Current through Register No. 40, October 3, 2024
(a) In addition to
the general restrictions specified in
Fis
503.01 through
Fis
503.05, black bass tournaments shall also be subject
to the following:
(1) Black bass shall only be
held in a functional live well;
(2)
No participant shall hold more than the daily limit of black bass;
(3) Culling of black bass shall be permitted
only during permitted bass tournaments;
(4) Culled black bass shall be released
immediately into the same body of water from which it was caught and in a
physical state as to reasonably insure its survival;
(5) Black bass entered for the weigh-in at
black bass tournaments shall be released unharmed into the same waterbody where
caught, as follows:
a. In lakes and ponds, not
less than 300 feet away from shoreline; and
b. In rivers, at mid-channel not less than
300 feet away from the weigh-in site;
(6) Boats designated by the black bass
tournament sponsor may hold more than the daily limit of black bass solely for
the purpose of releasing black bass after weigh-in;
(7) There shall be no more than one weigh-in
per calendar day in a black bass tournament; and
(8) Black bass tournaments held May 15 to
June 15 shall be subject to the following:
a.
Black bass shall be immediately released at location of capture;
b. Prior to release, black bass may be
quickly measured, or weighed, or both;
c. Black bass shall not be held in a
live-well or otherwise retained longer than the time required for the fish to
be measured and weighed prior to immediate release; and
d. Weigh-ins shall not be allowed during
these tournaments.
(b) Applications for black bass fishing
tournament permits by lottery, using the form "Application for Permit to
Conduct a Fishing Tournament", Rev 10/19, available on line at
https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt746/files/documents/fishing-tournament-app-4.pdf,
shall be processed as follows:
(1)
Applications for award of a black bass tournament permit by lottery shall be
accepted only between October 1 and December 1 by 4:00 pmfor permits requested
for the following year;
(2) No
person or sponsoring entity shall file more than a total of 15 applications for
the lottery, which may include a mix of club level events and non-club level
events. Once this filing limit has been reached, any subsequent application
received from that applicant shall be deemed ineligible for the lottery and
shall not be processed;
(3) No
application shall be processed if the person or sponsoring entity has failed to
file all of the reports required by
Fis
503.04 for previous tournaments. Any such application
received shall be denied without processing;
(4) Each application for a black bass
tournament permit by lottery received between October 1 and December 1 shall be
assigned a computer-generated, random number, which shall be placed into a
database and ranked by a computer-generated drawing of those random
numbers;
(5) Available dates for
each waterbody shall be offered to the lottery applicants in the order
determined by the lottery. If payment of the fee as set in
Fis
1110.05 is not received within 30 days of the date of
the notice of selection, the application(s) shall be denied for non-payment.
The available date shall not be thereafter awarded as part of the lottery
process, but shall be available for award under paragraph (c) below;
and
(6) The decision of the
executive director as to the results of the random number lottery drawing, the
assignment of random numbering to applications, and the award of permits by
lottery shall be final and not subject to further review.
(c) Beginning March 1 of each year,
applications for the award of black bass fishing tournament permits for any
date and waterbody remaining available after the award of tournament permits by
lottery shall be accepted, using the form specified in paragraph (b) above, and
processed as follows:
(1) Each application
received March 1 or after shall be issued a sequential number in the order the
applications are received;
(2) No
application shall be processed if the person or sponsoring entity has failed to
file all of the reports required by
Fis
503.04 for a previous tournament. Any such application
received shall be denied without processing;
(3) Each applicant shall be offered an
opportunity to pay the fee, as set in
Fis
1110.05 for the permit, in the order of the sequential
number assignment. If payment is not received within 30 days of the date of the
notice, or within 10 days prior to the date of the tournament if the date is
less than 30 days from the date of the notice, the permit shall not be awarded;
(4) Once the period to pay the fee
has expired, applications shall be denied for nonpayment, and the permit shall
be offered to the next applicant in the order of the sequential number
assignment, upon the same condition to pay the fee on a timely basis;
and
(5) The decision of the
executive director as to the assignment of sequential numbering to applications
and the award of permits shall be final and not subject to further
review.
(d) Black bass
tournaments held on Umbagog Lake, Province Lake, Balch Pond, Horn Pond, Great
East Lake, Milton Watershed, Lower Kimball Pond, and Spaulding Pond shall be
subject to the following:
(1) Black bass shall
be taken only by artificial lures and flies;
(2) From April 1 through May 14, permittees
may hold up to 2 black bass in a live well and submitted for the black bass
tournament. July 1 through November 30, permittees may hold up to 5 black bass
in a live well and submitted for the black bass tournament;
(3) From May 15 through June 30, all black
bass shall be immediately released unharmed at the site of catch; and
(4) No weigh-in black bass tournaments will
be permitted on a body of water less than or equal to 500 acres, and there
shall be no more than 10 weigh-in tournaments on any water body greater than
500 acres annually, only 4 of which may be open tournaments. These waters shall
include Umbagog Lake, Province Lake, Balch Pond, Horn Pond, Great East Lake,
and Milton Watershed.
(e) The number of boats participating in a
permitted black bass tournament shall not exceed the maximum number listed on
the fishing tournament permit application.
(See Revision Notes at chapter headings for Fis 400 and
Fis 500) #5016, eff 1-1-91; amd #5321, eff 1-31-92; ss by #6478, INTERIM, eff
3-28-97, EXPIRED: 7-26-97
New. #6917, eff 12-22-98; amd by
#7858, eff 4-1-03; ss by #8119, eff 1-1-05; amd by #9250, eff 8-30-08; amd by
#9249, eff 1-1-09; ss by #9773-A, eff
1-1-11
