Rules

DEFINITIONS

Organisers Barlow Promotions Ltd t/a BCAC.

Officials Any person appointed as such by the organisers.

Competitor: Any angler accepted for entry into the tournament by the organisers.

Pair: Two anglers fishing together and registered as a pair.

Team: Three pairs registered together and entered into the team tournament.

The Organisers are Barlow Promotions Ltd who have absolute control and discretion over the competition, the rules and any amendments thereto.
Entry to the competition will be by way of application to the organisers via their web site. The organisers reserve the right to refuse entry, cancel or change the dates of any event at their discretion. Anglers may initially only enter TWO events – should you qualify in your first event you are not permitted to fish in a second qualifier and as such this space must be given up – please note that no refunds will be given under any circumstances unless you can find a replacement pair in which case a full refund (less PayPal fees) will be given.
The competition will be run on a 48hr-eliminator competition where anglers compete for places in a final. Each eliminator shall be of 48 hours in duration. There will be a maximum of 12 pairs in each eliminator or 24 pairs in a super eliminator.
The top 3 placed pairs from each eliminator (1st from each section in a sectioned eliminator) will qualify for the semi-finals.
Competitors must arrive and register themselves no later than 08.30 am on the morning of the draw (unless stated otherwise prior to the event).
Competitors must attend the draw in person, which will take place in the event Head Quarters at 09.00 am on the morning of the competition (unless stated otherwise prior to the event). Any pair not having at least one member present at the start of the draw will be excluded from the draw and may be excluded from the competition and will only be allowed to take up a remaining swim. No refunds will be given for exclusion for any reason.
The allocation of swims will be by way of a watercraft draw,for qualifiers and semi finals, whereby the first pair to be drawn shall have first choice of swim. The second name drawn shall have second choice and the draw will continue until the last pair has been drawn and has been allocated the last remaining swim. The Final will be by way of an Out of the bag draw, whereby a competitors name will be draw followed by a peg number.
The decision of the draw master is final. Once a swim number has been stated to the organisers by the competitors the choice is deemed final.
All competitors must be in possession of an Environment Agency Rod Licence which will be checked at registration or during the competition. Anyone not producing a rod licence upon request will be excluded from the competition.
Each competitor must set up their rods and accommodation within the boundaries authorised by the officials. All angling activities apart from the use of distance sticks must be done within this area. Competitors must not cast outside the limits of their swim, such limit to be marked by an imaginary line marking the middle distance between theirs and the neighbours peg marker. Any disputes as to the competitors casting outside the area must be reported immediately to the marshals. Marshals have the discretion to request that competitors re-cast their rods as and when directed and such request must be complied with.
At the sound of the first horn competitors may commence plumbing and baiting of the swims. One hour later upon hearing the horn sound a second time, anglers may cast in their baited hook (changes to this will decided upon at the draw).
There will be no baiting up by any means other than hand/throwing stick/bait rocket/ spoon or catapult. Free Baits may be attached by PVA to the rig. Wading or swimming to bait up will not be permitted. Bait boats and long handle baiting spoons are not allowed.
Competitors will be permitted to use a maximum of four rods per pair unless otherwise stated by the organisers and must cast and bait their own rods, and play/ land their own fish. No assistance shall be allowed from any person other than a member of that competitors pair. In the event that an angler is fishing the event on his / her own, they will only be permitted to use the usual number of rods permitted for that venue.
All fish caught must be reported as soon as possible to the marshals.
Each fish must be witnessed by at least 1 marshal or 1 marshal and 1 competitor in the event that the parties are known to each other (other than the captor or his team mate).
Each fish must be weighed on the official equipment of the marshals or it may be excluded from the results. To prevent cheating, where requested please do not return fish to the water before they have been photographed.
Any photographs must be taken by the side of the peg marker and include the peg number, fish and captor.
In the unlikely event of a Marshall being unable to immediately weigh and witness a captured fish it MAY be placed in a carp sack or net for holding until such a time as a marshal is available. The official weight will be that which is recorded by the marshal following weighing procedure by the officials using the official equipment. Retained fish must be secured as fish lost prior to the weighing are the responsibility of the competitor and will not count towards the final results.
Competitors are required to possess their own sacks/retainers as in the event of a multiple capture sacks/retainers will be required to hold fish until weighing. They will not be provided by the organisers.
Hooked fish should be landed without interfering with other competitor lines or they may be omitted from the final result. Any competitor who is aggrieved by another competitors hooked fish moving his lines or disturbing his presentation must make a formal complaint to the marshals as soon as is reasonably practical or in any case within 30 minutes. There will be an organisation appointed panel of judges before whom the complaint will be placed and who will make a decision as to whether to allow that fish to count in the final results. The judge’s decision will be final.
Only officials, press, competitors and marshals are permitted to bivvy up on the banks or stay in the competition area after the hours of darkness unless authorised by the organisers.
The organisers retain the right to search all competitors tackle or vehicles to combat any form of cheating or rule breaking. Anglers found cheating will banned for life from the British Carp Angling Championships and will be reported to the promoters and the national angling press.
The competition shall be decided on total weight with the pair having the greatest weight being declared the winners. In the event of a tie the pair with the most fish will be declared the winners. If the result is still tied the pair catching the biggest fish will be declared the winner. If there is still a tied position then the “fastest fish” rule applies and the angler that landed the fish first will be declared the winner.
In the event that an insufficient number of fish are caught during an event to fill the qualifying places or that the fish caught still cause a tie breaker situation, the competitors shall take part in a “cast off” which shall involve a test of accurate casting. The pairs adjudged as being the most accurate shall be classed as qualifiers.
Only Leather, Common, Mirror and Ghost Carp over 5lbs in weight will count in the competition. No Koi.
Should any competitor wish to leave their swim for any reason whatsoever they must ensure that their team mate holds the appropriate number of rod licences to allow the use of four rods. If the team mate does not hold such licence the competitor leaving the swim must reel their rods in and their baited hooks must be removed from the water.
If a venue allows wading you will be permitted to enter water to a maximum of 3 meters from the bank, if venue rules state no wading then you will not be allowed into the water. No swimming.
Boats, remote control bait boats, Drones and Fish Spies, Smartcast echo sounders or similar are prohibited.
All lines must be cast into the water from the bank using a fishing rod and reel or pole.
Each line may only have one hook attached. For conservation purposes the organisers request that barbless or micro-barb hooks are used. Fishery rules apply in this regard unless otherwise stated.
For a fish to count in the competition it must have been hooked squarely in the mouth or within 2 cm of the mouth. Foul hooked fish will be excluded and shall be returned to the water unregistered.
Each team shall be permitted to use up to four rods and baited hooks in the water at any time and have a further two rods per person in reserve set up and ready to use.
Two plumbing and two spod rods per pair are allowed in addition to the baited rods. Once used, plumbing and spod rod lines must be removed form the water. Unethical used of the spod / marker line may result in disqualification or penalty.
Any team using more than the authorised number of baited rods will be immediately disqualified from the competition and reported to the promoters.
Fish must be landed within 3 meters along the bank of their peg marker. Competitors are not permitted to wade or walk down the bank to land fish unless authorised to do so by an official. .
Competitors must comply with requests from authorised media members at all times regarding media coverage.
The sounding of a horn will signify the end of each competition whereupon competitors must immediately withdraw their lines from the water.
Any fish hooked before the final horn sounds must be landed within 10 minutes of the end of the competition or it will be excluded from the final results.
Awards and qualification for the next stage will be granted on the following basis:
Eliminator rounds – Top 3 pairs by weight or section winners in a sectioned eliminator
Semi Finals – 1st place from each section
Finals – Top 3 pairs by weight
In the event of a fish becoming irretrievably snagged the boat rule may, where practical, be applied. This will be at the discretion of the event organiser. For full details of the boat rule please see below.
The awards ceremony will take place at the event HQ at the time set by the organisers.
If any team is excluded from the competition no refund shall be given. If a team has to cancel their entry a refund will only be given if an alternative team can fill their reserved entry. Please see our T&C for any admin charges.
All competitors must behave in a courteous manor at all times. Use of foul and threatening language, excessive consumption of alcohol and/or use of recreational drugs will not be tolerated and will result in a red card.
If any competitor wants to make a complaint about the conduct or practice of another competitor they must do so to their marshal within 30minutes of any alleged infringement taking place. Any competitor wishing to challenge the results of an event or a decision made by a marshal at the event must do so to the organisers within 1 hour of the end of the competition and must make a formal written challenge / appeal to BCAC HQ within 24 hours of the event concluding. The appeals procedure will then apply and the result will be provisional until the outcome by the adjudicating panel. The appeals procedure will be notified to all concerned parties as appropriate.
Fishery rules apply unless otherwise amended to for the purposes of the event by the fishery manager / organiser. Please make yourselves aware of fishery rules and adhere to them.
For the Final the cash prize fund will be as follows:
1st place – £20,000
2nd place – £3000
3rd place   – £2000
Should a match need to be cut short in duration for reasons beyond the organisers control, the following will apply. If the match is beyond half way then the result at the time the match is cut short will stand. If the match is less than half way through then a cast off will be held to determine the qualifying positions.
These rules have been approved by the BCAC adjudicating committee

In addition to the main individual event there will be a team event running concurrently.

TEAM EVENT RULES

PLEASE NOTE THAT A TEAM MUST CONSIST OF THREE UNIQUE PAIRS – YOU CANNOT REPRESENT A TEAM TWICE OR REPRESENT ANOTHER TEAM IF YOU HAVE ALREADY FISHED FOR A PREVIOUS TEAM.

Three pairs register as a team by paying the team registration fee of £150.00 and providing a team name.
The team must register their pairs and the venues that they will be fishing in prior to the first pair competing in their first eliminator.
The team will fish in three eliminators scoring points for their result. A win attracts 12 points, a blank scores no points
Points also accrue in the semi finals with 13 points for a win down to 0 points for a blank
The team event will be decided at the end of the last semi finals where the team with the highest points will be declared the winner
In the event of a draw for points, the team with the highest scoring places will be declared the winners.
Team points will only count based on the result of a competitor/s first qualifier – i.e. If a person or persons enter a second qualifier no points will be allocated irrespective of the result.
The winners of the team event will receive a prize of free Team registration fee into the following years event.

BOAT RULES

The boat rule is used for fish care and safety. If a fish becomes irretrievably snagged the rod must be passed to a marshal who will make a decision as to whether the fish is indeed snagged. If it is deemed snagged, a boat, if available, may be launched into the water from the competitors swim and the line retrieved without harm to the fish. Only fishery officials / BCAC officials are allowed to enter the boat and may take such items with them as they feel will assist in the job. The rod and competitors must stay on the bank and the fish, if freed, must be played and landed from the bank. A period of 10 minutes is allowed for the fish to be landed once the boat deems the fish to be freed, in the event of a fish getting snagged immediately after being freed the 10 minutes will be paused until the fish is freed again. If the fish is landed within the 10 period the fish will be counted, however if the competitor exceeds the 10 minutes the marshals have the authority to count the fish taking into consideration the local conditions at the time. The boat rule may only be applied twice per pair per event. In the event of it being required to be used more than twice any additional fish will not count towards scores under any circumstances and the competitors will be advised to alter their angling practices.

USE OF A ‘RUNNER’

Runners are permitted at these events. They are permitted to be within the bivvy areas, set up rods, mark distances using wrap sticks etc, tie rigs, leaders, make up spod mixes, bags, sticks etc.
Once rods have been wrapped up and/or set up they are not permitted to touch them or anything attached to them as it will then be classed as a live rod until a caught fish has been landed and is on the unhooking mat.
Runners CAN NOT, strike rods, tighten clutches, pass landing nets to competitors when playing fish.
Runners are not permitted within a rod length of the waters edge unless instructed by an event official.