Muskie Country Tournament Circuit

World Muskie Tournament Series

WMT Series™ Rules and Regulations
WMT Series™ Tournament Procedures
WMT Series™ Participant's Eligibility
WMT Series™ Angler’s Code Of Conduct

2012 WMT Series™ Rules and Regulations

Fishing hours for one day tournaments will be 6:00am to 3:00pm. Two day tournament fishing hours will be 6:00am to 3:00pm on Saturday and 6:00am to 12:00noon Sunday.
Contestants will line up according to ease-out number, with all compartments and live well(s) open for inspection.
Each contestant should have their life vest on while the gas motor is running.
At least one member must be present to register and attend the mandatory rules meeting held the night before the tournament. Registration will start at 5:30pm on Friday, followed by the reading of the rules at 7:30pm.
One team may substitute for another team (ONE only) in the event both team members cannot attend the rules meeting (a VALID excuse for missing the meeting must be approved in advance by tournament officials).
A team can make a substitution for a contestant up to & including the day before the tournament. However, teams must declare at the mandatory meeting whom the team's points standings will be credited for the tournament.
Tournament boundaries shall be specified by WMTSeries™ officials at the mandatory pre-tournament meeting.
Tournament officials reserve the right to alter daily start & finish times due to severe weather conditions.
Contestants must allow judges, witnesses, film or press boats to approach closer than the 50-foot minimum distance.
All contest winners must be present at awards ceremony/Entries must be submitted by mail up to the day before the tournament. Walk-in entries will be accepted if space is available; however, those teams will ease out last.
All fish must be caught live and in a conventional sporting manner on hook and line using artificial baits only. All fishing must be done from a tournament-inspected boat.
Each person fishing is allowed only one (1) line in the water at any time.
No live bait or gaff hooks will be allowed. Artificial baits only. Trolling as a fishing method is prohibited.
All muskies (34 inches or larger) will be measured in 1/4 inch increments, rounding down. One point or fraction thereof will be awarded for each inch.
Ties will be decided by the first team to reach the final tying points tally.
No fish will be measured after tournament hours (unless specified by a judge) & all fish will be released.
All decisions by tournament judges are final.
Contestants must be at least 18 years of age or fish with a parent or legal guardian.
No fishing from bridges, piers, docks or the shore.
All muskies will be measured on a completely folded-out and flat T's Tackle 60" Bump board, witnessed by another competing team, with a digital photo for verification.
Contestant boats must maintain at least 50-foot intervals while fishing, with competitor's casts not breaching the 50 foot radius of another tournament boat.
Muskies will be placed on the Bump board with the front end (nose) touching the end of the bump board, and the back of the muskie touching the backside of the Bump board, with the muskie facing to the left. The visual evidence of the measurement (photo) must clearly show that the front end (nose) is touching the end of the Bump board; failure to do so will result in a 2" penalty from the judge's decision of the actual muskie measurement.
The visual evidence of the measured muskie (photo) must clearly show the end of the muskie's tail (can be pinched) and the tournament registration tag for that day without obstruction.
All tournament boats will have a tournament decal with a registration number affixed to the gas motor.
Within one hour after the completion of each day of competition, teams with registered fish must hand in their registration form(s) and SD card (the SD card will be returned as soon as they are successfully downloaded) at the predetermined location. An exception to the rule are those team(s) and their witness team(s) who report a fish being caught with less than 15 minutes left in the tournament and need more time to get their fish measured.
No alcoholic beverages are allowed in tournament boats during tournament hours.
Sandbagging muskies (keeping a muskie in the net while continuing to fish) is not allowed.
Contestants must call judge 10 minutes after the official time of measurement before they can resume fishing.
No team may leave their boat except at the tournament headquarters, or other designated sites during tournament hours.
The breaking of any rules is grounds for disqualification with no refund of the entry fee.
No competitor may give, buy or barter a fishing location from any other competitor or non-competitor for use during the competition day.
During the official competition day(s) of the tournament, a competitor may not use a CB radio, a VHF marine-band radio, a cellular phone, or any other type of communication device for the purpose of locating or catching fish.
Cell phones can be used to contact judges in order to measure fish. Competitors may use a marine-band radio to call competitors for a fish measurement or for weather information.
All contestants can be subject to taking a polygraph test or voice stress test before cash and prizes are awarded.
The cost of the polygraph test is the responsibility of the contestants.
Refusal to take a polygraph test or voice stress test, or failure of said test is an automatic disqualification for the team.
Each member of a competing team must sign a WMTSeries™ waiver at the tournament registration; the failure of doing so is an automatic disqualification for the team for the tournament(s).
Teams can only register one muskie at a time. When the team has registered two legal muskies, they are done fishing for the day on current day tournament waters and must leave the tournament waters after registering their second fish.
Any questions or problems connected with the rules of this tournament are to be referred to the tournament officials.
A protest should be filed immediately with the tournament official upon the witnessing of a rules infraction or ethics violation. All decisions by tournament officials are final and binding.
A less than full field of participation will prorate the pay-out schedule after tournament expenses and championship obligations have been met.
All State of Wisconsin laws will be in effect, with teams abiding by all boating and fishing laws.
Any contestant receiving a citation for a violation of any boating or fishing regulation is subject to immediate disqualification.
All prizes not awarded will be raffled off to teams who have not won any prizes.
All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy and conservation, and to conduct themselves in a manner that would be a credit to themselves, the WMTSeries™, the Pro-MAC™, the MCTC™, our sponsors, and to the sport of fishing.

2012 WMT Series™ Tournament Procedures

Be at your tournament ease-out location early enough to pick up your daily fish registration tag. Judge will be at ease out location approximately 1 hour prior to ease out time. No fish registration tags will be handed out while the ease-out is in progress.
Line up at least 15 minutes before the ease-out time according to your team number (or ease-out number at tournaments with multiple ease-out locations) with ALL LIVEWELLS & COMPARTMENTS OPEN for inspection.
Proceed at a slow-no-wake speed past the inspecting judge and until you are 200 feet from the shore.
Before you catch a muskie, have a plan on what side of the boat is best for measuring your muskie (keeping in mind that you have to lay down absolutely flat the 60" T's Tackle folding bump board in a place where the witness can easily spot the accurate measurement), thus the opposite side of the boat will be where you hold the muskie in your net.
When you catch a muskie and you are certain it's at least 34 inches (if in doubt, measure the muskie before you start the registration process) call over to the nearest competitors for a measurement while keeping the muskie at boat-side in the net.
If another team isn't close enough to get their attention by calling out, use your air horn with the aid of an orange (or red) flag so a distant team can not only hear your horn, but see your exact location.
The use of a marine radio should be used only when there is no response from the air horn and flag.
When calling for a measurement on your marine radio, use your sectored map to identify the numbered area you are in and the compass direction…for example: (We are in the South West corner of section 15).
Keep the muskie in the net on one side of the boat and the approaching team to witness the measurement will pull up on the opposite side to where the muskie is located.
Before the muskie is measured, get ready your digital camera, with the properly installed and working SD card, and hand the witnessing team one of the registration slips and the pen that you received during the pre-tournament registration.
The witnessing team should never assist in measuring or handling the fish of any kind…it is the sole responsibility of the team who caught the muskie, this way any mishaps is on them and them alone.
After laying down the T's Tackle board absolutely flat near the witnessing team, one angler from the capturing team handles the fish placing it on the bump board with the front end (nose) touching the end of the bump board and the back of the muskie touching the backside of the bump board (this ensures all muskie measurements are pictured with their right side down on the board and their left side up, and facing to the left). The teammate not handling the fish takes the photo of the muskie laying on the board so that the tip of the muskie is clearly touching the end of the bump board, and the tails (can be pinched) measurement on the board is clearly visible, with the day's registration tag completely visible and un-obscured. If the angler is fishing alone, then one of the witnesses will assist in taking the photo of the measurement with the other witness watching the measurement.
While the catching team is handling and photographing the muskie on the board, the witnessing team is also observing the measurement, calling out the measurement as they see it. If both teams agree on the measurement, the witness team writes down on the registration form: the size of the muskie, the time of the measurement (just after the size is agreed upon), sign their names, their team numbers, and if it was a healthy release…yes or no. If there isn't an agreement of the measurement between the witness and the registering team, the registering team should write down their disputed measurement that will be decided by the judge after viewing the photo. However, the judge will give more weight to the witnessing team's measurement. If the photo evidence shows indisputable evidence to the contrary, the official size will be adjusted accordingly.
The witnessing team hands back the registration form and if the witness team agrees, can take a photo of both successful anglers holding their prize. Note…if there was a chance that the fish might have been injured during the fight, or in the unhooking process, or especially in the case of a badly hooked fish, the catching team should probably forgo the extra picture in favor of getting the muskie back in the water ASAP! If a team expresses this type of concern, the witnessing team should indicate on the registration form that it IS NOT a healthy release.
The witnessing team doesn't have to stick around after the release…they can resume fishing immediately.
Ten (10) minutes after the official time of the muskies measurement, the successful team has to call the cell phone number on their sectored map before they can resume fishing. Quickly inform the judge of these important items: 1. Your team number. 2. Size of the muskie. 3. The official time of registration. 4. Witness team number. 5. The section number of where they caught the muskie and compass location (for example the South West corner of section 15). 6. If the witnesses indicated a healthy release or not. Keep it brief, others might need to report their catch as well.
All muskies have to be alive and "kicking" to be officially measured. Any muskie "dead on arrival" (DOA) with no signs of life when the witnessing team arrives, the muskie is not to be counted and the witnessing team is to call the judge with the measuring teams number and location.
If the muskie doesn't release alive, there is no penalty except for the angler who caught the fish is done fishing for the day for any species of fish on tournament waters. In the case of a dead muskie, options will be discussed between the tournament judge and the measuring team.
If the muskie stays on top of the water and upright, please stay with the fish to protect it from passing boaters and to avoid the temptation from another team claiming it as theirs.
If you should catch a muskie (34 inches or better) with fifteen (15) minutes or less to go for the day's competition, and have been unsuccessful summoning another team to measure your catch, call judge's cell number and inform them of the exact size of your muskie and your location. The fish will count even after the end of the competition as long as your reported measurement to the judge was within one inch of the official measurement. This is to discourage continuation of fishing from a team, after the tournament is over, with the hopes of landing a 34" or better muskie having it count and "put on the board". Even though the muskie was called in to the judge with less than 15 minutes to go, it still has to be witnessed by another team.
At the end of each day of competition, teams with muskies have one hour to hand in their registration forms and their SD cards that they will get back once the photos are successfully downloaded. A team who called in at the last 15 minutes having difficulty attracting a witness, along with the witnessing team will be granted extra time to turn in their registration forms and SD cards.
Failure to do so will disqualify your fish for that day.

WMT SERIES™ Participant's Eligibility

Competing in any World Muskie Tournament Series™ (WMT Series™) sanctioned event is a privilege, not a right of a team, or an individual, who has paid their entry or intending to enter, or have won or earned an exemption for one event, a season, or an exemption for an extended period of years. In the case of any conduct not complying with the standards outlined in the listed; Rules, Anglers Code of Conduct, Ethics, or generally accepted and known to any reasonable person the rules, ethics, or code of conduct, the WMT Series™ shall have the right to refuse an application to compete, to deny a confirmed application to compete, or to disqualify a contestant with the entry fee to be returned only at the discretion of the tournament director. Only anglers who are "In Good Standing" with the WMT Series™ shall compete in a WMT Series™ sanctioned event.

WMT SERIES™ Angler's Code of Conduct

Anglers participating in any WMT Series™ sanctioned event shall observe this code of conduct and the applicable rules for the specific event in which they are participating in. Anglers shall, at all times, conduct themselves in a manner becoming of a professional angler that will not reflect unfavorably on the WMT Series™, WMT™, Pro-MAC™, Muskie Country Tournament Circuit™, its anglers, officials, judges, representatives, tournaments, or sponsors. To this end, anglers shall demonstrate professionalism and integrity in support of all WMT Series™ sanctioned events and of the sport of professional fishing. Any angler who violates any of the provisions of the Anglers Code of Conduct may be subject to forfeiture of tournament winnings, suspension from competing in individual WMT Series™ events, permanent ban from competition, fines, or any combination thereof deemed appropriate by the WMT Series™. The favorable public reputation of the WMT Series™, its officials, sponsors, and anglers, in the sport of competitive fishing are a valuable asset and tangible benefit for the WMT Series™. Accordingly, it is an obligation of the competitors to refrain from comments that unreasonably attack, misrepresent, spread erroneous information, or disparage the integrity of the tournaments, tournament officials, sponsors, fellow anglers, or the WMT Series™. Public comments (including private comments that are made to become public) that an angler knows, or should reasonably know, will harm the reputation of the WMT Series™, WMT Series™ officials or sponsors, or against the policies (expressed or implied) of the WMT Series™, shall be considered "CONDUCT UNBECOMING" and will result in disciplinary action including but not limited to a permanent ban from competition (from both paid participants and participants who have won or was awarded a tournament(s) exemption). Professionalism and conduct of all WMT Series™ anglers must be observed during the season of competition and during the off season. Any provision of the Anglers Code of Conduct that is broken by an angler will be deemed as "CONDUCT DETRIMENTAL to the WMT Series™" and disciplinary action will follow including but not limited to a permanent ban from competition.