Proposed Changes to SAFBAF Bank Angling Rules

SOUTH AFRICAN FRESHWATER BANK ANGLING FEDERATION PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE SAFBAF BANK ANGLING RULES
(FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY)1.

1.THE ANGLING AREA:
1.1. The angling area shall have a length of 40 meter (left to right) with the angling peg in the middle of the angling area. The width of the angling camp is 8 meters (front to back)ANGLING AREA 20 METERS 20 METERS ANGLING PEG CORRIDOR

1.2. The two competitors shall be position on each side of the angling peg namely one to the left and one to the right of the angling peg. The competitors will not be allowed to change places during the competition. Anglers may use the full length of the angling area in the execution of any angling related action.

1.3. The participants are not allowed to place their rods further than four meters to the left or the right of the angling peg.

2. ANGLING RULES:
2.1. Participants are not allowed to fish with more than two fishing rods at any one time. Each rod will be equipped with a reel and only two single hooks are allowed to be tied to the trace. Additional equipped rods are allowed but such rods must be placed in a horizontal position behind the anglers facing away from the water.

2.2. No electrical or mechanical equipment that can assist in casting the bait into the water, to indicate a bite or to strike a fish will be allowed during a competition. The usage of 2 electronic and acoustic bite signalling units are not allowed. The usage of remote controlled and echo scanner devices are forbidden.

2.3. A competitor may not leave or abandon his angling area during the competition except where the rules specifically grant permission thereto.

2.4. The angling area extends rectangular with the general water line. The stewards may indicate the direction where the angler must cast using chalk or spray-paint or a template to place a direction peg at the back of the angling peg.

2.5. The casting of the bait shall be from the natural bank from any position behind the casting border as indicated through the placement of the angling peg.

2.6. Competitors must play and land their fish within their angling area. If an angler in the process of playing a fish gets entangled with the lines of an adjacent angler, the two anglers may at the border of their angling areas, try to loosen or untie their lines. Any fish caught in this process is disqualified and must be released.

2.7. If anglers in the process of untying the lines overstep the borderline, they must as soon as possible retreat to their respective angling areas. Any fish landed outside of the angling area will be disqualified and must immediately be released.

2.8. Competitors are allowed to enter the water to land a fish or to conduct angling related tasks such as the placement of holding nets or to untie angling lines. Competitors are however not allowed to enter deeper than their hips into the water. No equipment other than a landing net may be used by the angler or his helper to land a fish. Movement into the water is limited to the stretch of water direct in front and parallel with the angling area. Footwear is compulsory.

2.9. The catching of fish is judged valid if a fish is incidentally hooked outside the mouth. The deliberate foul hooking of fish is however strictly forbidden. If two anglers hook the same fish in the body, the fish will be released. A fish is landed when it is in the landing net or on the bank.

2.10. Landed fish must be placed on a wet unhooking mat for the purpose of unhooking the fish. If a fish after landing slips from the angler or his helper hands into the water before he places it in the holding net and this person retrieve the fish, he is allowed to keep the fish and may place it in the involved anglers holding net.

2.11. Any fish landed must be placed in the anglers holding net before he is allowed to cast again. The transgression of this stipulation will lead to the fish be released into the water. Angling using floats is forbidden.

3. FISH CONSERVATION
3.1. Fish must be kept alive in holding nets which are specifically developed to safe guard fish. During competitions the holding nets must be placed on a stand or peg to enable the fish to move around freely. Holding nets must be submerged along their full length without any object inside. No other system of preserving the caught fish is allowed. The landing nets and holding nets must be of a soft material that is not harmful to the fish.

3.2. As to two competitors within the same angling area is classified individually and not as a pair, the catches should be kept apart and weigh separately. The angler to the left of the angling peg shall place his keep nets to the left of his outside rod and the angler on the right shall his keep nets to the right of his outside rod.

3.3. Any competitors, who, due to an evident carelessness, present dead, maimed or damaged fish for weighing, will be sanctioned, and such fish will not be considered for weigh-in. Holding nets must be placed so that the stewards can see them.

4. WEIGHING PROCEDURES
4.1. All fish species caught may be weighed-in provided that such fish comply with the legal size limitations of the Host Nation. Fish which do not comply with the stipulations of the ordnance will be disqualified. The legal regulations must be included in the official program and copies thereof must be hand out at the first Managers Meeting.

4.2. The weigh-in must be carried out with scales certified with a conformity certificate; the scales shall be suspended on a tripod placed on the ground. In all four zones (sectors), the scales must be identical, both with regards to the model and the brand and with a graduated scale with indications every 10 grams. The weighing must be performed in grams.

4.3. The weigh-in in each zone will be carried out by two weighing stewards. One steward will be responsible for the weighing while the other steward will be responsible for registering the weight on the official document.

4.4. When the weighing team arrives at the angling camp, the anglers must one by one bring their keep nets to the scale to be weighed in. The fish should be taken out of the keep nets and deposited in the weighing sling. After the weighing, the fish must immediately be put back in the water under the supervision of the weighing stewards. This operation must be performed with great care.

4.5. The scale reading must be visible to the weighing stewards and the competitors assigned to them. No person apart from weighing stewards, the competitors, their team manager and the Jury, has the authorization to intervene neither verbally nor in any other way for claims regarding the weighing.

4.6. The competitor whose catch is being weighed, or his angling partner, must be present at the weigh-in to confirm and endorse the weight of the fish caught and signs the weighing sheet on which the catch is recorded. Once the weighing procedure is finished, the fish returned to the water and the score sheet signed, no complaint about the weight will be accepted.

4.7. All weighing shall be done as often as possible but at least every 2-3 hours. After each weigh-in the fixed scorecards of the two anglers at the back of an angling area should be updated by the weighing stewards.