Questions & Answers

If a qualifying member has lost their partner for the Invitational I will allow your spouse or immediate family child or grandchild to attend irregardless of any prior tournament attendance. However those substitute individuals will not be eligible for any drawing prizes, including the boat or BASS attendance.

Yes all tournament fees can be paid at the ramp. No late fees EVER!

Yes.

I refer to rule #14) TACKLE and EQUIPMENT: Only artificial lures and pork style baits are allowed. All bass must be caught on a rod and reel. Only one rod and reel in use at any time.

PROTEST: All protests must be submitted in writing to the tournament director within five (5) minutes of the weigh-in completion. Decisions of the Tournament Committee shall be final in all matters and are not subject to appeal.

STEP 1. Once the protest is filed the director will announce to the field that the protest in under review.

STEP 2. The director will have the protester and protested face each other and explain to him the protest with rebuttal from both.

STEP 3. Once the director has made his determination to ratify or not ratify the protest he will inform both protester and protested anglers and field of his decision.

STEP 4.  End of discussion.

Thanks for reading.

Bob Capps
Joe Bass Team Trail

Yes.

From July 1 through Aug. 31, no angler in Missouri may release bass after putting them in a live well.

JEFFERSON CITY-If you think summer is uncomfortable for you, put yourself in a fish’s place. Your home heats up, oxygen gets scarce, and there is no air (or water) conditioning or fans to turn on. That is why Missouri fishing regulations prohibit anglers from “culling” during July and August.

Culling is the practice of releasing one fish that was caught previously so you can keep a larger one. When anglers put the last fish of their daily limit in a live well, they no longer can keep any fish of that species that day. However, under certain conditions, anglers fishing in tournaments can continue to fish if they stop one fish short of a limit and release a living fish from their live well before replacing it with a fish they just caught. This allows them to “trade up,” replacing one fish with a larger one.

Tournament bass anglers may cull live bass from September through June. July and August are the months the no culling rule applies. The rule is meant to reduce the number of tournament caught bass that are subject to higher mortality during the hot summer months. The rule also heightens tournament anglers’ awareness of the factors that influence fish mortality.

Missouri’s limit on black bass is six per day. This includes any bass that are not released immediately, whether they are in live wells for one minute or for eight hours. Once you placed a sixth bass in your live well you may not replace any of the bass with another. However, if you are fishing in a tournament in which the limit is five bass, and you have five bass in the live well, you can replace one fish, one time.

If a bass dies in your live well it cannot be replaced with a live one, any time. If you have caught your sixth legal bass and have placed all six fish in your live well for any length of time, you can continue fishing but you must release any bass caught immediately, regardless of size.

Fisheries Field Operations Supervisor Kevin Richards said some anglers – and even some tournament officials – are not as familiar with the culling rule as they should be.

“Let’s think about why Missouri has a no-culling rule in the summer and see if there are ways we can use new tournament formats to increase survival of bass during the hot water months,” said Richards.

-Jim Low-

No.

Yes.

A minimum of 4.

Yes.

Yes, fish as many different divisions as you want. Points will be assigned to the division you are competing in or the Open division.

Your paid membership will be good in ALL divisions. Division Champions from each division will receive their entry fee paid for the season ending JOE BASS Team Trail Invitational plus, with the exception of Open Division #1 boat position the following season.

Fish more divisions for the opportunity to win more money, See the Joe Bass Progressive Incentive.

The fall Last Chance tournament is scheduled 2 weeks (if possible) prior to our annual Team Invitational. The tournament is normally held on the Team Invitational lake. This tournament will be the scheduled make up event for all divisions and a last chance event for all divisions. No points will be applied to your regularly fished division irregardless of which it was. Fall Make Up will not change a divisions standings. The purpose of the Last Chance is to get enough tournaments to qualify for the Invitational.

Buy ins are offered as an additional way to meet the required tournaments for Invitational qualification. Example: if a team was only able to fish 3 events one more would be necessary for qualification. A buy in would be allowed to meet this qualification. Additional information about buy ins; Only 1 buy in per team, beginning with the 2013 season buy in teams entry will be paid out at the season ending make up event. NOTE: I see this as a benefit to the teams that miss a tournament due to illness, family, or other unpredictable occurrences. Downside, the team paying a buy in does not get to compete for their entry. Upside, the teams attending have an additional $160 added to payout.

Joe Bass will only cancel a tournament if road or lake conditions require it. If due to weather related conditions you do not feel comfortable driving, DON’T you’re entry will not be forfeited. If it is required entries will be transferred.  If you have pre-entered, and decide that conditions are unfavorable for you to attend please call the division tournament director and let him know you will not be attending.

Joe Bass Team Trail will qualify teams to the Bassmaster Team Championship chosen from the Joe Bass Team Invitational finishers. If a team cannot attend the B.A.S.S. Team Championship teams/anglers will be selected until all positions are filled.

No. The last tournament in any of our divisions can be fished without any membership fees. This is your opportunity to come see Joe Bass Team Trail in action. With that said no incentive’s will be paid to non-members.