all or nothing series, and you must sign up for all events. If you can not make the Classic, you may still sign up to fish the 3 qualifying events. Method of payments will be e-transfer or credit card. If you choose to register with a credit card, you will be charge the 3% processing fee at the time of registration. The Rahfish GBay Team Series will cap out at 50 teams. Registration is available on a first come first serve basis. We will not save available spots. A mandatory pre series meeting will take place on Friday July 5th. Location TBD. A mandatory pre classic meeting will take place on Friday Sept 13th before the Classic. Location TBD.
Based on a 50 boat field, we will payout $5,000 to the first place team at each of the first three events, with big fish paying out $500 at each event. ( full payout can be found on the entry / payout page ) Teams will be ranked based on a point system. 1st place 200, 2nd place 199, 3rd place 198 etc etc. The top 35 teams by the end of the third qualifying event, will qualify for the two day Rahfish GBay Team Series Classic. The top 35 teams will be reduced to 20 for day 2, at which point the top 20 teams will compete for 1st place and $10,000. The Classic Big Fish prize is $1000. Leadbetters will be on-site at each event, feeding all participants. Those with food allergies are encouraged to inform us in advance.
4. PRE-TOURNAMENT PRACTICE, BLAST OFF, CHECK IN, COMPETITION: Competition waters are open for fishing up until Friday at 3pm before the qualifying tournaments and Thursday at 3pm before the Classic weekend. The hiring of fishing guide services is not permitted two weeks leading up to the Rahfish GBay Team Series tournaments. On the Friday before a tournament, all teams pre fishing must be off plane by 3pm and insight of the launch ramp. Any participant caught on the water after 3pm, will be disqualified from that tournament. We will be issuing no warnings.
Competition hours will be from 7 am – 3pm for the three qualifying events, and 7:30 am – 3:30pm for the Classic. Teams will be blasting off in the order in which they registered for the first tournament. Blast off order will be based on the standing for tournament #2, #3 and the Classic. If the blast off boat has started sending boats, and you miss your spot, you will blast off last. All teams need to have parked their vehicles, and are in their boats by 6:50 am. If we begin blasting of boats and a team has not arrived, that team will be disqualified from competition for that event. Once the Team Series reaches 40 teams, we will have 2 flights, sent 15 minutes apart. Further details on this will be released once registration closes. Anglers are permitted to use cell phones if required during tournament hours. There will be zero tolerance for cheating or collusion. If found guilty, will result in immediate removal of the Rahfish GBay Team Series.
5. SAFETY & TOURNAMENT INTEGRITY: Safe conduct must be observed at all times by all participants. Participants must abide by all local navigation laws and avoid restricted areas at all times. All participants are required and agree to wear a fully zippered fastened or snapped Coast Guard-approved chest type personal floatation device anytime the combustion engine is running. Captains must have boats equipped with all the proper safety equipment required. Failure to do so could result in a disqualification. Tournament officials have the right to delay or cancel the start of an official tournament day, restrict tournament waters or impose speed limits because of navigation, traffic, bad weather or any other factors that would endanger the safety of the competitors or the public. In the event of a storm, lightning, severe weather or any unsafe condition, participants should remove themselves from competition and seek safety or shelter until it is safe to continue. Participants may not leave their boats during tournament hours except in case of emergency. Competitors may leave their boat and seek shelter in bad weather or when danger is eminent. They must, however, stay within sight of each other. Rahfish will announce emergency contact numbers\instructions at the pre-tournament briefing. ALL the rules of this event, particularly the safety rules are the responsibility of ALL participants and official’s to verify / adhere to.
6. SPORTSMANSHIP: Participants will conduct themselves in a true sportsmanlike, courteous, safe and ethical manner at all times maintaining professional demeanour in public and in communication with officials and sponsors. Courtesy must be practiced at all times, especially with regard to boating and angling in the vicinity of non-competitors who may be on tournament waters. Any unfavourable conduct, speech or action by a participant will not be tolerated and could affect eligibility to participate. Use of or possession in the boat of alcohol during the official tournament hours not be tolerated and shall be cause for disqualification. Alcohol at the weigh-in will be based on the host marina / township and will be at the Tournament Committee’s discretion.
7. BOAT OPERATION: Captains agree to operate their boat safely, following all laws on the waterways including speed zones and all officially marked no wake zones. Captains agree to operate their boat safely around other local boating traffic on tournament waters. Failure to do so could result in disqualification.
8. BOAT EQUIPMENT & SAFETY: ALL BOATS MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH SOME TYPE OF OPERABLE IGNITION KILL SWITCH SAFETY DEVICE. This engine stop device must be attached to the driver’s body any time the combustion engine is operating. Anytime the combustion engine is operating and in gear, there must be a driver in the driver’s seat in full control of the boat. Each boat must have a Coast Guard rating plate attached to the boat by the manufacturer. The horsepower rating of the outboard engine must not exceed the rating specified on this plate. Changing or altering standard factory motor parts to increase horsepower over factory rated horsepower is forbidden and will result in disqualification. During any official practice or competition day(s) no contestant may operate a boat unless they have documented proof of an insurance policy with $2 million of watercraft liability coverage on that particular boat and a valid expiration date. Proof must remain WITH THE BOAT during the entire event RANDOM CHECKS MAY BE CONDUCTED AT ANY TIME. All tournament boats are required to have in their possession all Coast Guard-required safety equipment, including but not limited to approved personal flotation devices, anchor, flares, fire extinguisher, robe, horn/whistle and flashlight. In addition, each boat must have a functional bilge pump and livewell, properly aerated, to sufficiently maintain, in a healthy condition a limit of 5 bass, smallmouth and or largemouth. The Tournament Director shall have the sole responsibility for determining whether aeration and capacity is “proper and adequate”. Trolling as a method of fishing is prohibited. Gas tanks that are factory installed or auxiliary tanks installed by a factory authorized dealer are legal. Boats that do not have factory installed gas tanks are restricted to a maximum of 10 litres of gasoline in tanks properly secured or strapped in a boat, that meet Coast Guard regulations.
9. CATCH LIMIT: Each team is allowed a 5 fish limit, which can be a combination of either largemouth or smallmouth bass. Teams must start culling after they have caught their 5th fish. Zone 14 rules allow for each angler to carry 3 fish, however the Rahfish Team Series will be allowing 5 fish. No exceptions. Any team found guilty of carrying 6 fish, will be disqualified. Due the nature of the 3 bass limit on Georgian Bay, if your team is weighing in more than 3 fish, both team members must stay with the fish AT ALL TIMES. If either team member needs to leave the boat / fish, there will be a tournament volunteer with a valid sport fishing license close by, who will stand in as the second partner for the time being. This rule will be heavily enforced, as the Rahfish GBay Team Series will be following all zone 14 regulations, especially regarding catch limits.
10. BOAT CHECK: Each boat MUST be given, prior to each day’s start, a livewell and SAFETY INSPECTION check by a tournament official. Failure to go through official
boat check in the morning or to check in at the check-in point in the afternoon can result in disqualification. YOU MUST CHECK-IN EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY FISH.
11. TACKLE & EQUIPMENT: Only artificial lures may be used. No “live bait” is permitted. Anyone guilty of snatching or snagging visible fish will have their day’s catch disqualified. No gaffs or grippers are allowed to land bass nor permitted in the boat. The use of cages and baskets for the purpose of holding fish is strictly prohibit. If found guilty, that team will be removed from the series. Alabama rigs and other similar type baits will follow current Ontario MNR laws, which is a maximum of four hooks.
12. PERMITTED FISHING LOCATIONS: On tournament days, participants are prohibited from fishing except during designated tournament fishing hours. Participants should stay off tournament waters before and after tournament hours except to navigate to and from the check-in site and launch facilities, if repairs and/or a test-run are needed contact a tournament official first. All boats must remain in the tournament waters during the tournament day. No boats may be loaded on a trailer before the weigh-in except by direction of the tournament director. In the event of equipment failure or emergency the tournament director must be notified as soon as it is safe to do so. There are only two permitted methods of returning to the check-in: (1) by both paired anglers remaining in their boat and being towed by water, or (2) with permission from the tournament director, by one or both paired anglers entering the boat of another tournament contestant, at which point all fishing must cease by all parties.
13. LATE PENALTY: Competitors not at the official check boat by 3pm shall be penalized at the rate of 1/2 LB per minute to be deducted from the total weight of their catch that day. Any competitors more than fifteen (15) minutes late will be disqualified.
14. CATCH AND RELEASE: For each legal dead fish presented to weigh-in officials, the competitor shall be penalized 1/2 LB, to be deducted from the total weight of that fish. Tournament Officials shall have sole authority for accessing penalty points.
15. BIG FISH: Each team will be allowed to weigh-in one big fish. Teams will know what fish they are weighing in at the scale. Dead fish do not count towards the big fish prize, but will be included in your teams limit, less the 1/2 LB penalty.
16. TIES: In case of a tie for any advancement position, awards or champions, the following tie breakers will be used in this order:
1.) If a tie happens in the top ten during the first tournament of the season, the cash and prizes will be split 50/50 between the two teams. Each team will earn the allotted points for that place.
2.) If a tie happens during tournament #2 or #3, the tie breaker will be each teams total weight weighed in from the previous tournament.
3.) If a tie happens during the Classic, the tie breaker will be each teams total weight weighed in from the previous tournament. If there is a 1st place tie at the Classic, a 30 min sudden death fish off will take place between the two teams. The first team to catch a fish and weigh it in will win. If 30 mins is up, and neither team has caught / weighed a fish, the sudden death fish off will be extended another 30 mins. If at the end of 1 hour, a fish has not been caught / weighed, the biggest bag weighed throughout the season will take the 1st place Classic prize.
17. PROTESTS : All participants have a right to protest another contestant. Protests should be in writing within 30 minutes of final flight check-in time of each tournament day. IF it is a participant protesting another participant there will be a $100 protest fee. The fee will be returned if the protest is found valid. Following interviews with concerned parties, a final ruling will be made. In the event rules infractions occurred a penalty of daily and/or tournament weight may be applied, and cash, prizes and awards must be returned if so requested. If a protest is found valid, the disqualified party must pay all investigative costs. EACH COMPETITOR AGREES, BY THEIR SIGNATURE ON ANY ENTRY FORM, WRITTEN OR ELECTRONIC and or by their participation in a Rahfish event, they may be asked to participate in a POLYGRAPH TEST, SHOULD THEY BE ASKED TO FOR ANY REASON and abide by the conclusion. Failure to pass the examination will result in disqualification.
By registering for the Rahfish GBay Team Series, I/We hereby agree to all the rules set forth by the Rahfish GBay Team Series. Failure to abide by any of the above rules could result in disqualification and/or removal from the series all together. Without refund. I/We agree to participate truthfully and ethically according to Zone 14 fishing and boating regulations. The participants agree to put forth the highest level of sportsmanship and courtesy to fellow competitors, marina staff, sponsors and any other patrons the series comes in contact with. Failure to do so will result in disqualification and/or removal from the Rahfish GBay Team Series.