As you know, we will be fishing Calling Panther Saturday. This lake has a limit of one fish over 22″ per fisherman in the livewell. With two fishermen, you can legally have two over fish. A question was raised about how to handle a third over fish if caught. Jimmy Cain and I discussed this and looked at the bylaws. The following is from the bylaws:
Tournaments:
H. Only five fish per angler may be recorded for weigh in. Fish must be ten (10″) inches long according to the Golden Rule® Weighmaster measuring board. Please release all fish immediately after measuring and recording.
N. Fish will be measured and weight recorded by fishing partner.
P. Potential lunker fish can be measured, unless they are too long to be measured on the Golden Rule®, in which case they will be weighed, slot fish may be recorded.
R. Above rules will apply to all tournaments, special rules will apply at the discretion of the tournament director.
Because this is an idle only lake, and it could take a significant amount of time to track down the tournament director to weigh a third over fish, and to prevent anyone from having to choose between keeping an illegal fish, or throwing back a 7# fish, we will allow the following for this tournament only:
In the event a third “over” fish is caught, the angler’s partner may weigh the smallest of the three fish using a digital scale and record the weight. The two larger fish must be brought to the weigh-in and weighed at that time. Anyone who does not have a digital scale may get any other team who does have a digital scale to assist them in weighing a third over fish if necessary. The tournament director should verify all digital scales before the start of the tournament.
I am sending this out so everyone will have an opportunity to bring a digital scale if he chooses to do so. Anyone with a question, please feel free to call me.
Thanks,
Douglas Scott