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Cold Lake Fishing Derby Rules
June 19 – 20, 2021 Entry fee is $129 ($125 + processing fees)
CFE #602049
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1. Cold Lake Fishing Derby (CLFD) is a catch and release tournament. Please handle all fish caught with care.
2. Participants entered in the tournament must be present at Friday’s Rules Meeting to be held at 6:00pm at the Energy Centre.
3. Registration will be held at the Energy Centre on Friday from 3:30pm-6:30pm. You will receive your Tournament Rules and packages at this time.
4. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older. If less than 18 years of age, must be accompanied by an adult.
5. All anglers must possess a valid fishing license and comply with all Alberta Fishing Regulations.
6. Each boat is required to pass a boat inspection each day of the tournament prior to start time.
7. Boat inspections will begin at 6:00am. It is your responsibility to be on time and allow for traffic lineups and waiting time.
8. All participants are required to observe Canadian rules and regulations concerning boat safety.
9. All boats are required to meet Canadian Safety Regulations and Canada Coast Guard Requirements.
10. This is an individual event, and every participating angler must enter individually. Only two (2) people are allowed in the boat during tournament hours except as expressly waived by the tournament hosts. Anglers may only measure and record fish that they caught. Any angler who is caught recording another angler’s fish will be automatically disqualified.
11. Cellular phones are required for the purpose of recording fish through the approved tournament app MyCatch. The MyCatch App is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Cellular phones can also be used for business and/or emergency use.
12. The Live Leaderboard (available both on the MyCatch app as well as the Tournament Page) will showcase the largest lake trout recorded. Each angler will only be able to occupy one spot on the Live Leaderboard, so only each angler's largest fish will be displayed on the Live Leaderboard. (Reminder: sharing fish, such as allowing another angler to record a fish that you caught [or vice versa] is strictly prohibited, and any angler caught cheating will be automatically DQ'd from the event)
13. All boats are required to display the decal with number for the purpose of identifying you/it as a tournament angler/boat. To be placed on the passenger (Port) side of boat for easy identification by tournament officials.
14. FISHING TIMES: Participants will fish from 7:00am to 9:00pm on Saturday and 7:00am to 4:00pm on Sunday.
15. On start, each boat will be required to pass through two (2) buoys in a NO WAKE ZONE. Once clear of the buoys, teams may throttle up. Slower boats are asked to safely and immediately travel closer to the shore line to allow boat traffic to sagely pass. On finish, each boat will be required to throttle down prior to passing through two (2) buoys in a no wake zone and check in with the tournament official. Buoys are placed accordingly for safety purposes. Any boat found not adhering to the foregoing rule may be disqualified from the tournament. Safety is paramount.
16. Boat Launch fees for the Cold Lake Marina are included for participants in the tournament fee for Saturday and Sunday. Boats are allowed to launch elsewhere on Cold Lake, but launch fees at other locations are not included in fee. All participants must come to the Cold Lake Marina for their inspection.
17. Any boat returning late to the finish line will lose 20% of their length measurement for every five (5) minutes late. After thirty (30) minutes, the day’s total measurement will be disqualified.
18. Each participant will be allowed to have only one (1) line in the water at a time. Spare rods and equipment may be carried in the boat.
19. The use of bait (as defined in the Alberta sport fishing regulations) and the use of artificial lures is permissible.
20. a) MEASURING FISH: Only Lake Trout are eligible to be entered into the MyCatch app as part of the tournament. We ask that all anglers please record all of their Lake Trout catches that are over 40cm into the app. Once the submissions are approved by the MyCatch Approval Team, the submitted fish will then appear on the Live Leaderboard, which can be viewed both on the MyCatch app, as well as the Cold Lake Fishing Derby tournament page (https://www.anglersatlas.com/tournament/477/cold-lake-fishing-derby-2021). All measuring boards are to be provided by the participant. Only commercial available bump boards may be used. No guess-timate measurements will be made. If a fish exceeds the length of your board, only the largest number visible on the board will be scored.
b) PHOTO PICTURES: All fish are to be measured with the left side of the fish facing up (belly towards the angler). The full fish must be visible in the entire picture. Measured fish can be 40cm or larger when measured with their mouths closed and tails fully pinched. In the event a photo designates a fish to be scored is judged by the tournament officials to be un-scorable, the next available fish will be used. Any fish that appears to have been mangled, mashed, mauled, or otherwise altered will be credited only at the discretion of the tournament officials and may result in a team disqualification for the day or the event.
c) SCORING PHOTOS: While the fish is being held on the ruler, a ‘scoring’ photo must be taken of the fish which clearly shows the overall length of the fish. The head and tail of the fish must be included and shown clearly. The photograph must be taken of the left side of the fish only. The Mouth of the fish must be closed. A photo that does not show the list of qualifications above will not be scored. More than one attempt to get a valid scoring photo is allowed. The fish must then be immediately released back into the water.
d) CATCH-PICTURE-RELEASE: In the instance when two or more fish are caught at the same time, the Catch-Picture Release process requires that one fish be measured, photographed, and released as quickly as possible before the next fish can be processed.
e) SUBMITTING PHOTOS: Pictures of each Fish can be added to each participant’s profile on the tournament app. It is the responsibility of each person to carefully review all pictures and ensure no duplicates are submitted. Any duplication of fish will automatically receive a length of zero and the person may be disqualified at the discretion of the tournament officials. Absolutely no video editing devices are allowed on any boat at any time.
f) MEASURING: All fish pictures will be reviewed and adjusted throughout each day by the MyCatch Approvals Team. Any discrepancies or concerns will be judged by the executive board who will have final say. During this review, no objections will be heard. Once all fish have been measured and recorded, there will be a half hour grace period where anyone can bring up concerns, disagreements, or protests. All issues will be addressed and resolved by the tournament officials before the end of day and all measurements will be final. In order to speed up the process, while a fish is in the boat, anglers will not be allowed to place any fishing lines in the water. After all fish are processed and released, normal angling may resume.
21. No live wells are required to compete in the tournament. Any existing live wells on boats must not have water in them at any time during the tournament. No fish are to be placed in the live well, as it is not permissible to hold fish in water using nets, lines, stringers, etc. Delays in releasing fish may be grounds for disqualification.
22. A boat must not come in contact with any other boat except the officials on the water. Please give other boats appropriate courtesy and consideration while fishing and/or while under throttle.
23. “Spirit of the Rule”/protest: All rules have ‘loopholes’. It is the intention of the City of Cold Lake to provide an honest sportsman like tournament. In the interest of good sportsmanship, contestants are reminded that ‘Spirit of the Rule’ will prevail and all judgements by officials are final. All questions or problems concerning the rules are to be referred to the tournament officials. Any contestant has a right to make a protest against another contestant(s). A protest form is available from the tournament director and must be filled out and submitted to the director within one (1) hour of the close of the fishing day. A one hundred dollar ($100) protest fee will be required to accompany any formal protest. The fee will be returned if the protest is found to be valid by the protest committee appointed by the director. If the protest is found to be invalid, the fee will not be returned.
24. In the event of a tie with the winner on any competition, it will be decided by the following manner: a. First Tiebreaker by the second longest fish b. Second Tiebreaker (if necessary) by the third longest fish c. Third Tiebreaker (if necessary) by the fourth longest fish d. Fourth Tiebreaker (if necessary) by the fifth longest fish
25. All boats coming into Alberta require inspection to prevent the movement of aquatic invasive species. If you live outside of Alberta, and are planning to attend, you must provide proof of passing an inspection (proof of inspection sheet) at time of registration.
26. MISELLANEOUS: If a participant drops out before the tournament, the tournament officials must be notified of the change before the tournament. The place will be filled by the tournament officials and not by the choice of the participant. The entry fee will only be returned if the place can be filled by another participant.
27. Prizes: Prizes will be awarded after 6:00pm on Sunday, June 20, 2021. All prizes will be based on most length during the two day tournament. Prizes will be awarded on an individual basis. There will be prizes for the top 100 fish. The tournament administration/officials reserves the right to disqualify any participant for rule infractions if the situation warrants such action. Promotors and organizations hosting/assisting in the tournament operations, their agencies, and agents are not responsible for the death, damage, injury, liability, theft, fire, flood, or any loss to any entrants or families and friends. MyCatch uses GPS data to verify the validity (time, date, location) of each catch. The MyCatch team's promise to anglers is that "Secret Spots Stay Secret". Only a very select group of MyCatch employees have access to the data, and no GPS data will ever be shared publicly
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