OFFICIAL RULES

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$100.00 entry fee per team per tournament;

$40.00 sanction fee per angler to be paid individually at first tournament fished;

Five fish limit; State law will determine the minimum size of fish kept;

Artificial lures only;

Alabama rigs are allowed in accordance with state law;

½ pound penalty per dead fish;

1 pound penalty per minute late to weigh in; after 15 minutes the entire catch is disqualified;

Fish not hooked inside of the mouth while sight fishing must be released; 

Life jackets must be worn while in motion with the big motor running;

Working navigation lights are required;

Operational livewells or other means to keep your catch alive is required;

Once the 6th keeper bass is caught, one angler is allowed to keep fishing. The other angler must actively cull and must not resume fishing until there are only five keeper bass in the boat;

No more than five keeper bass are allowed to be in a competitor’s boat at any time except while actively culling;

Rules violations may result in disqualification;

Five of seven regular season tournaments must be fished to participate in the team championship;

There will also be a Team of the Year race; Points will be calculated after every tournament;

Top three teams in points at the end of the team championship will receive a payout. The team that accumulates the most points will be crowned Team of the Year;

Prior to the week of the tournament practice is allowed;

During the week of the tournament only ONE day of practice is permitted; 

Both anglers on a team are allowed to split up and practice individually out of their own boats, however, both anglers MUST practice on the same day; 

All boats participating in the event are subject to random inspection prior to blastoff;

Livewell checks will be conducted at each event prior to blast off;

Polygraph waivers must be signed by all participants prior to the first competition day;

Protests will be made orally in person or by phone to any of the three tournament directors at the time protest is warranted;

In the event of a protest or dispute, majority vote by tournament directors will be the determining factor;

All official protests may result in the administration of a polygraph examination of the angler/anglers named in the protest;

Each and every competitor is subject to a random polygraph examination at any time by a qualified polygraph examiner;

In the event anglers are requested to take a polygraph examination, no money will be paid until the successful completion and passing of the polygraph;

Refusal to take a polygraph examination by either team member is an automatic, permanent disqualification from the event and trail as a whole; 

All participants are expected to abide by all Local, State, and Federal laws while participating in any GSM (Great Smoky Mountains) Team Trail event;

GSM (Great Smoky Mountains) Team Trail and/or tournament directors will not be held liable for any damage to equipment or personal injury occurring during travel to, participation in, or travel from any event. All participants understand the inherent risk involved and are voluntarily participating in this tournament trail;

Every boat owner is responsible for providing their own liability insurance coverage;

Blastoff will be conducted one boat at a time in an orderly fashion beginning with boat number one. Boat operators are prohibited from accelerating up on plane until they are a safe distance from other competitors and clear of any marked no wake zones;

Substitute anglers are allowed to compete under the following conditions: The substitute angler must pay the full $40.00 sanction fee before the event and points accumulated during the event will remain with the angler who has fished the most events. Substitute angers will not be allowed to fish the championship event unless they have fished five regular season events;

Off limits for Lake Keowee will be the skimmer wall and point to point at the "hot hole";

At weigh in on April 6, 2024 at Lake Hartwell, all participants will be asked to write down the name of a lake. The lake with the most votes will be the championship venue. The championship will be a two day tournament. Weights from the first day will carry over to the second day. The team with the highest cumulative weight will be crowned champion. Consistency will be key throughout the 2024 season for teams chasing the title of "Team of the Year". There will be no dropped tournaments for the points championship. The points for each team will be tallied after weigh-in of the seventh tournament at Lake Chatuge. We will announce points champions aka "Team of the Year" after weigh-in of the championship tournament.  IMPORTANT: All participants must fish 5 of the 7 regular season tournaments to participate in the championship.