RULES
All members of the GreenHorn Bass Tour must abide by the rules established by the GreenHorn Bass Tour tournament directors.
GREENHORN BASS TOURNAMENT RULES & REGULATIONS
Last Updated: 01/09/2024
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*Rules indicated with an asterisk “*” must be enforced on the same day as the tournament if impacting tournament results. Issues may be brought up to the tournament league director & tournament director board days after a tournament, however the official results can not be adjusted for these rules marked with an asterisk.
1. Participants:
Tournaments are open to anglers of any age. If you are less than 18 years of age you must submit a “GreenHorn Bass Tour Membership Form” signed by a parent or guardian. All participants must submit a signed “GreenHorn Bass Tour Membership Form”.
If you are a parent or fishing with a student with one or more children under the age of 18 you can choose to alternate between these children as your co-angler for each of the tournaments in the series. If you choose to do this please complete the membership form with the names of each child who may fish any given year. You cannot fish with more than one of your children/students in any given event. The one time substitute still applies and can be someone other than one of your children/students.
The GreenHorn Bass Tour is open to all boat makes, models, and motor sizes. The Tournament Director and other tournament officials are allowed to fish all GreenHorn Bass Tour events.
2. GreenHorn Bass Tour Tournament Trail Membership:
Membership is $40.00 per year per person and includes the right to fish any GreenHorn Bass Tour tournament for that calendar year. Kids under the age of 16, fishing with a parent or guardian, receive a free GreenHorn Bass Tour Membership.
3. Tournament Entry Fees:
Weekend series consist of five tournaments at $50.00 per boat per tournament, with an optional $25.00 league bonus and $10.00 big bass Pot.
Weeknight Series consist of five tournaments at $50.00 per boat per tournament, with an optional $25.00 league bonus and $10.00 big bass Pot.
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ADVANCED Division regular season events include an optional $100.00 entry Jack Money Pot.
4. Scoring:
All regular season scoring will be on a 100-point scoring system:
Sample Scoring---1st place team--100 points; 2nd place team--99 points; 3rd place team--98 points and so on.
Any team that didn’t weight fish will receive 50 points for showing up.
5. GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions:
All teams that finish the season in the top seven from each division shall be eligible to fish the GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions. In the event that a team has finished the season in the top seven in both divisions, an additional team will be promoted from the division in which the top seven team finished lowest.
If a top seven team places the same in both divisions, the highest total tournament points of the top seven team will determine the division that they qualify for the GreenHorn Tournament of Champions. The GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions is a 1-day tournament.
There is a $25.00 entry fee for any GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions (TOC). Entry fee does not include the optional big bass pot of $10.00. League bonus or Jack Money does not apply to the TOC.
Tournament directors receive an automatic birth in the GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions.
6. Substitutes:
All teams must have a declared partner to begin their season. A participant may fish solo in as many tournaments as becomes necessary and retain all points. A participant may substitute a partner no more than one time per series per tournament season.
If a substitute is used he/she is not required to pay any membership fee; however, must sign a liability waiver prior to fishing the event.
All substitutes fishing in any “GreenHorn Division” Tournament must be pre-approved by the tournament directors.
Exception: If a boater (team captain) is over the age of 18 and elects to fish his/her own children as co-anglers the boater may elect to alternate between different children who are under the age of 18 throughout the entire series.
NO SUBSTITUTES WILL BE PERMITTED AT THE GREENHORN BASS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS. If your declared partner(s) cannot fish the Greenhorn Bass Tournament of Champions, you will fish solo. No Exceptions.
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7. Divisions:
Every membership entitles each team to fish both weekend and weeknight series of either division of which you qualify (greenhorn or advanced). We require you to declare your attendance for your primary series prior to the tournament season, but you may fish another series without pre-registration if the series that you wish to fish has not been previously filled.
You must notify the league director at least 24 hours prior to fishing in any series outside of your primary series to ensure your spot in the extra event. In the case that the series is full you will not be able to fish.
8. *Limits:
There is a 5-fish limit (per team) tournament. Exceptions: State laws prevail when fishing on any body of water (size and limits). Anyone bringing in more than a 5-fish will have their sack culled to the 5-fish limit starting with the big fish first. All culling must be done on the water – Not at the ramp or when awaiting trailering at the end of the tournament event prior to weigh-in.
Note: MN State Law possession limit for bass is 6 total. A violation of state or federal law is grounds for immediate disqualification.
9. Ties:
Ties for big bass will split the big bass pot. Points Ties for Series Champions will be broke by the team that has the heaviest total weight for the season within that specific Series. Ties for Tournament of Champions or any regular event will be broke by the big bass for that event (you are responsible for requesting a big bass to be weighed, if you don’t weigh a big bass and have a tie, you may loose if the other angler has weighed a big bass).
10. *No Live Bait:
Only artificial lures can be used in all tournaments. The use of pork trailers is permitted.
Penalty: The penalty for the use of live bait is immediate disqualification for the event and includes a strike against the 3 Strike sportsmanship policy.
11. *No Trolling:
Trolling with the use of a combustion engine as a method of fishing is prohibited.
Penalty: The penalty for trolling is immediate disqualification for the event and includes a strike against the 3 Strike sportsmanship policy.
12. Boat and Motor:
Boats must have all required Coast Guard safety equipment and must have a motor within rating limits.
13. *Short Fish Penalties:
All fish brought to weigh-in must be of legal size determined by state law for that body of water fished.
A 12” Minimum length limit applies to Minnesota waters unless specified otherwise by the directors of the GHBT.
A 14” Minimum length limit applies to Wisconsin waters unless specified otherwise by the directors of the GHBT.
Short fish will be culled from your sack and your largest fish will also be culled from the remaining fish.
14. *More Than 5 Fish:
If you bring in more than the limit of five fish to the weigh-in, the excess fish will be culled from your weigh-in, starting with the largest fish and working down.
Note: MN State Law possession limit for Bass is 6 total. A violation of state or federal law is grounds for immediate disqualification.
15. *Dead Fish Penalty:
There will be a 1lb fish care penalty for each dead fish brought to the weigh-in.
16. *Mangled Fish:
Fish that appears altered or mangled shall be the tournament director’s decision to weigh or not to weigh the fish.
17. *Late to weigh-in:
There will be a deduction of 1 lb. per minute of your total weight for every minute late to weigh-in.
If a boat is not within 50 yards of the weigh-in location and off plane at the specified time for weigh-in the boat will be considered late. Time will be tracked on any boat late to the weigh-in until that boat is within 50 yards of the weigh-in location and off plane. The official number of minutes will be recorded by the tournament director.
i.e. If the weigh in time is 8:45 and a boat is not off plane in the designated weigh-in location they are already considered 1 minute late. (8:46 is 2 mins, 8:47 is 3 mins, etc).
After 15 minutes past weigh-in teams are disqualified.
As soon as any GHBT member observes a late boat – he/she is responsible for notifying a tournament director.
Note: If there is a special circumstance, such as a blown motor, contact the tournament director or another member of the GHBT as soon as the problem has been identified. These circumstances will be considered case by case.
18. Pre Tournament Check In:
There will be a check in at each tournament site starting ~45 minutes before the start of the tournament which will include a live-well inspection and an optional Big Bass payment. Registration will closed 10 minutes before the start of the tournament.
Tournament Directors will only accept cash at registration for the optional Big Bass pot.
All teams must be paid in full for the entire tournament series in order to fish.
Entry fee may only be refunded if a director is contacted at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the tournament. Failure to contact the tournament director for a refund or roll over will result in a forfeit of entry fee and contestants will receive zero points for that event. Tournament take off positions will be drawn by a team member during check in at the ramp. All tournaments will be filled on a first-come, first-pay basis.
19. Weigh-in procedures:
Each team must present his or her own catch to the weigh-in official. The Official GreenHorn Bass Tour Weigh-in Bag must be used and more than one bag is encouraged for limits over 15lbs. There are a total of 6 weigh-in bags for each series based on DNR regulations, please do not take these bags as they are intended for re-use.
No other person shall then handle the fish except a weigh-in official. No person other than weigh-in officials may touch the scale; weigh basket or any part of the weigh-in equipment.
20. *Live well Inspection:
Boats must have a live well, either built into the boat or portable. Live wells must have some type of pump or circulator to keep fish alive. Tournament Directors will check all live wells prior to blast off.
Directors also have the right to inspect any built in or portable coolers, or other devices which may look suspicious. Refusal of an inspection is grounds for disqualification.
Any boater found to possess a bass during the live-well inspection will be immediately disqualified from all GHBT events and will not be eligible for any refunds.
21. *Life Preserver & Kill Switch Lanyard:
During all of GreenHorn Bass Tournaments, contestants will wear their life jackets zipped and/or secured when combustion engine is running and in gear. The boat's kill switch lanyard must also be securley attached to the driver and the boat.
Penalty: The penalty for not wearing a life vest and/or using the kill switch is a strike against the 3 Strike sportsmanship policy. If the 3rd strike occurs during a tournament and is fully verifiable by the director the team will be disqualified from that tournament.
22. *Sportsmanship:
22.1 All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy and conservation.
22.2 Drunkenness shall be cause for immediate disqualification. No alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs shall be allowed in the boats during the tournament hours.
22.3 Teams may not fish closer than the longest possible cast one could make to another competitor. Competitors may ask each other for permission to fish closer than the longest casting distance. If permission is given to one, then all may fish same water. Having a non-contestant sit on a hole for you shall be cause for disqualification.
22.4 First Claim to a Fishing Spot - If a team is approaching a new spot with the gas engine running it is not permit-able to cut off that team on their approach to the spot. If it is unclear where the team is going, ask the team for clarification.
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A team makes claim to a spot only if all following criteria are met
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​The boat is off plane and the large engine is off​
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The trolling motor is placed completely into the water
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The team is within one cast of the spot
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If both teams believe all of the criteria have been met simultaneously and they have "tied" then the spot is claimed by the team with the lowest boat number (i.e. boat number 2 would claim the spot over boat number 3).​
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22.5 Late Arrival - If a team will be late to the tournament registration/blastoff please call or text your series director. Do not call the League Director.
22.6 Leaving Early - If a team leaves the tournament for any reason they must notifiy the tournament series directors by phone call or text. If there is not good service send another message when you've reached good service. If you fail to notify the director that you have left the tournament you will receive a strike on your membership record.
Major disputes related to sportsmanship will be assessed by the GreenHorn Bass Tour directors by their digression at the end of the tournament event.
Penalty: The penalty for a sportsmanship violation includes a strike against the 3 Strike sportsmanship policy. If the 3rd strike occurrs during a tournament the tournament director may elect to disqualify the team(s) from the tournament.
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Additional actions may include the violating members may be put up to a vote tournament disqualification, or permanently expelled from the league. There will be no refunds for members who are disqualified or expelled from the league.
23. *Off-Limits/Special Rules:
The tournament director will announce the off-limits areas or Special Rules for each body of water, if any, prior to each tournament. Any team fishing in the off-limits areas will be disqualified from the tournament.
24. Pre-Fishing:
All GreenHorn Bass Tournaments will be closed to pre-fishing the whole day prior to the event. This includes the GreenHorn Bass Tournament of Champions.
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25. *Fish Care:
All teams must use non-piercing cull tags and weight scales.
26. *Team Members May Not Leave Their Boats During Tournament Hours Except During An Emergency:
Competitors shall remain with their partners in the boat at all times during the tournament except in the event of sickness, brief excursions for “nature calling”, a severe storm, or other such hazards.
If for any reason a team decides to leave the tournament waters early, competitors must try to contact the director, prior to leaving the tournament.
27. *Speeding and no Wake Zones:
All GreenHorn Bass Tour Tournament Anglers must abide by the local state rules and regulations including speed limits (if applicable) and no wake zones.
Penalty: The penalty for a speeding or wake violation includes a strike against the 3 Strike sportsmanship policy. If the 3rd strike occurs during a tournament the tournament director may elect to disqualify the team(s) from the tournament.
28. Cheating:
Anyone caught cheating in any tournament event will be immediately barred from fishing in any GreenHorn Bass Tournament event. We reserve the right to have a random truth verification test performed at any time.
29. Protest:
All protests must be submitted in writing to Divisional Tournament Director before the close of weigh-in. Verbal protest will not be accepted.
30. State Rules:
All State rules and regulations must be followed. The Divisional Tournament Director shall determine the penalty for breaking a State rule or regulations if not already specified within these rules in a separate line item. If an anglers receives a ticket from a local official the team is automatically disqualified from the event.
31. Insurance:
All members will carry liability insurance on any boat they might use during any of GreenHorn Bass Tour Tournaments. Failure to do so or reporting of false information will result in disqualification.
All participants must agree to a membership waiver that will exclude GreenHorn Bass Tour from any liability.
32. Refusal of Membership:
We reserve the right to refuse membership or entry into any of GreenHorn Bass Tournament events
ALL RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE GREENHORN BASS TOUR ARE SUBJECT TO REVIEW BY GREENHORN BASS TOUR OFFICIALS.