2021 Catfish Contest Rules ( Change #1)

[Tin-Can]

                2021 Catfish Contest Rules


1.   No entry fee for the contest again this year, but we
need some help lining up prizes from supporting
businesses and individuals. Please let me know if you
can or will help? Most places will provide some prizes simply by asking them and letting them know what it is for.

2.Must be a registered member of BFT to enter.

3.Points will be awarded by the half inch. Entries will be
based on length measure nose to pinched tail (although
most just let the tail lay flat). Weight measures are
welcome, but not required, nor will weight count
towards points, but may be used for bragging rights.

4.Must have a picture with the fish on the ground next to
the tape, the BFT Cat Contest Placard with your BFT
username and the year. There is printable placard on
a seperate contest post (Cat Contest Placard) Download that placard, then resize and print to fit your needs. Just be sure all info on it is visible. (Recommend you save a copy incase it is lost, destroyed, or becomes unreadable) Please lay your catch from one end of the tape (that must be visible), and be sure numbers are clear and visible on the other end. Check your pictures. Take extras. Think of the judges needing to be fair and able to read a true measure... Some are much better at taking pictures than others so start practicing on your small fish so you do it right when you catch your monster, we want to be able to score it...

Pictures of fish in the air next to a tape will not count

for points. Tape should be laid or stretched flat. All

pictures must be taken at the body of water where

caught.

5.      You may select to enter as a member of Northern

Utah, or Southern Utah. Points will be awarded for up to

three cats per individual, and the longest ten for an

entire team will earn the whole team bragging rights.

6.      Boundaries will be drawn roughly at a line going east

to west and passing through the mouth of the Jordon

river entering the Great Salt Lake. Northern Region:

From the Idaho border southward, to include all areas

north of Salt Lake City, including the Weber River,

Willard Bay, Bear River, and Cutler Marsh. The Southern

Region will include Utah Lake, Jordan River, everything

south of Salt Lake to the southern border of the state.

7.      The target of the competition will be Channel Catfish,

but Bullheads can be entered too but they may not be

very competitive. You may submit as many entries as

you want (within reason) and the best 3 will count

towards your total.

8.      You must follow Utah's Legal guidelines with regards

to bait, number of lines, hooks, etc. Fish must be caught

with a rod; this competition will not include setlines or nets.

9.      Though you are welcome to fish anywhere legal to do

so, if you enter as a member of a team, your entries

must come from the areas listed for your region, ( and

though you don't have to divulge any exact location, the

name of the water must be shared.) ADDED: "Poaching"

1 fish (that's all, just ONE) contest fish from outside your declared team area (i.e. A Northerner using 1 Southern zone fish, or a Southerner using 1 Northern zone fish) will be allowed again this year. But the body of water must be declared.

10.You must post your own fish for it to get credit. I

can help anyone who has problems resizing or posting

their photos. Please post your photos in JPEG format on

the BFT forum. Please be sure the tape-measure can be

read clearly in the photo. (One fish / tape measure must be all in one photo)

11.Posts must include date caught, name of body of

water, and length of fish.

12.Anyone harassing another contestant for posting

the name of a lake will be disqualified. An entrant is

welcome to offer what bait/rig they used, but this is not

required, and same harassment rule applies in that

regard. Entrants are encouraged to release any fish

over 7 lbs., but legal limits are the rule. Again, no

harassment of entrants for their posts or personal

choices.

13.Anyone found cheating will be disqualified.

14.Anyone disqualified forfeits their entry fee. (This

may not be a big deal this year, but your info will be

removed from the competition with a scarlet letter

saying boo boo.)

The team award will win that region's Super-Catfish-

Bragging-Rights for the next year. (You would be

surprised how many non BFT members are now aware

of this annual contest)

The contest will accept entries caught and posted

between March 15 through Oct 31st. Deadline for end of

Contest posts midnight, 1 Nov.

There will be prizes for First place on each team

North/South and one for the overall champion. The

team that has the champion score will have a prize for

the runner up score based on total individual scores.

This is a total of three prizes for high scores. We will

also have a youth prize for highest 3 fish score. This

overall youth prize will require youth that are 16 or

younger on March 15 to identify themselves as youth

when they enter... Note, more prizes may be awarded if

additional items are obtained, but as a minimum we will

have four prizes that can be won... 1 youth, 2 team

high, and 1 overall winner... One disclaimer, if the same

person wins more than one category only one prize will

be awarded to them, we will pass the lesser prize to the

runner up in the contest that they were not awarded the

prize for... If you don't submit an entry, you won't qualify

for prizes and your team misses out on the help.

Any and all ties for fish will be broken by the longest

fish posted. Also, this year's top winner will have their

entry fee next year waved as the defending grand

champion. (Sorry not a big perk this year.)

 The Smallest Cat category has been eliminated

  this year (2021) . 

If you catch a larger Cat than one you posted already,

no problem. Post the new fish and your points will be

adjusted. Don't remove your older entries. Prefer you

don't edit your entries after they have been scored. (If you post an entry, then delete it, judges will not be able to verify your accurate score at the end of the contest.  You don't get points for both fish (unless it is one of your top 3) but the larger one will be the one counted. Please don't go overboard and post 300 fish.

Post all your entries to a single thread per contestant.

Follow this entry title thread: 2021 Catfish Contest – your BFT screen name.  Look at the contest board and there will be Catfish contest posts, copy one of them with your name, and then attach all your entries to that post... There may be other competitions going

on in parallel. 

Please, check your pictures on the body of water where

you caught the fish if you can. If it moved and doesn't

show the full length of the fish, I'm sorry but I go with

what shows up in the picture. Points are based on the

photos. No limit on size of photos this year but please

don't abuse this. If you want to add inline pictures,

perhaps size those down, but leave a bigg'un attached

for offline zooming by judges. Any concerns about entries should be directed to me through a PM and I will review. Public flogging is discouraged. Team banter and smack-talk is encouraged, do that on the Cat Chat thread. Some talk big, some catch big.

Rules subject to change, but I

will color all changes purple so you can see the

updates..

 

Change #1: 3 March 2021:

To register for the contest: Go to Utah Contests / Important Threads at the top / 2021 Cat Contest Registration / open that thread, make a New Reply, tell me your team area (north or south), your age if 16 or under on the day the contest begins (this enters you in the youth prize division), and I'll enter you in the contest. Any questions are welcomed also. Once entries are received, I will reply to each registration / entry.

All prize winners must attend the award dinner get together (if there is one) or make arrangements to

pick up their prizes, or else those prizes will be forfeited

and roll into the prize pool for the next contest prize

ceremony. I can't keep up with prizes that don't get

picked up... Sorry too much to do with all the different

contests so it's up to you to get your prize.