2023 Orillia Perch Festival - Presented by Leadbetter Foods Fishing Tournament 

Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, Ontario

April 29 at 12:00 am through to May 6 at 5:00 pm, 2023

How it works

Just Fish to Win!

Submit one perch everyday to be entered into our daily draws and to receive one entry for the grand prize draws. Keep fishing for your chance to catch one of many tagged perch worth between $500-$1000!

Official Rules

General:

1. This is a Catch, Photo, Release tournament to be held on Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching.  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 anglers who are of sufficient age to handle a rod and reel are eligible. 

4. The entry fee for the Adult division is $20 and the entry fee for the Youth division is $5 - Youth for this event is anyone 15 and under during the festival.

5. Each contestant must have a valid Ontario Fishing Licence (IE Sportfishing Licence or Conservation Licence) or otherwise be exempt from needing one.

6. Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching in their entirety are the fishing boundaries for the tournament.  No other lakes 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 12:00:00 am Saturday, April 29 to 5:00:00 pm Saturday, May 6, 2023.

8. Daily prize winners will be announced daily, and the grand prize winners will be announced at the closing ceremony. Otherwise, once the tournament concludes, a full review process will begin between the Organizer and their team.  Results will not be confirmed, announced, or made public until the morning of Monday May 8th, and no prizes will be awarded or sent until after the winner’s announcement has been made. Winners will be contacted directly, and winners will announced on the Orillia Perch Festival Facebook Page.

9. This is a mandatory Catch, Photo, Release event for Yellow Perch only tournament, no other species will be permitted.

10.  All entrants must be registered prior to the commencement of fishing. Anglers must register and pay the entry fee for the tournament online at https://www.anglersatlas.com/tournament/677/2023-orillia-perch-festival-2023. 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 your entry was purchased for you, you will receive an email with a registration code. You must still register for the event using the links on the email. Again, every person in the event will also need to set up a free Angerls Atlas account. If you need help with the registration process, please watch this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3PzcIoGo4 

11.  All registration and payment must be completed online at https://www.anglersatlas.com/tournament/677/2023-orillia-perch-festival-2023  using a credit card or PayPal. You cannot pay via cash or eTransfer, and your spot is not reserved until payment has been received. 

12.  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 using the app. By participating in this event, your name may be made public. 

Entering Fish:

13.  Submitting Fish

1. All photos must be taken on the MyCatch app. 

2. Fish must be recorded immediately after they’ve been caught, and released following a successful submission on the app.

3. Any perch that appears to be mangled, foul hooked, snagged, is otherwise altered or which is dead shall not be eligible for any prize.

14.  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 water (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.

15.  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.

16.  Missing pictures 

1. Fish have to be approved by the Organizer’s Team, so don’t expect to see them reflected on the event 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. 

2. All photo submissions may be used by MyCatch by Angler's Atlas and Orillia District Chamber of Commerce for future use.

General Rules:

17. Fishing

1. Only fish caught by hook and line will be allowed. Landing nets may be used to only assist landing of fish. Fish must be hooked and caught live in a conventional manner.  Fish cannot be snagged, netted, speared etc.

2. Ontario Sport Fishing Regulations Re: General Spoiling of Fish – Any fish that has been lawfully caught and which is suitable for food must not be destroyed or permitted to spoil. “If you are going to eat it – keep it. If not put it back”

3. All contestants agree to allow Festival Officials to board their boats and to inspect any participants' catch and equipment at any time.

4. Fish finders are allowed in the tournament.

5. Live or artificial bait may be used. All applicable Live Bait rules must be followed. All fish must be caught by conventional sport fishing methods in accordance with recognized angling practises.

6. No holder of a commercial fishing license may enter.

18.  Tournament Organizer

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

2. The interpretation and enforcement of the rules is at the sole discretion of the Organizer, aided by his committee and Angler’s Atlas representatives.  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. And binding on all matters

3. Following the conclusion of the event, the Organizer’sTeam will contact the applicable participants and the results will be final.

4. Organizer can be reached at [email protected]

19.  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.

20.  Inclement Weather/Cancelation

1. Keep mobile phones on throughout the tournament in order to receive communication from the Organizer in the event of postponement or cancellation.  

2. Due to the nature of tournament fishing, there will be no refunds, no exceptions.  

21.  Prizes 

1. All contestants registered and who enter Perch shall be eligible for their category prize. All prizes will be awarded via random drawing from anglers. They will be accepted as awarded. 

2. There are separate prize categories for adults and children. 

3. Festival and Chamber and their partners are not responsible for Tagged Perch caught from previous years’. They have no cash or prize value.

4. No member of the Perch Festival Committee of the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce will be eligible for the tagged perch award of the event.

5. All prizes and awards must be claimed within 90 days from the closing date of the Festival.

6. The winner of the grand prize boat is responsible for all eligible taxes on the prize and licensing fees. 

7. Tagged Fish - Tagged fish must be submitted via the app with the tag number included in the submission. If you catch a tagged perch, please remove the tag from the perch and take a picture of it showing the tag number and include it in your submission. Tagged perch prizes are only eligible to be claimed once per tag. Detailed information to be posted prior to the start of the event. Tagged fish from previous year's events are not eligible for the 2023 event.

22. Laws and Regulations

1. Participants agree to abide by any Federally applicable laws, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Game and Fish Act and regulations, the Small Vessel Regulations and the Rules and Regulations of the Orillia Perch Festival.

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.

23.  Cheating

1. Any entrant who uses anything whatsoever to attempt to falsely represent themselves or the fish they have caught shall be immediately disqualified from this and future Festivals. All prizes and awards will be forfeited back to the Festival.

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

3. Each person in a boat must be registered in the Festival or their daily catch will not be eligible nor shall the catch taken that day by any other fisherman in the same boat, whether registered or not, be eligible.

24.  Safety 

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

2. Follow all boating rules and regulations and safety procedures. 

25.  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]).

9. By registering, you are consenting to receive marketing emails/mail from: Orillia District Chamber of Commerce and Angler’s Atlas 

For more information contact:

Orillia District Chamber of Commerce

575 West Street South, Orillia, Ontario, Canada L3V 7N6

(705) 326-4424 Fax (705) 327-7841

www.orillia.com    [email protected]