Whether you’re playing ball-and-stick sports or fishing a bass tournament, there are rules you have to follow—they exist to create a level playing field. They take conjecture and favoritism out of the equation if written well.

As the stakes—and prize money—increase in fishing tournaments, the more rules there are. This also means they become more complicated.

Tournament anglers are a wily group and will look for angles in these rules for a competitive advantage. Cheating is not common and can be inadvertent, but it is up to the trail and the competitors to keep anglers honest.

How can we participate if we don’t know them?  It is absolutely essential to know the rules in their entirety.