2022-2023 BC Brookie Brawls Ice Fishing Tournament 

December 15, 2022 - January 1,  2023

Official Rules

General:

1. This is a Catch, Photo, Record tournament to be held in British Columbia.  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. Anglers 15 and younger must be fishing with an adult.

4. The entry fee is $40 and is applicable to everyone who enters.

5. Each contestant must have a valid British Columbia fishing licence or otherwise be exempt from needing one.

6. Fish finders are allowed in the tournament.

7. The Province of British Columbia in its entirety is the fishing boundary for the tournament. 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.

8. Anglers may record fish between 12:01:00 am Thursday December 15, 2022 to 6:00:00 pm Sunday January 1, 2023.

9. Once the tournament concludes, a full review process will begin between the Organizer and their team and the Tournament Director.  Results will not be confirmed, announced, or made public until the morning of Wednesday January 4th, and no prizes will be awarded or sent until after the winner’s announcement has been made.

10. This is a mandatory Catch, Photo, Record for Brook Trout only tournament, no other species will be permitted.

11.  Only fish caught by hook and line will be allowed.

12.  Anglers must register and pay the entry fee for the tournament online at https://www.anglersatlas.com/tournament/621/2022-brookie-brawls-2022. Following this, the registered anglers need to download and use the free 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 

13.  All registration and payment must be completed online at https://www.anglersatlas.com/tournament/621/2022-brookie-brawls-2022 using a credit card or PayPal. You cannot pay via cash or eTransfer, and your spot is not reserved until payment has been received. 

14.  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.

15.  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. As an added security measure, all photos taken through the app will now have a unique QR code attached to it.

Entering Fish:

16.  Measuring and Submitting Fish

1. All photos must be taken on the MyCatch app, and you MUST use a commercially available bump board or an approved home made board for your measurements (no measuring tapes allowed). All home made bump boards must have a photo of an empty board sent in for approval. Send your empty board photos for approval to [email protected] or [email protected] for verification. Commonly used boards include the Judge Tournament Ruler, MyCatch Laser Etched Board and the Cabela’s Canada Measure Board, but other commercially available boards are acceptable.

2. Fish must be recorded immediately after they’ve been caught.

3. All submissions must include:

1. The Measurement Photo (fish on measure board)

2. A Hero photo of the angler holding the fish must accompany the entry. This is especailly true for fish over 50 cm. 

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 must 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 7:00 pm on Sunday January 1, 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 7:00 pm will not be judged. 

17.  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).
   
   

18.  MyCatch in poor reception areas

1. The app will work without WiFi or any 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.
   
   

19.  Missing pictures on the Leaderboard 

2. Fish DO NOT show up on the leaderboard until they have been approved by the Organizer’s 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.

3. All photo submissions may be used by MyCatch by Angler's Atlas for future use.

General Rules:

20.  Tournament Organizer

1. The interpretation and enforcement of the rules is at the sole discretion of the Organizer, aided by his committee.  The tournament Organizer 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 Organizer’sTeam and the Tournament Director.  Following this review process, the results will be final.
   
   

21.  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 could be disqualified. 
       
       

22.  Inclement Weather/Cancelation

    1. Due to unforeseen weather conditions, the Organizer of the event may shorten, postpone or cancell the event. Participants will be notified. Due to the nature of tournament fishing, no refunds will be issued.  This is at the discretion of your tournament Organizer. 
       
       

23.  Prizing

    1. Largest Overall Brookie caught wins all - Cash prize valued at $1000.00. This may be increased.
       
       

24.  Tiebreakers

    1. The tournament director will consider options for determining a tie as per the following:
       

       1. The next largest fish submitted by each angler.

        

25. Laws and Regulations

    1. All federal, provincial, 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.
       
       

26.  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 using hook & line.  Fish cannot be snagged, netted, speared etc.
       
       

27.  Safety 

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

    2. Promoters and organizers assisting in the tournament operation are not responsible for death, injury, damage, liability, theft, fire or any loss to any contestants.

    3. This is an ice fishing event. Practice ice safety at all times! Fishing is only allowed on a minimum of at least 4 inches of ice. Only walk and fish where it is safe to do so. 

    4. Measure fish inside tents or ice shacks whenever possible, especially when temperatures dip below -10 degrees celsius

    5. Wet your boards/rulers prior to measuring fish in cold conditions to help prevent freezing the fish to the board, especially if you are using a Judge or other aluminum/metal boards.
       
       

28.  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. 

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. Angler’s Atlas may release data to a law enforcement agency if compelled to do so under court order.

8. 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 angler’s into the future. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out to Angler’s Atlas President directly via email ([email protected]).