Two-person team heaviest one-day accumulated bag tournament.
Catch, Photo, Video release format competition
All competitors must possess and have on their person a valid Manitoba Fishing License or Treaty Card.
All competitors are equal and will abide by Manitoba Sportfishing regulations and specifically all rules put in place for the Selkirk Walleye Championship.
At minimum one team member must be eighteen (18) years of age or over. Youth competitors will be permitted with written consent from a parent/guardian.
Entry
$300 per team entry fee.
Boat numbers/starting order will be assigned as entries are received and paid. Official notification of such via email from Tournament Directors will be sent once funds are received.
Entries will continue to be received until end of day on Wednesday May 14, 2025
Logistics
The date of the event will be Saturday May 17, 2025
Tournament fishing hours will be from 7:30am to 3:30pm. All times are based on GPS.
In the case of fifty (50) or more boats entered in the competition, the field will be divided in half as needed to form two separate flights. Tournament hours will change as follows:
Flight 1 – 7:30am to 3:30pm
Flight 2 – 7:45am to 3:45pm
Take-off will be a number ordered trickle start called out over a public address system. Boats taking off before being called will be disqualified. Boats missing their call must wait until all boats in the field (or their flight if applicable) have taken off before leaving.
Pre-fishing will cease at 6:00pm on Friday, May 16, 2025. No boat shall travel tournament waters or actively fish after this time until take-off time the following morning. Persons travelling to and from accommodations/property on the river after pre-fishing has ceased must only do so for the purpose of commuting and not to actively locate fish or conditions.
Boat inspections at the La Verendrye boat launch will commence at 6:00am.
The Tournament will be Livestreamed on the Kickerfish YouTube Channel. This may include: Live Leaderboard, on-the-water live footage from a Camera boat, ongoing commentary on the day’s action as it unfolds, awards ceremony live footage.
Online rules meeting will take place on Friday May 16, 2025 at 8:15pm via online meeting (link will be sent via email to all anglers). Mandatory attendance from at least one team member is required by logging in to the broadcast and leaving a comment with your team member names and boat number.
Boundaries
The competition will take place on Lac Du Bonnet and all connected boat-accessible waterways from the take-off site at La Verendrye Boat Launch in town.
Includes the Bird River upstream to the first impassable barrier; Lee River upstream to the Old Pinawa Dam; Winnipeg River from Seven Sisters generating station to McArthur Falls generating station; Lac Du Bonnet in its entirety.
Boats are not permitted to be trailered and launched at another location.
Boat Inspection
Tournament volunteers will conduct boat inspections at the La Verendrye boat launch prior to each boat entering the water and will flag and record each boat as completed.
Failure to have boat recorded as ‘Inspected’ before taking off will result in disqualification.
Volunteers will check for: appropriate Personal Floatation Device for each team member; ensuring livewells are empty of water; properly affixed boat number cowl stickers, working kill-switch tethers.
Teams will receive an Official Kickerfish Judge Tournament ruler during each day’s morning boat inspection. Each ruler will have a serial number and all will be marked with a strip of colour-coded tape placed perpendicular to the bump and another strip of colour-coded tape placed over the 35″-36″ mark. Teams will receive an Official Fish Tag Set of numbers during each day’s morning boat inspection. Ten laminated squares numbered 1-10. Colour of tags will change each day.
Boats and equipment
Canoes, houseboats, kayaks and other similar personal or cumbersome watercraft are not permitted.
Tournament Directors reserve the right to refuse entry or disallow use of any boat, motor, or equipment deemed unsafe, unsuitable, or contravening of tournament rules.
Competitor boats must not come into contact with any other boats on the water whether they be other competitors or not. The passing of items from one boat to another will result in disqualification.
Boats will be respectful and sportsmanlike in regards to other competitors and property on tournament waters. A fifty (50) foot radius shall be respected between boats during the competition.
Marine radios, cellphones, and other communication devices are to be declared at inspection and are only to be used in the case of an emergency during tournament hours. Electronic boat-to-boat communication is prohibited during tournament hours.
Safety
Competitors are not permitted to consume alcohol directly before and during tournament hours.
Competitors are required to wear approved Personal Floatation Devices whenever the boat is on plane or travelling beyond trolling or drifting speed.
Emergency contact number listed below.
All teams must adhere to safe boating practices while participating in the tournament.
For the purpose of accounting the safe return of all competitors, all boats are required to check-in at the conclusion of tournament hours. Failure to do so may affect further participation in this event in the following year.
Competitors are strictly not permitted to step ashore/off their boat at any time during tournament hours other than at La Verendrye boat launch. In the case of lightning or other severe dangerous weather, competitors can seek safety at the nearest shoreline as necessary.
Fishing
Only fish caught by angling hook and line in a normal manner will be permitted for inclusion in bag limit.
Only artificial lures, manufactured baits, and commercially available liquid attractants may be used by competitors.
No live or dead bait of any kind may be used or possessed by any competitor at any time during the tournament.
Competitors are permitted to use only one (1) line in the water per person at a time.
Landing nets may be used.
Only smallmouth bass and largemouth bass (hereafter designated as ‘fish‘) are permitted for inclusion in team bag limit. All other species caught must be released safely back to the water immediately.
Fish shall not be altered or purposefully deformed in any way.
All care for the well-being of any/all fish caught during the tournament shall be of the utmost priority of each competitor.
The use of sonar (fish/depth finders) is permitted including ‘Live’ technology.
Boats must return to the La Verendrye boat launch area and ‘check-in’ with the Check-in Boat on or before their respective check-in time. Check-in process will involve a Tournament Official calling out your boat number to confirm that you have checked-in. Official Kickerfish Rulers and fish tags must be handed in to Tournament Officials at the dock to complete check-in.
Late boats will be penalized half a pound (8oz) per minute up to 5 minutes, beyond which they will not be eligible to weigh-in that day’s bag (disqualification).
Boats who do not complete Check-in process will not be eligible for scoring that day.This includes the non-return of a team’s Official Kickerfish Ruler.
Scoring
Catch, Photo, Video Release format competition
All fish must measure a minimum of 30cm to qualify. Fish under 30cm are not eligible for scoring.
Hero photo will be taken with the fish’s head in an angler’s right hand with the fish’s left side facing the camera. Entire fish must be in frame, angler’s face must be in frame, fish tag must be placed on the fish’s left side and visible in the photo.
Measurement photo will be taken with the fish laying flat on its right side, head placed against the bump of the ruler (0″) with its mouth closed (see Judging below). Tail may be pinched to achieve maximum length. Angler may hold the fish in place for the photo. Entire ruler must be in frame and serial tag must be visible in the photo (photo taken from above the bump). Camera person may take the photo from either the fish’s dorsal side or belly side (photo can be rotated by the weighmaster after).
Release Video will commence from the same framing and fish position that the measurement photo was taken. Remove Fish Tag, then take Fish off the ruler and place in the water. Fish must swim away under it’s own power. Video may end once angler is no longer physically touching the fish and the fish has swum away healthily. Fish may be held in a landing net in the water at any point in the scoring process for the purpose of aiding recuperation/health of the fish. At no point may a fish be placed in a live well, cooler, or other holding device in the boat.
Submit your qualifying catches (Hero photos, Measurement photos, Release videos) as you catch them via Whatsapp on your private Team-to-Weighmaster chat.
The Weighmaster will notify you of your smallest fish and cull your bag for you. Teams will receive confirmation of receipt and approval of submissions as well as immediate feedback on your scoring process if necessary.
All fish submissions must be sent in and receipt thereof acknowledged by the Weighmaster before each team’s respective check-in time.
Fish may not be scored again once they have been submitted by a team. Careful scrutiny of each submission is done to ensure that each fish in a team’s Bag Limit are all different individual fish.
A maximum of five (5) qualifying fish will comprise each team’s Daily Team Bag Weight.
Judging
Official Kickerfish Length-to-Weight Conversion Charts (separate smallmouth bass and largemouth bass charts) published here will be used to calculate Daily Team Bag Weight. A paper copy of the conversion charts will be provided to each team at boat inspection for reference.
Official recording of Daily Team Bag Weight shall be in pounds and two decimal point places.
Measurements surpassing a quarter inch line will round up to the very next quarter inch line for scoring purposes. The final determination for this will be the sole discretion of the Weighmaster.
Penalties or disqualification of individual fish may be levied if the required photos and release video conditions are not adhered to.
Quarter inch (0.25”) penalty: No Fish Tag visible in one or more of a Hero, Measurement, OR Release Video set (max one quarter inch penalty per fish)
Half inch (0.50″) penalty: Mouth open in Measurement Photo with discernible advantage (discretion of the Weighmaster. Judging process will be explained at Rules Meeting)
Individual fish disqualification:
Release Video – none submitted; unsuccessful release (dead or stressed fish)
Measurement Photo – none submitted; photo missing serial tag and/or end of ruler; wrong side of fish facing camera; fish not touching bump
Hero Photo – none submitted; wrong side of fish facing camera, entire fish not in frame
An unsuccessful release will not count towards a team’s Daily Team Bag Weight but will count towards their Daily limit of five fish.
The scoring headquarters will be located at the La Verendrye boat launch and will be officiated by the Official Weighmaster.
All measurements and weights declared by the Weighmaster are final.
Awards
The Main Prize Pool will be awarded based on highest total team bag weight with the top weight winning first place. Prize placing spots will descend to the fifth (5th) best finishing team for a field at or beyond thirty-five (35) teams.
All prize placing spots in the Main Prize Pool will be cash awards broken down by proportional percentage of the prize pot. First Place is $5000 based on 35 teams.
Tiebreaker Rule – In the event of a tie (same exact official weight), the higher placing team will be determined by each team’s longest scored fish of the tournament. If still tied, then the higher placing team will be determined by each team’s next longest scored fish and so on until the tie is broken. Teams will combine award values of placings and split the award evenly if the tiebreaker rule cannot break the tie.
The Frostbite Big Fish Prize will be a prize package awarded to the team who scores the heaviest fish.
Tiebreaker Rule – In the event of a tie (same exact official measurement/weight), the higher placing fish will be determined by the next longest fish scored by each team. If still tied, then the higher placing fish will be determined by the third longest fish and so on until the tie is broken. Teams will split the Big Fish Award if tiebreaker rule cannot break the tie.
Prizes will be awarded on a team basis and must be accepted as awarded.
The Tournament Directors reserve the right to adjust the stated prize structure accordingly in relation to the actual size of the total field of entrants.
Other
Each team must register for the tournament by filling out the entry form online at kickerfish.ca
Upon filling out the entry/waiver form, competitors are permitting the use of their name and image on all media coverage relating to the promotion and reporting of The Cold Open. Competitors also free the organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and other agents involved in the above named event of any responsibility for death, injury, damage, theft, or related loss as a result of participating in The Cold Open howsoever caused.
Tournament Directors reserve the right to delay, shorten, or cancel the tournament in the case of severe weather or unsafe conditions.
Competitors who have been disqualified will not be entitled to a refund of their entry fee.
Any protests of contravention of rules must be submitted directly to the Tournament Organizers accompanied with $200 cash before the completion of weigh-ins. Fee will be refunded if allegations are found to be justified and result in a change in the final standings.
It is the goal of the Tournament Directors to organize a fair and sportsmanlike competitive event, in all cases the ‘spirit of the rule’ will apply.
