Tournament Fishing 101: Rules, Regs, and Measuring Fish

I am kicking off a series of articles on kayak tournament bass fishing. It is quickly blowing up and with what the Southern Kayak Anglers have been doing for the past two years and what the Kayak Bass Fishing 2013 Open and Invitational has started, it will soon snowball into the mainstream of bass anglers. The first installment of this series covers following the rules and regulations of tournament fishing and successfully scoring the fish you catch. Interestingly enough, finding and catching fish in a tournament is only half the battle. Scored fish are often deducted or disqualified(DQ) because the angler failed to heed all rules, regs, and stipulations. Nothing is worse than having a money winning stringer, but lose out because of a technicality. The rules of tournaments are not set to hinder anglers, but are meant to keep all anglers on the same playing field. Using lures, fishing methods, or launch points that are not allowed is considered cheating because it can give you a serious advantage over other anglers in the field. Most instances of deductions and disqualifications are not conscious, malicious acts of cheating, but simple mistakes caused by overlooking or misinterpreting the rules. The main killer is not reading the rules closely. Watch out for banned lures(a-rigs) or banned fishing methods(trolling) or off limit areas. These things usually get caught and will lead to an automatic DQ.  Below are some of the most important pieces of advice I have picked up so far. In no particular order....
A.You need to get a quality measuring device like the HOOK1 Hawg Trough. Most use the "Hawg Trough" or other type of "bump board" that is accepted by your tournament director. Most tournaments require certain devices, but if yours does not designate a certain brand, then make sure your device has clear, easy to read markings.
B. Make sure your official "identifier" is clearly shown in the picture. 
C. Store your marker with your camera to keep them together and your marker safe from blowing away (seen it happen lol) and put the marker in a ziplock bag to keep it from getting wet and disintegrating.(seen it happen)
D. Pay close attention to how your fish must lay in the photo; upside down, facing the wrong way, pinched tail, and/or open mouth can cost you.
E. Know the rules by heart and print them off if you can to reference.
F. Ask plenty of questions before hand or in the captains meeting.
G. Get the tournament directors cell number. If you have a question ask him on the spot.
H. Clear your memory card before hand. Most tourneys require a clean card and will DQ you if you have old pictures on it.
I. Quickly take 3 or 4 pictures of each fish. Then, you can make sure you have a perfect one lined up and take your time and delete the bad ones. I have seen fish lost of measuring boards and a quick-imperfect picture is better than none.
J. Go through a mental checklist/ritual with each fish: marker showing, mouth closed, tail spread, oriented correctly.
K. I take a picture of the scenery between each fish so there is a clear separation between fish for the judge to see. Back to back identical fish are a judgement call for the director. People try to cheat this way a lot.
L. Many identifiers are either emailed out at midnight before the tourney or handed out in person at the captains meetings. Often, these are hard to arrange for if you are traveling or working the day before so call ahead to the director and make arrangements to get your marker.
M. Carry a stringer or The Fish Grip to keep them in the water while getting your equipment set up. I have seen tournament winning fish jump overboard while grabbing the camera and I have seen dinks slip through scupper holes(caugh....Stewart). When you get your fish, clip them up and then worry about the pic.
N. I always net my fish, no matter how small. On those tough tournaments, it only takes a dink to break out of a slump and get your mind right. At the 2013 KBF Invitational I was sitting with a big goose egg and a 14" dink to boat put me on a pattern that led to 10 more fish after 5 hours of non-catching.
O. This should be common sense, but take a picture of the first few small fish you catch even if you know you will upgrade. I have seen guys throw back the first small fish and then need them at weigh in time. Don't be that guy.
P. Carry any cables or connections that can be used to upload and view your images just in case. I have a Sony that takes an odd card and I have to carry the SD adapter or I can't have my fish scored.

This fish is good to go. Mouth closed, tail isn't pinched, marker showing

This fish has an open mouth and will lose inches or could be DQ'ed

This fish has a pinched tail and will lose inches or be DQ'ed

Forgot to put down your marker or lost it? Automatic DQ, no questions asked

This fish would not spread out it's tail so I helped it out. Check your regs. May or may not be allowed.

The main thing is do your homework, check the regs, and get the phone number of the tourney director so you can call with any questions. After that, its just fishing. Stay tuned for more articles in the Tournament Fishing 101 series. Be sure to come join us for some fun but serious tournament fishing with the Southern Kayak Anglers 2013 Tournament Series!