Official Rules for the 2023 Age Friendly Cold Lake Ice Fishing Tournament 

Cold Lake, Alberta
CFE #613674

February 17, 18, & 19, 2023
Official Rules

This tournament supports the work of Age Friendly Cold Lake whose mission it is to provide a variety of programs and services to help seniors in our community.  So, we thank you for your support of this tournament and we hope you land the biggest fish Cold Lake has ever seen!  Good luck!  

1. This is a Catch, Photo, Release tournament to be held on Cold Lake.  A contestant caught breaking this rule will be disqualified and entry fee will not be refunded. The tournament will be run using the MyCatch mobile app, which is a property of Angler’s Atlas.

2. Abuse of tournament officials and volunteers will not be tolerated.

3. All youth 15 and younger must be fishing with an adult. Youth entry fees is applicable for all aged 15 and under. Youth entries compete for only youth prizing.

4. Each contestant must have a valid Alberta or Saskatchewan fishing license for Friday, February 17, 2023, or otherwise be exempt from needing one.

5. Fish finders are allowed in the tournament.

6. Cold Lake in its entirety is the fishing boundary for the tournament.  No other lake will be permitted to be fished. A map of the fishable area is included online on the tournament webpage (www.anglersatlas.com/tournaments).  It is the angler’s responsibility to know and understand the boundary for this event.

7. Anglers may record fish between 12:01:00 am Friday February 17, 2023, to 3:00:00 pm Sunday February 19, 2023.  

8. Once the tournament concludes, a full review process will begin between the MyCatch Approvals Team and the Tournament Director.  Results will not be confirmed, announced, or made public until the morning of Monday February 20th, and no cash prizes will be awarded or collected until after the winner’s announcement has been made.

9. This is a Lake Trout only tournament, no other species will be permitted. As per Schedule A below 23 a "Cold Lake - a daily maximum of three (3) Lake Trout may be entered for judging purposes only and must be released in a manner to maximize survival." Only your daily top 3 fish will be judged. 

10.  Only fish caught by hook and line will be allowed.  This is a mandatory barbless tournament.  There will be spot checks made throughout the tournament by tournament officials and if an angler is caught using a barbed hook they will be immediately disqualified, and entry fees will not be refunded.

11.  Registration for this event is capped at 400 anglers. Anglers must register and pay the entry fee for the tournament online at www.anglersatlas.com/tournament. Following this, the registered anglers need to download and use the MyCatch app (available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) to submit their fish for the tournament. If you need help with the registration process, please watch this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3PzcIoGo4 

12.  All registration and payment must be completed online at www.anglersatlas.com/tournaments using a credit card or PayPal. You cannot pay via cash or eTransfer, and your spot is not reserved until payment has been received. 

13.  There will be no refunds, no exceptions. If an angler cannot make the tournament, it is the angler’s responsibility to sell the registration, handle the transfer of funds, and contact Angler’s Atlas ([email protected]) to have the registration name transferred to the new registrant.

14.  During the tournament, anglers will submit all their fish via the MyCatch app (for a video showing you exactly how to do this, watch here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqwbAFFQE-w&t=2s). You cannot submit fish for this event any other way, and the photos MUST be taken in the app.
    
    Once an angler has registered for the event, you must also then submit a Waiver of Liability form:  
    
    DOWNLOAD FORM HERE
    
    This completed form must be emailed to: [email protected]
    
    

15.  Measuring and Submitting Fish

1. All photos must be taken on the MyCatch app, and you MUST use a commercially available bump board for your measurements (no measuring tapes, no homemade boards). If you are unsure about your board being legal, please reach out to [email protected] for verification. Commonly used boards include the Judge Tournament Ruler and the Cabela’s Canada Measure Board, but other commercially available boards are acceptable. No sliding measuring boards will be allowed.

2. Anglers can only submit catches that they have caught themselves. This is an individual tournament, so you cannot enter as a partnership or team and under no circumstances can you share fish with any other angler. Anglers are free to fish alone or with other tournament or non-tournament anglers, but each registered angler may only enter their own fish on their own app. Fish must be recorded immediately after they’ve been caught, and released following a successful submission on the app.
   

3. All submissions must include:

1. The Measurement Photo (fish on measure board)

2. A Release Video of the fish being released alive

3. The mouth of the fish is allowed to be closed, open, or anywhere in between, so long as the upper and/or lower jaw of the head of the fish is clearly touching the bump of the board at 0 cm and the fish submission meets all of the requirements outlined in this section.

4. Fish should be measured right-side-down (i.e., right side of the fish is touching the bump board)

5. All applicants must have their fish submitted before 4:00 pm on Sunday February 19, 2023. It is the applicant’s duty to ensure they have full cell service and all fish are synced before the deadline. Any fish synced to the app after 4:00 pm will not be judged. 

16.  Practice using the MyCatch app ahead of time

1. Watch all four videos available at this link to familiarize yourself with the app: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Yp9OqZ6saBgaKklT5jh6DkuTbai3NeJ

2. Test the app before you go out on the ice (note: the app allows you to record fish for your own personal logbook while not in an active tournament. Some features will appear slightly different when you are not in an active event, so please make sure you watch the YouTube videos at the link above).
   
   

17.  MyCatch in poor reception areas

1. The app will work without WiFi or any or strong cell service. If you submit a fish without any or strong enough service, the app will tell you that the fish has been recorded, and that it will sync up to the server once you return to service. Every fish you log (whether in good service or not) will appear in your app’s Log View (2nd icon from the left at the bottom). If you have fish “awaiting sync,” it will indicate this here. The submissions will eventually come through on their own once you return to service, but you can help speed up the process by “manually syncing” those pending logs (see how here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-AwLc8OLY) once you’re in service. The logs are time/date/location stamped to the moment that they were taken, so even if the submission is delayed, the time on that submission will still be accurate.
   
   

18.  Missing pictures on the Leaderboard 

2. Fish DO NOT show up on the leaderboard until they have been approved by the MyCatch Approvals Team, so don’t expect to see them reflected on the leaderboard immediately.  If you want to ensure that your fish was recorded successfully, check the Log View of your app (2nd icon from the left at the bottom).  If your fish is there, it logged successfully.
   
   

19.  Tournament Director

1. The interpretation and enforcement of the rules is at the sole discretion of the director, aided by their committee and Angler’s Atlas.  The tournament director may change rules or impose sanctions as they deem appropriate, including but not limited to disqualifications, forfeiture of prizes, and prohibition from competing in future tournaments.  All decisions made by the tournament director are final.

2. Following the conclusion of the event, all fish in prize-winning positions will be reviewed and adjusted by the MyCatch Approvals Team and the Tournament Director.  Following this review process, the results will be final.
   
   

20.  Sportsmanship

    1. All participants are expected to follow high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, safety, and conservation.  Any participant who displays poor sportsmanship, violates these rules, or brings unfavorable publicity to the sport of fishing in Cold Lake could be disqualified. Encroachment is considered a sportsmanship rule.
       
       

21.  Inclement Weather/Cancelation

    1. Keep mobile phones on throughout the tournament in order to receive communication from the director in the event of postponement or cancellation.  Due to the nature of tournament fishing, no refunds will be issued.  This is at the discretion of your tournament organizer.
       
       

22.  Prizes (all prizes based on registrations and fundraising)
    

    1. Grand Prize (Largest fish of the tournament) 

    1. Adult - $5,000 

    2. Youth - $200

    2. Second Place Prize (Second largest fish of the tournament) 

    1. Adult - $2,000 

    2. Youth - $175

    3. Third Place Prize (Third largest fish of the tournament) 

    1. Adult - $1,000 

    2. Youth - $150

    4. Fourth Place Prize (Fourth largest fish of the tournament)

    1. Adult - $800

    2. Youth – $75

    5. Fifth Place Prize (Fifth largest fish of the tournament)

    1. Adult - $700

    2. Youth - $50

    6. Best Three Fish Prize (Combined length of a fisherman’s three best fish) - $1,000

    7. Daily Prizes – (Largest fish of the day) 

    1. Friday Adult – non-cash prize

    2. Friday Youth – non-cash prize

    3. Saturday Adult – non-cash prize

    4. Saturday Youth – non-cash prize

    5. Sunday Adult – non-cash prize

    6. Sunday Youth – non-cash prize

    8.  Wild Card Prizes – All anglers receive one entry
       i. Total value of all prizes = Over $20,000 (based on 2022 prizes) 
       
       

    1. All wildcard prizes will be awarded at the Cold Lake Marina office throughout the tournament and announced on the official Cold Lake Ice Fishing Tournament page at 10:00 am on Friday, February 17, 2023. Wildcard prizes must be picked up before midnight on Saturday, February 18, 2023. If not claimed, wildcard prizes will be redrawn. All cash prizes will be mailed to winners in the form of a cheque.

     

23.  Tiebreakers

    1. The tournament director will consider options for determining a tie, in this order:
       

       1. Time of submission

       2. The next largest fish submitted by each angler 

        

     

24. Laws and Regulations

    1. All federal, provincial, and local laws and all fishing rules must be abided by.

    2. Failure to comply with any tournament rules subjects participants to disqualification and removal from the tournament, as determined by the tournament officials.  The right to refuse sale and/or revoke a competition entry to anyone is hereby reserved.
       
       

25.  Cheating

    1. All protests must be brought to the director’s attention before the end of the tournament.

    2. Anyone caught breaking the law or disobeying the rules will be disqualified.

    3. Fish must be hooked and caught live in a conventional manner.  Fish cannot be snagged, netted, speared etc.
       
       

26.  Safety 

    1. Participants are responsible for their own safety, actions, and property at all times.

    2. A liability waiver must be signed and returned to the tournament director prior to the tournament commencing and before any fish is entered into the MyCatch app.

    3. Liability waiver will be available on the official Angler’s Atlas Cold Lake Ice Fishing Tournament page.
       
       

27.  Data Privacy and Fisheries Research on the MyCatch app

“Secret Fishing Spots Stay Secret” — This is our primary commitment to anglers who report their catches through MyCatch. So, what does this mean in practice? See below:

1.  Angler’s Atlas does not release MyCatch GPS data (latitude and longitude) to the public. It is treated as confidential and is provided to fisheries researchers under strict conditions. Angler's Atlas may release data to a law enforcement agency if compelled to do so under court order.

2. Every research team we work with must sign a data sharing agreement that sets the terms of use for the data.

3. Data is anonymized before it is provided to the researcher. 

4. Researchers agree not to share the data with anyone else.

5.  Researchers cannot use the data for any purpose other than the research specified in the agreement.

6.  Exact location data cannot be published as part of the scientific research. Instead, it must be generalized to a larger region so the location cannot be reverse engineered.

7. These data privacy rules are designed to protect our angler’s private data, to conserve the fisheries, and to make sure we maintain a trusting relationship with our anglers into the future. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out to Angler’s Atlas President directly via email ([email protected]).

CFE Particulars - Schedule A - Downloadable form here.