1) Membership- Any person 16 years of age or older may become a member of the Central Illinois Bassmasters (CIB). Persons under the age of 16 may become a member of CIB as a junior member. Currently there is no fee for junior members and junior members are excluded from the state qualifier. (CIB Reserves The Right to Deny Membershp to Anyone at Any Time)
CIB is an affiliated bass club of the Illinois Bass Federation Nation. In addition CIB is also affiliated at the national level with B.A.S.S. Annual membership to CIB is $50.00 which is collected in November of each year and is appropriated as follows:
* $20.00 to Illinois Bass Federation Nation
* $30.00 to National B.A.S.S. Federation Nation
Each member of CIB must also be a member of B.A.S.S. Members are determined to be in good standing once the $50.00 annual fee has been paid the you have a current B.A.S.S. member number.
2) Monthly Club Tournaments- CIB will schedule and hold (8) qualifying tournaments during each calendar year. These tournaments are open to CIB members only. Sign ups for these tournaments are held at 6p.m. on the Sunday prior to each scheduled tournament. Any member planning on fishing a tournament must be signed up and paid for at this sign up meeting. The current entry fee into these tournaments is $25.00. Junior members have the option of fishing with no entry fee or a $5.00 entry into the BIG BASS pot. Not paying an entry fee excludes junior members from tournament prize monies. Members who cannot attend this meeting must make arrangements with the tournament director or board member prior to the start of the sign up meeting.
3) Tournament Absence- A contestant has until 6p.m. The DAY BEFORE The TOURNAMENT to withdraw from the tournament without forfeiting the $25.00 entry fee. Contestants must notify the tournament director.
If after 6 p.m. The day before and or on the way to the tournament, an illness, or accident or other incident occurs the decision on the refunded entry will be determined by the tournament director and the club officers.
4) Buddy Tournaments- Buddy tournaments will be scheduled throughout the fishing season. Participants do not need to be a member of CIB to fish. It is recommended that club members use these tournaments to help recruit new members.
5) State Tournament Qualifications- CIB will send one (1) six (6) man team annually to fish the Illinois Bass Federation Nation State Qualifier. Members will qualify for this team in the following manner: 1) The top six (6) anglers plus one (1) alternate will be chosen based on the end of the year points standings. Best (6) out of (8).
2) The top three (3) anglers in the point standings will have first choice to be boaters at the state qualifier. 3) Ties in point standings will be broken as follows: A) Most tournaments fished. B) Total accumulated weight from the tournament season.
4) Qualifiers must fish in (6) out of the (8) club tournaments.
5) Qualifiers must sell (50) IBFN State boat raffle tickets.
6) CIB Classic Qualification- At the conclusion of each tournament season CIB will hold a fall classic tournament. In addition to entry fees, money will be added to the classic payout from the following funds: 1) Proceeds from the State IBFN Boat Raffle. 2) Proceeds from the monthly club raffles/fundraiser. Members must also sell (50) boat raffle tickets to fish in the classic.
7) Annual Fundraiser- CIB will hold an annual fundraiser to generate revenue. Money generated from this event will be used to support Youth and Conservation as well as the six (6) man state team for the following year. In addition proceeds will be earmarked for local donations and a small portion may be used to help with club activities. All Members are expected to participate in this annual fundraising event. This event will count as (20) points.
8) Annual Youth or Conservation Project: CIB takes great pride in supporting local youth through our annual kids fishing derby and casting competition etc. as this will help preserve the future of fishing and it is very important that all members understand the values of these projects. A member will recieve (50) points for helping with this event as it requires as much help as possible for 40 plus kids.
9) Illinois DNR- All Illinois DNR regulations apply. Specific lake or river regualtions are in effect when fishing those particular waters. Also, all contestants must have in their possesion all required and valid state(s) fishing permits.
10) Participants and Eligibility- Tournaments are open to members only, unless the tournament has been designated as a Buddy Tournament.
11) Pairings- Boaters and Non-Boaters will be paired by a random draw. Every attempt will be made to share equal opportunities with non-boaters.
12) Size and Creel Limits- Creel limit shall be a total of five (5) fish per individual, unless specific waters impose different limits. The length limit for all largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass will be determined by the size limit on the body of water being fished.
13) Permitted Fishing Methods- All bass must be caught alive in a conventional sporting manner. Only artificial lures may be used, with the exception of pork trailers. Trolling as a method of fishing is prohibited.
14) Dead Fish Penalty - (1.0) pound will be deducted from the total weight for each dead bass presented for weigh-in. ( No more than 2 dead fish allowed to be weighed) A fish is alive if it moves.
15) Short Fish Penalty- Any short fish presented for weigh-in will be penalized at the rate of (2) pounds per fish to be deducted from total weight and loss of short fish. A fish that is questionable will be determined legal or illegal as follows: A) Between the tournament director an club president or next officer available. B) If the two cannot agree, the president or next officer not involved. C) Parties involved should not be involved in this process.
16) Ties- Ties for 1ST Place ONLY shall be broken by the biggest fish of each individual. Other ties will add places and divide points or cash rewards evenly. Big Bass tie will split prize money and each will recieve (5) bonus points.
17) Protest- All protests mus be placed with the tournament director no later than fifteen (15) minutes after the final fish are weighed. The decisions of the tournament director and/or tournament officials shall be final in all matters. All persons filing a protest will not be involved beyond stating their complaint.
18) Tournament Points- Points will be awarded according to the results of the weigh-in. If you have fished the tournament and have no fish to weigh-in, you willstill be awarded ten (10) points for participation. There also will be bonus points awarded for catching a limit of fish that day and also the BIG BASS of the day. Five (5) points extra will be awarded for reaching the limit and an additional five (5) points extra for BIG BASS. Therefore with the bonus points possibly be awarded the maximum amount of points earned per fishing could be 195 points to on contestant. See Below:1st-185
2nd-170
3rd-165
4th-160
5th-155
6th-150
7th-146
8th-142
9th-138
10th-134
11th-130
12th thru 43rd place are in incriments of three (3) ponts less than the previous weight.
19) Non-Tournament Points- There will be five (5) points awarded to each member for attending regular monthly meetings from January thru October. There will be twenty (20) points awarded to each member that helps with the annual fundraising event. There will be ten (10) points awarded to each member in attendance for the mandatory November Meeting. Youth and or Conservation Project will be (50) points.
