Rules for GWFFA Club Championship Competitions.

Grafham Water Fly Fishers Association.

Rules for GWFFA Club Championship Competitions.

Revised 2011  

General 

1.     The rules shall be periodically reviewed by the elected committee. 

2.     Competitions shall be open to all life and paid up members of the Association. 

3.     All participants must be in possession of a valid permit and licence. 

4.     Bank & Boat matches will be fished to fishery rules except for any concessions as agreed with the fishery management. 

5.     Match finish & Weigh-in times.  Competitors who are late without a reasonable cause shall be deemed to be clean. Blanks must be registered at the weigh-in otherwise the member will be deemed not to have fished, and subsequently be awarded points as per rule 23. 

Bank Competitions 

6.     Anglers may commence fishing from the match times published.  Cease fishing times will be published and or notified and weighing-in must be done at the lodge not later than 30 minutes after the finish time.   

7.     Subject to a dispensation by the fishery management, bank matches will be fished to an 8 fish limit with no fish to be released. All season tickets with a reduced limit, other than the Blue Catch & Release ticket, will normally be permitted, subject to fishery agreement, to fish to an 8 fish limit. Blue ticket holders will receive the same 8 fish dispensation provided that an ‘eight fish day’ is signed off prior to fishing in the anglers log book.  

8.     To ensure as far as practical equal opportunity for all competitors for bank matches, due to their limitation in number and the advantage they offer the jetties/stones at; the Lodge Harbour, Marlow (nr G Marker) and Harts Bluff at Hill Farm will be excluded from all bank competitions. 

9.     Competitors wishing to finish early must have their catch weighed and witnessed by an AWS bailiff or GWFFA member. 

Boat Competitions 

10.  Entries for these competitions will be accepted on a first come - first served basis. 

11.  Members must notify the club Captain of their intention to fish at least 6 days before the match. 

12.  Boat partners will be drawn from the entrants in free draw, however less experienced boat fishing members will be able to notify the captain of their wish to fish with an experienced member and the captain will if required modify the draw to ensure that a suitable partner is provided. 

a.     Special conditions will be granted to junior and lady members.

b.    In the event of odd numbers the last to book in will be asked to fish alone, unless they are a novice or junior. 

13.  Command of the boat shall alternate each 2 hours, or as mutually agreed. 

14.  Boat matches will be fished to an 8 fish limit, with no time bonus. 

15.  Start time for all matches will be 0900 – 1800 with a compulsory break for lunch between 1300 – 1400 and boats shall be back at the jetty by 1800 hrs. Weighing-in will be done at the lodge.  

16.  Fishing will be to fishery rules except that trolling & back drifting shall not be allowed. (Anchoring may be barred, subject to the Captain’s discretion, on days where certain conditions prevail. This is unlikely given that anchoring around the "Boil" is not permitted anyway). 

17.  Members will normally be responsible for obtaining their boat tickets on the morning of the match unless notified otherwise. The club will book boats for the competition. A £1.00 fee will be charged for the trophy fund.

18.  Members advising their intention to take part and subsequently failing to turn up will be liable to boat charges in the event of that boat remaining unused. 

Scoring System 

19.  Each competition shall be determined upon the weight of the catch. 

20.  Points will be awarded according to finishing place, 1 point for 1^st, 2 for second etc. In the event of there being equal weights, the places will then be determined by number of fish and then, if necessary, by the biggest fish. 

21.  All competitors to weigh-in, blanks must be declared and at least 2 rounds must be fished in each category to qualify for an overall championship place. 

22.  Over the 6 rounds, points from the best 2 bank and best 2 boat results shall be added to arrive at an overall championship place.  Places for the bank and boat competition shall be awarded to the best 2 from 3 results in each category. 

23.  Blanks must be registered at the weigh-in and will be awarded points equal to the highest attended match of the overall championship plus one point. If a blank is not registered it will be deemed that the member did not fish and will be awarded points equal to the highest match attendance plus two points. 

24.  In the event of 2 or more anglers accumulating the same points total, the total weight of the 4 scoring rounds shall determine the winner.  In the unlikely event of a tie still remaining then from the 4 scoring rounds the greatest number of fish and then the largest fish shall be used, in that order, to determine the winner. 

Juniors

25.  Any participating junior under the age of 14 should ideally fish with a parent or adult nominated by the parent. Alternatively, by agreement with the partner angler, the parent or guardian will be invited to accompany the junior and partner angler in the boat.  Juniors age 14 to 17years inclusive, should be partnered by a willing adult boat partner.  In both cases the responsible adult shall observe written guidance provided by the club.  In the event that satisfactory arrangements cannot be made in either case the junior may be asked to withdraw from the competition.

26.  Special guidance applies to the participation of juniors (i.e. those under 18 years of age) which will be made available to those anglers and to their guardians. 

Trophies and Prizes

27. Club Championship Trophy, 'The Ship'.  The trophy for the overall club champion is awarded to the angler with the best 4 results (2 bank/2 boat) from the six rounds as in paragraph. 23.

28.  Bank Competition Trophy, ‘The Wyndham Davies Cup’.  Places shall be awarded to the best 2 from 3 results of the bank competitions. 

29.  Boat Competition Trophy, ‘The Jim Coulam Trophy’.  Places shall be awarded to the best 2 from 3 results of the boat competitions. 

30. Individual prizes.  Subject to review by committee, cash prizes, normally in voucher form, will be awarded to first and second places in each round of the championship.  Engraved glassware or other prizes are normally provided to the top three places in the overall championship.

31.  Biggest Basket Trophy. This will be awarded to the member who has the heaviest weight of fish in any bank or boat match in a club championship round.  

32.  Big Fish Monthly Prize.  A monthly cash prize, normally in voucher form, will be awarded for the largest Brown or Rainbow caught each month.  The fish must be caught from Grafham, Rutland or Pitsford, Ravensthorpe is excluded due to the higher than average weight of fish stocked.  The fish must be weighed and witnessed by an AWS Bailiff or a GWFFA member and a claim submitted to Kevin Appleton.  The prize winners will be announced annually.