2020

OFFICIAL JOHN PAUL GRIFFON MEMORIAL

INVITATIONAL FISHING TOURNAMENT

GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

(see Guided Division Rules Supplement for additional rules)

1) All Texas Parks and Wildlife rules and regulations must be observed.

2) All anglers must have a current Texas Fishing License and Saltwater stamp.

3) All fish must be caught on rod and reel.

4) Tournament and Open Division teams will be composed of no more than 4 anglers.  A 5 man team may only be entered in the  Guided Division with Tournament Directors approval.

5) Open Division teams may fish with any artificial, and any live or dead bait, deemed legal by TPWD regulations.

6) Hardware Division teams may only fish with artificial lures.

7) Any person who has guided during the previous year is prohibited from participating in the Open or Hardware Divisions and is designated as the guide for that team.

8) Tournament fishing is limited to the lower Laguna Madre Bay system, THE BAFFIN BAY COMPLEX, THE SURF AND JETTIES ARE OFF LIMITS.

9) All angling teams must leave, fish, and return to Port Mansfield using no more than one watercraft. (No kayaks, canoes, jet skis, etc...)

10) Any team that leaves the port when the severe weather flags are out (red flags at the Port Mansfield Pavilion) will be subject to disqualification for that day’s fishing. When the red flags are lowered, the tournament will resume.

11) Legal fishing hours are from 6:15 am to 4:00 pm Friday and 6:15 am to 4:00 pm Saturday.  Anglers must remain onboard their watercraft until 6:15 am each morning, and are subject to Team disqualification for the day of the infraction.

12) All fish must be weighed in at the Port Mansfield Pavilion.

13) All decisions of the Tournament Directors are FINAL.

14) The weigh-in station will be open from 4:00pm to 5:00pm on both Friday and Saturday.

A team member with the team's fish must be checked-in at the weigh-in station by closing each day. NO EXCEPTIONS

15) The Tournament Directors reserve the right to refuse application or entry from any prospective or current entrant with or without cause at their sole discretion. Any applicant refused entry shall be entitled to a full refund of paid entry fees.

16) Frozen or mutilated fish will be disqualified. All fish must have been caught the day of the weigh-in during the tournament fishing hours and shall be in a fresh and edible condition at the time of the weigh-in. Fish with damaged fins, tails or noses will be disqualified. NO EXCEPTIONS

17) Each day of the tournament, teams will weigh their heaviest combination of up to FIVE legal speckled trout, up to THREE legal redfish and up to TWO legal flounder. The combined stringer cannot contain more than two speckled trout 25 inches long or longer per day (per updated TPWD regulations). 

18) All fish will be measured/checked for length. The entered stringer will be weighed as one combined unit. In the event of a tie in total combined weights, the winner will be determined by the earliest weighed stringer on Saturday. Standings within the big fish categories shall be determined by weight, then length, then earliest weighed. Method of measurement: Nose of fish to a squeezed tail total length (measured to longest attainable length).

19) SLOT LIMITS are:

Redfish    20" – 28"           * NOTE * Oversized/tagged redfish are ineligible

Trout       15" and greater (no more than 2 trout, 25 inches or over, per day per team)

Flounder 14" and greater

20) Any team presenting an illegal fish at the weigh station, (i.e. fish placed on the weigh table) will be cause for disqualification of that fish.  That fish may not be replaced on the team’s stringer. Any team that presents a second illegal fish during the tournament will cause the team’s stringer to be disqualified for the day the second fish was presented.

21) Protests must be filed in writing the same day prior to end of weigh-in time. $50 must accompany protest, to be returned if protest is deemed justified by the Tournament Directors.

TOURNAMENT FISHING BOUNDARIES

NORTH BOUNDARY-No farther north than marker-3 in the ICW-land cut.

PORT MANSFIELD JETTY- Not past a line from the western end of the north and south jetty rocks.

SOUTH BOUNDARY-No farther south than the Queen Isabella Causeway.

Just click on the map and scroll around.  You can pan (click and drag), zoom (mouse thumbwheel), and add the Google Earth image by clicking the Satellite box in the lower left corner.  Click the menu icon to snap straight to the selected Boundary.