1. Participation and Eligibility
Participation is open to anyone 18 years of age or older who is a registered member of HCKAC for at least 30 days. To be considered a member of the Hard Core Kayak Anglers Club, YOU MUST REGISTER AND SIGN THE WAIVER at http://www.hckaclub.com/Contact_Us_2O5T.html

Minors are eligible to participate with a participating parent, legal guardian, or a signed waiver. HCKAC’s judging committee retains the right to refuse entry to anyone for any reason. In the event a participant wants to use a tandem kayak/canoe both anglers must be registered members of HCKAC for the event.

2. Safety
Safe boating must be observed at all times. During competition, each contestant is required to comply with U.S. Coast Guard regulations including the possession of a PFD and a sounding device. All USCG and FWC regulations are in effect at all times.

3. Check In
Check in will be at the designated time and place (may vary per location) as set forth in the official tournament thread posted on HCKAC Forum. You must be in line before the official end of check-in time for your submissions to be eligible. At check-in, a scoring card must be filled out with each individual contestant’s catches. Subsequently, the tournament committee will request the photos from the contestant for review if needed.

Participants may only use digital cameras for recording scoring fish. Entrants must bring the storage chip and the download cable from their camera to check-in so that pictures may be retrieved. No sharing of cameras will be permitted. Each entrant will use a different unique scoring token provided at the sign in. In the scoring fish pictures the appropriate entrant's kayak must also be in the picture.

4. Sportsmanship
All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, fishing etiquette, and conservation. Individuals/teams shall maintain 100 ft distance minimum between competitors except if expressly agreed or invited to fish at a closer distance. Any use of drugs, alcohol, participation in criminal activities, or other conduct reflecting unfavorably upon our efforts to promote safety, sportsmanship, fair competition, and/or compliance with tournament rules are grounds for immediate disqualification and return of any prizes awarded.

5. Permitted Fishing Methods
All fish must be caught via hook and line. Only artificial lures may be used. Scented products (Berkley Gulp, Lunker sauce, etc) are permitted. No chumming is permitted. All fish must be caught from a kayak. No shore fishing is permitted. Wading is permitted but the kayak must be tethered to the angler. During team competition, teams must launch and recover from the same location. During team events, there is no longer a 100 yd proximity rule between partners.

6. No Motors
The use of a boat or motorized water vehicle/vessel to transport your boat while on the water is prohibited. All craft must be self-propelled; no engines or motors of any kind are permitted.

7. Fishing Locations
Boundaries that are specific to each event will be posted on the official tournament thread on HCKAC Forum. You must launch and exit within the posted boundaries. All fishing must be done in waters accessible according to the law, USCG and FWC regulations. Any angler observed fishing in an area deemed no entry by law enforcement will be disqualified from that event. Participants must launch from public launches. Launching from private property is not permitted.

8. Other
During competition contestants may not obtain or receive assistance including but not limited to following a non-competitor's boat, the placing of markers by a non-competitor, being towed or riding motorized vessels, or receiving electronic, voice, or data communications from non-competitors.

9. Scoring
The event uses CPR (catch-photo-release) scoring determined by the length of each fish, combined in the case of slam and individually for each class. Snook, Trout, and Redfish will be the only scoring fish in this tournament.

Each angler will be issued a unique scoring marker/token at the sign in. Fish must be photographed in or on the boat, clearly showing the length of the fish with the scoring marker visible. More than one photo of a fish may be taken. Length is determined from the forward-most point of the fish (with its mouth closed) to the pinched top of the tail. No unnatural bending of fish allowed. The use of tournament boards (321fish.com, Hardcore, etc.) is strongly recommended for accurate measurements. In the event of a tie, the entry checked in earliest will be declared the winner. The judging committee will review the photos to verify reported results and determine place winners. The tournament committee is responsible for the final call in all matters.

The winner of individual events will be determined by the most total inches of the three species. Only the longest fish of each of the 3 species will be scored.

The winner of team events will be determined by the most total inches of the three species. Only the longest fish of each of the 3 species per team will be scored.

You cannot use two of the same species twice. You do not have to catch all 3 species to win. In the event that a slam is not caught, the winner will be determined by the length of 2 of the 3 species. In the event that 2 of the three species are not caught, the winner will be determined by the largest catch of any valid species.

10. Protests
All protests must be made in writing and delivered to the tournament director during check-in time. The tournament committee is the final authority in all protest considerations.

11. Rule Changes
Rules interpretation is exclusively left to the tournament committee. The decisions of the tournament committee are final in all matters and are not subject to appeal.

12. Prize Structure
There will be 3 individual and 3 team events scheduled in 2011. Each angler/team can only win one prize for each event. Additional prizes may be awarded for the biggest snook, redfish, and trout. Raffle prizes may also be available. Tokens must be returned in order to be eligible for raffle prizes.

a) Tour events
The first, second, and third place cash awards for each event in the series will be awarded on a 50%, 30%, 20% basis of all entry fees paid.

b) Tour Championship
The Tour Champion cash award will be determined on an individual basis by adding total # of inches of Snook, Red, and Trout officially scored on each event of the series and will be awarded on a 100% basis of all entry fees paid. Sponsor prizes will also be awarded to 2nd and 3rd place. Separate categories for most inches of Snook, Red, and Trout may also be awarded.

13. Pre-Fishing
No pre-fishing the area set forth in the boundaries will be allowed the Monday through Friday preceding each event.

14.Team Events
Teams events will consist of 2 anglers who must remain the same throughout the scheduled events in the series. The Tournament Committee will approve the use of a substitute up to 1 times during the 3 scheduled events. If no substitute is available, a 1-man team could be approved by Tournament Committee. Such team must pay as 2-man.

HardCore Team,
Here’s a summary of the changes in a nutshell. I hope I can put it in words correctly. Please ask questions on anything that’s not clear. Thx in advance.

1)Based upon member feedback from the 2010 2-Man Tournament series, we’ve made a few changes to our format & scoring. There will be 3 individual based events and 3 Two-Man team events in 2011. All of the “tweaks” to the rules are outlined in red coloring in the main post.

2)All events are still inshore slam events. Entry per event is still $20/person for individual events and $40 total for team events.

3)There will be a 1-time fee of $5 for each participant that will be used for the betterment of the tournament series.

4)Entry fee for the season long pot is still $20.

5)We’d like to start a side bet pot during each event like “Most spots”. More to follow on that. Anticipate those entries to be $5-$10/person if you want to participate and we’ll evaluate them as we go.

6)Each participant’s mission is to catch a slam whether team format or not and scores will be recorded as individuals.

7)If in a team event, the largest of each species between partners will score for the event.

8)The sum score for each individual will be used to determine the end of the year champion.

Here’s an example:

Event 1 (Team Event) Angler X catches a 25” Snook, a 28” Red and an 18” Trout. His individual total will be 71” and will be applied to the season long catch. His partner Angler Y catches a 26” Snook, a 24” Red, and a 20” Trout for a total of 70” and will be applied to his individual season long catch. From an event perspective, the team total is a 26” Snook, a 28” Red, and a 20” Trout for a team event total of 74”.

Event 2 (Individual event) Angler X catches a 30” Snook, a 25” Red and a 22” Trout for an individual total of 77”. His season long score is now 148”.

Same process happens for the remainder of the events.

Guys, If anyone is looking for a partner for the 2011 series get ahold of me. I am committed to doing the entire series. I have been known to catch a fish on occassion and all fun aside can be very competitive.

The new rules and schedule look great! I am looking forward to the upcoming Series.

Come on everyone, lets make these bigger and better this year. Like the new rules ( Except for the NO Motor Part) lol

Looking forward to it.

FLfishchaser wrote:Guys, If anyone is looking for a partner for the 2011 series get ahold of me. I am committed to doing the entire series. I have been known to catch a fish on occassion and all fun aside can be very competitive.

If you guys could put out the word for me. I would appreciate it.

Rules sound good!

I am also looking for a partner for the 2011 series, So if anyone is interested in hooking up and catching some tournament winning fish let me know.

Thanks!

No way around the 30 days of being a member rule, huh?

Number13 wrote:No way around the 30 days of being a member rule, huh?

Number13,
Sorry brother, but unfortunately not. You are certainly more than welcome to join us for the day of fishing to get acquainted with the HCKAC members and our tournament process in prep for the 2012 season. Call me if you want to discuss. 727-480-6110.

Mark Knowles