Texas Tournament Zone

TOURNAMENT TRAIL RULES

1. PARTICIPANTS | ELIGIBILITY

  • Participation is open only to current members of the TTZ Tournament Trail.
  • Any member under the age of 18 must have the signature of their parent or legal guardian.
  • A team will consist of one or two anglers per boat; only registered contestants may be in the boat during official tournament hours. A contestant may fish alone as a single person team.
  • Partner substitution is allowed with a youth under the age of 18. Otherwise, a new combination of partners creates a new team and the points from the prior team are not carried forward.
  • Texas Tournament Zone reserves the right to refuse any membership or tournament entry fees or entry forms for any reason.

2. ENTRY FEES | PAYOUTS

  • Entry fee is $250 per team per tournament and includes Big Bass. 
  • Adult/Youth team entry fee is $200 per team per tournament which includes Big Bass.
  • Adult/Youth team is comprised of 1 angler 18yrs of age and older, and 1 angler no older than 17yrs of age
  • Youth angler must be present and in the boat
  • Annual $40 membership fee required for all anglers.
  • One place paid per 10 entries.
  • All ties will be resolved by splitting that place and the next place’s money.
  • All winners will be subject to a polygraph exam before the prizes are distributed at each event. Contestants must pass the polygraph exam at the tournament site to receive prize money and points for the event. The Tournament Director reserves the rights to waive any violation of these rules that are disclosed to him before the polygraph exam, in his sole and absolute discretion.

3. REGISTRATION | TOURNAMENT HOURS

  • Registration via PayPal will be available online only at ttz1.com until midnight before the day of the tournament. No on-sight registration will be available.  
  • Mailed entries will be accepted until the Thursday before the event.  Please make check payable to TTZ.  Mailing Address: TTZ, PO Box 483, Cedar Park, Texas 78630
  • Contestants will be assigned a Boat Number prior to tournament by a random number generator to be received via TEXT to the phone number provided in the Online Registration. Contestants will be released by boat number at safe light from the official check point location in numbered order.  Contestants may launch their boat no earlier than 5:00am from any ramp, but must come through the official check point before leaving to fish.
  • Trailering is not allowed.  In the event of severe weather, alternate take off instructions will be provided by the Tournament Director.
  • Tournament hours are safe light to 3:00 pm unless otherwise noted.
  • It is the angler’s responsibility to get the official time from the Tournament Director.

4. PERMITTED FISHING METHODS

  • Only artificial baits may be used. No live or cut bait is permitted (pork baits are permitted).
  • All bass must be caught alive in a legal and sporting manner. No snagging.
  • Each contestant may only use 1 rod at a time. No more than 1 line in the water at a time per angler.
  • All fishing must be conducted from the boat. At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a fish.
  • Trolling with the combustion motor is not permitted.

5. OFF LIMITS

  • All TTZ regular season events have a 5 day off limits period, which consists of the Monday-Friday prior to the tournament. No contestant may be on designated tournament waters for any reason during the official off limits period.
  • No contestant may launch their boat before 5:00am on tournament day
  • No fishing information may be purchased, bartered or solicited from any person who entered official tournament waters during the established off limits period.
  • If either partner enters tournament waters during the official five day off limits period such partner shall be ineligible for the event and may not enter or register for the event; the eligible partner may enter the event. However, all previous points acquired will be forfeited and the eligible partner’s points will start from zero.
  • Contestants may fish anywhere on tournament waters accessible by boat, except areas designated as “off limits” or “no fishing” by state or federal officials, 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), or within 25 yards of a non-anchored competitor’s boat unless otherwise agreed upon by the other tournament angler.
  • During the two official practice days for the TTZ Championship competitors are not allowed to be in a boat with non-competitors on the water for any reason.

6. SCORING

  • Each team’s weight will be measured in pounds and hundredths of ounces.  The highest weight will be declared 1st place and receive points equal to the total number of teams that fished the given event.
  • Each descending weight will receive (1) point less than the previous weight. All teams that do not weigh fish will receive (10) points less than the last team that weighs fish.
  • If a team is disqualified for any reason they will receive (0) points for that tournament, BUT WILL RECEIVE CREDIT FOR FISHING THE TOURNAMENT.
  • The team that accumulates the greatest amount of points for the entire season will be declared “Anglers of the Year”. The AOY will receive comp’d entry fees the following season.

7. LIVE FISH | WEIGH-IN

  • A limit of five bass (Largemouth, Smallmouth, Guadalupe, and Spotted) may be weighed in per team.
    No team may have more than the tournament limit (5 bass) in the live well at any time during the tournament except during the short time frame of culling a fish.
  • All fish must be a minimum of 14 inches; short fish presented for weigh-in will result in the loss of that particular fish.
  • There will be a (1) pound fish care penalty for each dead bass presented for weigh-in. Culling of dead bass is prohibited.
  • Dead fish will not be eligible for Big Bass
  • Weigh-in will be back at the official check point location according to the appointed time. All contestants must check in with a Tournament Director prior to weighing fish.
  • The scales will be open during tournament hours for the purpose of weighing big fish. If weighing in early, a team can only have up to the culling limit for the remainder of the tournament. The remaining culling limit is decreased by the number of fish weighed in early.
  • Any team checking in after their appointed time will be assessed a (1) pound per minute penalty from their total weight including any weight to be counted toward a Big Bass award. Any team more than 15 minutes late will forfeit that day’s catch.
  • Scales will close 30 minutes after the last flight is due in unless otherwise noted by a Tournament Director.

8. SPORTSMANSHIP | SAFETY

  • All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety and conservation.
  • Safe boating must be observed at all times. Each contestant is required to wear a fastened (fully zipped and/or all clips fastened) U.S. Coast Guard approved personal flotation device any time the boat is above idle. All boats must be equipped with an emergency ignition shut-off device, which must be securely attached to the driver’s body any time the boat is above idle.
  • Tournament hours may be shortened or canceled due to unsafe weather or any conditions that would endanger the safety of the competitors at the Tournament Director’s sole and absolute discretion.
  • In case of inclement weather it will be the contestant’s decision to stay and fish or seek shelter/leave.  Once tournament fees are paid and the tournament has begun there will be no refunds for any reason.
  • Mobile communication devices are encouraged for safety reasons but their use is prohibited during tournament hours for the purposes of finding or locating fish.
  • Consumption of alcohol or any non-prescribed drug is prohibited during tournament hours.
  • All boat operators must comply with the laws of the State of Texas, for a complete list of Texas PWC Operation Laws please visit:  http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/laws/pwc/

9. CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION

  • Anglers must fish three of the four events total to qualify for the championship.

10. MEDIA DISCLAIMER

  • Outdoor Marketing LLC, hereto referred to as TTZ, has the irrevocable right and permission to use photographs and/or video recordings of tournament anglers on TTZ1.com, TTZForum.com, Youtube.com and other websites, as well as in publications, promotional flyers, or for any other similar purpose without compensation.
  • Photographs and/or video recordings of anglers may be placed on the Internet.  Anglers may be identified by name and/or title in printed, Internet or broadcast information that might accompany the photographs and/or video recordings.  All anglers waive the right to approve the final product.  All such portraits, pictures, photographs, video and audio recordings, and any reproductions thereof, and all plates, negatives, recording tape and digital files are and shall remain the property of TTZ.
  • Tournament anglers hereby release, acquit and forever discharge TTZ, its owner and employees from any and all claims, demands, rights, promises, damages and liabilities arising out of or in connection with the use or distribution of said photographs and/or video recordings, including but not limited to any claims for invasion of privacy, appropriation of likeness or defamation.

 

* All contestants may be subject to a polygraph exam before the prizes are distributed at each event.
Contestants must pass the polygraph exam at the tournament site to receive prize money, awards and points for the event. The Tournament Director reserves the rights to waive any violation of these rules that are disclosed to him before the polygraph exam, in his sole and absolute discretion.
* Protests must be made in writing within 10 minutes of the official closing of the scales at each tournament.
* Decisions of the Tournament Director are final and are not subject to appeal. Interpretation of these rules will be left exclusively to the Tournament Director.
* All participants expressly assume all risk(s) associated with each tournament event and hereby release, indemnify and hold harmless Texas Tournament Zone, the host, all sponsors and Tournament Directors from all claims or injury and/or damage arising out of, or related to and/or incurred in connection with any TTZ sponsored event(s)

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