DURACATS RULES
New rules are in blue.
Any attempt to under-mine or bend these rules for an individual (s) sole benefit will not be tolerated!!! All rules will be enforced under the interpretation of the DURACATS officials. Any rules violations will be put to a committee of DURACATS officials - their decisions on that violation will be final , and any punishment dealt out to violators will be final!! If you are not prepared to live with
the decisions of this committee - You need to find a different place to fish!!
1. All participants must be current DURACATS members.
2. All participants must obey all laws - state, local and federal.
3. Teams will consist of one or two or three individuals.
4. All teams must leave the ramp area in a boat.
5. No trailering will be allowed. All teams will launch their boats at the designated ramp.
6. Blues, flatheads and channels will be accepted at weigh-in. 14” minimum length.
7. Teams may not fish or anchor in an off-limits area. ( All dams have an off-limits area. These areas will be discussed at the pre-tournament meeting.)
8. All fish must be caught on rod and reel only. ( No snagging, trot lining, jug fishing, noodling, netting, or use of any electrical or explosive devices will be allowed!!)
9. NO chumming of any kind!! This includes the use of natural or manufactured attractants either hung behind the boat or from tree limbs, spare rods, bank poles or any other means, with the intent to attract or hold fish to any given area!!
10. Anglers may use any natural or manufactured bait, provided that it is used on a rod and reel and adhered to the line by a hook(s).
11. Each angler may use a maximum of three(3) rods and reels. There is no limit to the number of rods and reels in the boat.
Exceptions - If there are more than two(2) individuals in the boat, than that boat is limited to six(6) rods and reels in the boat. A team consisting of one(1) individual may fish with six(6) rods on the Ohio River, provided that they possess a Kentucky fishing license. Two(2) person teams are still limited to six(6) rods in use between them.
12. Each team may weigh-in a total of six(6) catfish. All fish must be alive!! ( Any fish that is not capable of moving its gills on its own will be considered dead!!)
13. There will be absolutely no culling of fish at the ramp area!! Each team will have a maximum of six(6) catfish in their boat when they arrive at the ramp. 7 or more fish = DISQUALIFICATION!!
14. Life preservers will be worn at take-off!! No exceptions!!
15. All boats will be inspected before the event. Livewells, safety gear, manufacturers tags (boat-motor hp) etc…
16. No boat will anchor with-in 50 yards of an already anchored boat, unless permission is given by the anchored boat. This includes non-tournament boats.
17. No boat will drift with-in 50 yards of an anchored boat, unless permission is granted by the anchored boat.
18. Tournament boats will have no physical contact with another boat, unless a boat is in peril or having trouble of some sort.
19. No trading of fish.
20. All boats must be in the designated area by tournament deadline. This area will be designated at the pre-event meeting. Late to weigh-in = DISQUALIFICATION!!
21. Any person or persons that is known to exhibit behavior that is considered detrimental to the sport of tournament cat fishing will not be considered for membership of DURACATS. This includes, but is not limited to the practice of removing trophy or large catfish from any waters for the reason of personal gain (monetary or otherwise). This does not include catfish guides that are known to release all large catfish that are boated by their clients. It does include those individuals that sell large catfish to pay lakes or processors (I.e. - restaurants, fish markets or organizations for fish fry’s).
22. At no time, is a team allowed to pull up beside an anchored team and enter GPS co-ordinates of the anchored teams spot!! Any team that is found guilty of breaking this rule, will be permanently banned from DURACATS!! Most of the good teams spend endless hours on the water to find quality fishing spots, they are not spending their time and money to find spots for a team that is too lazy to find spots themselves!!
23. At events that we have a drive-thru weigh-in, all teams must remove their fish from their live wells in a timely (but safe and gentle fashion). It should not take a team 10 or 15 minutes to remove 6 fish from a 100 gallon tank!!
24. One team member, over the age of 16, must attend the pre-tournament meeting. This meeting will be held approx. 45 minutes before take-off. At events that we have a weigh site attendee, teams that arrive up to 30 minutes after take-off may fish, but only after they have went through an inspection and rules orientation.
25. Teams will take-off in the order of sign-up.
26. No alcohol during tournament hours.
27. Unsportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated!!
25. All protest must be made before pay-out!! After that, we don’t want to hear about it.
26. All protests will be heard by a council made up of DURACATS officials - They will decide whether any rules have been broken and hand-down any punishments. Their decisions will be final!!
27. Rule violations will be punishable by one(1) or all of the following - Disqualification, Suspension, Lifetime Banishment
Cheating is theft, and theft is punishable by imprisonment!!!!
28. The officials and members of this organization, reserve the right to refuse participation rights to any individual due to the knowledge of any previous history of Unsportsmanlike-Morals. If an existing member is found to exhibit this behavior, he or she may have their participation rights revoked as well.
DURACATS reserves the right to amend any and all rules that may be insufficient due to some unforeseen circumstance that presents itself during the tournament season.