FLW Outdoors expects strict adherence to the following rules by all contestants. Additionally, FLW Outdoors suggests that co-anglers share fuel expenses with their pro partner each day of competition to help offset the high cost of boat operation. FLW Outdoors also recommends the use of livewell additives like Rejuvenade to help promote the healthy release of walleye. In the event of an emergency, please call 911 first and then notify the tournament director.
These rules will remain unchanged during 2012. Interpretation and enforcement of these rules will be left exclusively to the tournament director. Decisions of the tournament director are final in all matters and are not subject to appeal. Each contestant agrees to report any rule violation to the tournament director immediately upon discovery of the violation. Failure to report violations may be cause for disqualification. The violation of a tournament rule may result in weight loss (late penalty, dead-fish penalty and short-fish penalty), the loss of weight up to a particular time in the tournament day, the loss of weight for the entire day, the loss of the largest one-day catch, disqualification from the entire tournament or ineligibility to participate in future FLW Outdoors tournaments. Protests are to be made in writing within 30 minutes of the check-in time of the final flight of each tournament day.
Payback is based on the number of paid entries for each tournament.
Participation is open only to members of FLW Outdoors who are 16 years of age or older. Any person under the age of 18 (19 in Alabama and Nebraska) entering a tournament must also have the signature of a parent or legal guardian in the provided space on the entry form.
All contestants must have a valid fishing license for the waters they fish.
The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from the 2011 FLW Walleye Tour must pay deposits for all four tournaments by January 30, 2012, in order to secure their priority entry position.
For Ranger boat owners (Ranger owners with current registrations who will use their Ranger boat in FLW Walleye Tour competition) and sponsor entries (FLW Outdoors may reserve sponsor spots in each qualifying tournament), deposits will be accepted to hold spots for tournaments beginning at 8 a.m. Central time, January 31, 2012.
For other entries, deposits will be accepted to hold spots for tournaments beginning at 8 a.m. Central time, February 1, 2012.
Pros entering all four tournaments by February 29, 2012, and providing co-anglers (with membership numbers) will be given top priority. Co-anglers entering all four tournaments by February 29, 2012, and providing pros (with membership numbers) will be given top priority. Pro and co-angler priority are granted when matching pro and co-angler entries (listing each other’s name and membership number) are received by the priority deadline and are contingent on both anglers competing in the tournament entered. Pros and co-anglers who enter all four tournaments by February 29, 2012, will receive the next highest entry priority.
All other entry priority will be assigned by the date and time of entry.
Entries may be made either by mail, phone or on the Internet at FLWOutdoors.com. Do not make entry by more than one method.
FLW Outdoors may, in its sole discretion, accept entries after the entry/balance deadline for a given tournament to balance and/or fill the field. DEPOSITS ARE NONTRANSFERABLE AND NONREFUNDABLE ONCE ACCEPTED INTO A TOURNAMENT. Entries received after a tournament has filled will be placed on a waiting list. Those placed on the waiting list and not accepted into the tournament will receive a full refund after the tournament.
CONFIRMED ENTRIES ARE CONTINGENT UPON COMPLETE ENTRY FEE BEING PAID BY THE ENTRY/BALANCE DEADLINE DATE. Entry fees (minus the deposit) may be transferred or refunded if FLW Outdoors is notified prior to the entry/balance deadline. ENTRY FEES WILL NOT BE TRANSFERRED OR REFUNDED AFTER THE ENTRY/BALANCE DEADLINE.
Payment schedule: Pro entry fees are $1,250 per tournament, and co-angler entry fees are $350 per tournament. Pros must pay a $250 deposit per tournament and co-anglers must pay a $100 deposit per tournament upon entry followed by payment for the balance of the entry fee according to the schedule outlined below.
150 points are awarded to the winner of each qualifying tournament, 149 to 2nd, 148 to 3rd, etc. All anglers who receive weight credit receive points.
The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from the final point standings qualify for the 2012 National Guard FLW Walleye Tour Championship and receive priority entry for the 2013 season. If an angler is unable to attend the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, the next person in the point standings may be invited.
The 2012 FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year and Co-angler of the Year and 2012 FLW Walleye Tour Championship pro and co-angler winners qualify for the 2013 FLW Walleye Tour Championship provided they compete in all 2013 FLW Walleye Tour events. If the 2012 FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year, Co-angler of the Year or FLW Walleye Tour Championship pro or co-angler winner does not compete in 2013, their entry in the 2013 FLW Walleye Tour Championship will go to the 2013 pro or co-angler with the highest point total who is not already qualified for the FLW Walleye Tour Championship.
The purchasing of, or bartering for, information about locating or catching fish on tournament waters, including but not limited to GPS waypoints (other than through commercially available sources) and the hiring of fishing guide services is not permitted after the entry/balance deadline for each tournament.
There is no practice period or off-limits period prior to the close of onsite registration at 4 p.m. local time on registration day (Wednesday) the day before each tournament. Contestants may not enter tournament waters to locate fish or potential fishing waters or sightsee after the close of onsite registration at 4 p.m. local time (Wednesday) the day before the tournament except during tournament hours. Testing equipment on tournament waters after the close of onsite registration is permitted only with prior approval from the tournament director.
On days 1 and 2, contestants may not solicit and/or receive information about locating or catching fish on tournament waters from anyone except pros and co-anglers confirmed in the tournament and through publicly available sources (quasi-public websites set up for the specific purpose of sharing information with individuals or a small group of individuals are NOT publicly available sources). During competition days, pros may not follow a noncontestant’s boat or participate in the placing of markers by noncontestant’s or the practice of “hole sitting” by anyone. Anglers eliminated after each round of competition are considered noncontestants. Contestants in the top-10 cut after the close of weigh-in on day 2 in qualifying tournaments (top-20 at the National Guard FLW Walleye Tour Championship) may not solicit or receive information about locating or catching fish on tournament waters from anyone except other top-10 contestants (top-20 at the FLW Walleye Tour Championship) and through publicly available sources (quasi-public websites set up for the specific purpose of sharing information with individuals or a small group of individuals are NOT publicly available sources). Pros in the top-10 cut after the close of weigh-in on day 3 in the FLW Walleye Tour Championship may not solicit or receive information about locating or catching fish on tournament waters from anyone except other top-10 pros and through publicly available sources (quasi-public websites set up for the specific purpose of sharing information with individuals or a small group of individuals are not publicly available sources). Co-angler contestants who share a pro partner’s fishing locations with another contestant will be disqualified along with the contestant requesting and/or using the information.
During competition hours from takeoff until check-in, all on-water communication by contestants (excluding partners) pertaining to method or type of presentations being used, lure selection or color and location of fish or type of water being fished is strictly prohibited.
Flights over tournament waters are not permitted after the entry/balance deadline for each qualifying tournament.
Each contestant must register in person at the designated site. In an emergency or due to an FLW Outdoors sponsor obligation, contestants may request permission from the tournament director to send a person who is 16 years of age or older to represent them. If permission is granted, noncontestants can represent one person; contestants can represent themselves and one other person. This representative must attend the pretournament meeting to record flights, takeoff time, check-in time, off-limits areas, size and creel limits, and any other relevant tournament rule information. This representative must also attend the pro/co-angler draw immediately following the pretournament meeting to receive the contestant’s boat number, meet the contestant’s pro or co-angler, and record the pro or co-angler’s lodging information, phone number and exact location for the contestant and pro or co-angler to meet prior to takeoff.
Registration hours are 2-4 p.m. local time the day before each tournament. Contestants registering between 4-4:15 p.m. will pay a $25 late fee that will be donated to the FLW Outdoors Foundation. Contestants more than 15 minutes late for registration may forfeit their entry fee and not be entered in the tournament.
It is mandatory that all contestants or their representatives attend the pretournament meeting that will be held at 5 p.m. local time the day before each tournament. Being late for the pretournament meeting will result in a $25 late fee that will be donated to the FLW Outdoors Foundation. Contestants not present or represented for pairings may forfeit their entry fee and not be entered in the tournament.
Pros and co-anglers will be paired by random draw. All contestants or their representatives must contact their assigned partners following the pretournament meeting. Partners should advise each other of their respective lodging and phone numbers and establish a meeting time and place for the following morning’s takeoff. The tournament director, at his sole discretion, may reassign partners prior to takeoff.
Safe boating must be observed at all times.
Each contestant is required to wear a fastened U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device anytime the primary combustion engine is in operation from boat check until weigh-in each day of the tournament.
All boats must be equipped with an emergency ignition-shutoff device that must be securely attached to the driver’s body whenever the primary combustion engine is in operation. A driver must be seated behind the steering wheel or at the tiller and in full control of the boat whenever the primary combustion engine is in operation and in gear.
At the discretion of the tournament director, tournament days may be shortened, postponed or canceled due to unsafe weather or water conditions.
All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy and conservation and to conduct themselves in a manner that will be a credit to themselves, to FLW Outdoors, FLW Outdoors’ sponsors, the sport of fishing and FLW Outdoors’ efforts to promote the sport. Conduct not complying with these standards includes, but is not limited to, the following:
In case of any conduct not complying with the standards outlined above, FLW Outdoors shall have the right to refuse an application to compete, to deny a confirmed application to compete by returning the entry fee (minus deposit) or to disqualify a contestant.
Pros will have control of boat operation and waters to be fished. Pros must provide all presentation equipment such as downriggers, planer boards, side planers, rods, reels, bait, line and terminal tackle for their own use and the use of their co-angler partners. With the exception of two rods and reels, co-anglers are not permitted to bring tackle into their pro’s boat.
The use of mobile communication devices, including but not limited to, cell phones, marine radios, walkie-talkies, CBs, etc., during tournament hours is strictly prohibited except in an emergency (severe weather, breakdowns, etc.) or to communicate with lockmasters about locking or with the tournament director.
Co-anglers are not allowed to record GPS waypoints or use any type of handheld GPS during any competition day.
Contestants are expected to compete every day for which they are qualified; failure to do so may result in ineligibility to compete in future FLW Outdoors tournaments.
All boats must be propeller-driven and a minimum of 16 feet in length.
All boats must be equipped with wheel or tiller steering; no other steering device will be permitted.
No barges or similarly cumbersome craft will be permitted.
Each boat must have all required U.S. Coast Guard safety equipment.
Boats must contain a properly aerated livewell space to maintain alive a limit catch of fish.
Maximum horsepower for outboards used in tournament competition will be 300-horsepower, not to exceed the horsepower capacity set forth on the “Maximum Capacities” placard described below.
Fishing platforms must be factory-installed equipment. No portable platforms may be used in tournament competition.
Fuel may be carried only in factory-installed (built-in) fuel tanks. Optional remote engine fuel tanks must be factory- or factory-authorized-dealer installed and be strapped or otherwise secured. Any additional fuel used during the tournament day must be purchased from a retail facility open to the public and pumped through a hose with a nozzle.
Fishing is defined as having a lure attached to a line with the lure in the water.
All fish must be caught alive in a conventional sporting manner.
Live bait may be used.
No more than two fishing rods with one lure each, or one fishing rod with two lures per angler may be used at a time unless the state or lake limit is more restrictive, in which case the state or lake limit will prevail.
Trolling as a method of fishing is permitted.
Contestants may fish anywhere on tournament waters available to the public and accessible by boat, except areas posted or otherwise designated as “off-limits,” “no boats,” “keep out,” “restricted,” “no trespassing” or “no fishing” (or similar language or markings intended to restrict public access) by FLW Outdoors, local, state or federal officials, or within a contestant’s first-marked fishing area. A “marked fishing area” is defined as a 50-foot diameter area around a marker buoy placed by a contestant. The contestant placing the buoy must remain within the marked area and may leave only to play and land a fish. When limited out or not fishing, the buoy must be picked up. A “marked fishing area” may be navigated through if it restricts access to other fishable waters.
All fishing must be conducted from the boat. At no time may a contestant leave the boat to land a fish or to make the boat more accessible to fishing waters.
The cutting of trees, bushes and/or logs after the start of the pretournament meeting and/or the removal of official local, state or federal barricades at any time to make an area more accessible by boat is strictly prohibited and may result in disqualification from the tournament. The use of cables, ropes, chains or any type of block and tackle system to maneuver a boat into fishing waters is strictly prohibited and will result in disqualification from the tournament.
Contestants must leave and return to the check-in by boat. The boat must remain in the tournament waters during the tournament day. No tournament boat may be loaded on a trailer before the weigh-in except with the permission of the tournament director.
In the event of equipment failure or emergency, there are two permitted methods of returning to the check-in: (1) by both partners remaining in their boat and being towed by water, or (2) by one, or both, of the partners entering the boat of another tournament contestant. Under these two conditions the contestants’ catch may be counted without a penalty (except for late penalties, dead-fish penalties or other penalties pertaining to other tournament rules). Contestants who elect to return to the check-in by any other means than cited above will forfeit their day’s catch to that point in time of the tournament day.
Any contestant returning to the check-in point will be eligible to restart and resume competition under the supervision of the tournament director or his designated tournament official. It is the sole responsibility of contestants to locate the tournament director to request a restart.
There will be only one checkpoint for boat check in the morning and one check-in point in the afternoon. Failure to go through boat check and checkout in the morning or failure to check in at the check-in point will result in disqualification. All fishing must cease upon check-in.
Contestants who are not at the check-in area at the appointed time will be penalized 1 pound per minute, deducted from the total weight. Any contestant more than 15 minutes late will lose credit for that day’s weight.
Every effort must be made to keep fish alive through the use of a properly aerated livewell. Eight ounces will be deducted from the total weight for each nonreleasable fish presented for weigh-in. Releasable fish must be able to swim upright in the bump tank. All balancing weights must be removed before fish are presented at the bump tank. Balancing weights in the bump tank will result in a 1 pound penalty.
Scoring is determined by the combined pounds and ounces of both contestants’ catch during each tournament. Pros and co-anglers fish together for a combined daily boat weight.
Only walleye, sauger or saugeye are accepted species.
The weigh-in limit will be five fish per boat unless the state or lake limit is less than five, in which case the state or lake limit prevails. In some cases the possession limit may exceed five fish per boat (see schedule details for possession and tournament limits for each tournament). Contestants possessing more than the authorized limit will have their catch to that point disqualified.
The minimum length limit will be 14 inches unless the state or lake limit is more than 14 inches, in which case the state or lake limit prevails. Fish presented for weigh-in that fail to measure the prescribed length (short or long in the case of slot limits) will be penalized at the rate of 1 pound for each short or long fish presented.
Each contestant’s catch must be presented in an official weigh-in bag.
On day 3 of qualifying events, the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers based on combined weight from days 1 and 2 compete, and the winners are determined by the heaviest combined weight from days 1, 2 and 3.
On day 3 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, the top 20 pros and top 20 co-anglers based on combined weight from days 1 and 2 compete, and the winning co-angler is determined by the heaviest combined weight from days 1, 2 and 3. On day 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, the top 10 pros based on combined weight from days 1, 2 and 3 compete, and the winner is determined by the heaviest combined weight from days 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The heaviest one-day catch for the tournament will break ties on day 2 of qualifying tournaments and the FLW Walleye Tour Championship. If a tie remains, it will be broken first by point standings, then by total number of fish for the tournament, then by total number of live fish for the tournament and then by lottery. Ties on day 3 of qualifying tournaments and the FLW Walleye Tour Championship will be resolved by day-2 standings. Ties on day 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship will be resolved by day-3 standings.
During all days of competition in FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and the National Guard FLW Walleye Tour Championship, any and all tobacco logos are prohibited and may not be worn or displayed.
On day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and day 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, anglers who make the cut must use boats, marine electronics and camera equipment if supplied by FLW Outdoors.
In FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, anglers may wear their own apparel every day of competition. On day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, the main logo/design and any additional logos on the apparel may not conflict or compete in any way with the exclusive categories/companies below. If a pro wears his or her own jersey, that jersey must include the following logos on day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship: a 5-inch wide National Guard logo and on the upper chest a 5-inch wide FLW Outdoors logo. FLW Outdoors will provide these logos. Apparel worn on day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship may not include logos of another fishing tournament organization. If a pro does not have his or her own sponsor jersey, he/she must wear one provided by FLW Outdoors.
Exclusive categories:
FLW Outdoors reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to prohibit any angler’s apparel that it finds to be offensive. FLW Outdoors also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to prohibit any angler’s apparel that in any way competes with any of the above referenced categories/companies on day 3 at FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 at the FLW Walleye Tour Championship. Anglers that would like to wear their own jersey must get all jerseys approved by FLW Outdoors the night before day 3 competition in FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and the FLW Walleye Tour Championship. Only approved jerseys may be worn or displayed during tournament hours extending through the weigh-in. Any angler displaying a nonapproved jersey may be disqualified. On day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, anglers may wear any hat, PFD or rain suit that does not in any way compete with the above referenced categories/companies or FLW Outdoors. On day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, competitors may not fish while using tobacco products. Smoking is not allowed in the weigh-in line during all days of competition. On day 3 of FLW Walleye Tour qualifiers and days 3 and 4 of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship, FLW Outdoors may, at its sole discretion, place a camera operator in a tournament boat. During the 2012 season FLW Outdoors reserves the right to add sponsors and categories/companies to the above list; however, if an angler has made FLW Outdoors aware of all anglers’ sponsors prior to FLW Outdoors adding the category/company to the list then the angler may be allowed to display the competing logo for the remainder of the year. All decisions are in FLW Outdoors sole discretion.
Each contestant agrees to submit, by signature on the tournament entry form, to a polygraph or voice stress analysis examination and to abide by its conclusion. Failure to pass an examination will result in disqualification from the tournament. Truth verification tests will be used at FLW Outdoors’ sole discretion, and the determination of the meaning of the results will be made solely by FLW Outdoors.
Liability insurance with coverage of not less than $300,000 per occurrence is required of all pro contestants in FLW Outdoors tournaments. Proof of insurance must be with the boat being used and must cover all passengers in the boat. Random checks will be conducted. Failure to provide proof of insurance when requested by the tournament director may result in disqualification.
The captions at the beginning of each paragraph are intended to facilitate convenience in referring to the various rules. The captions are not part of the substance of the paragraph and should not be used in construction of any paragraph or of this overall set of rules.