Section Fis 503.06 - Black Bass Tournaments(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; andb. 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; andd. 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.N.H. Admin. Code § Fis 503.06
(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
Amended by Volume XXXV Number 27, Filed July 9, 2015 , Proposed by #10854, Effective 6/22/2015, Expires6/22/2025.Amended by Volume XXXV Number 49, Filed December 10, 2015, Proposed by #10981, Effective 1/1/2016, Expires1/1/2026.Amended by Volume XXXIX Number 19, Filed May 9, 2019, Proposed by #12768, Effective 5/3/2019, Expires 5/3/2029.Amended by Volume XXXIX Number 50, Filed December 12, 2019, Proposed by #12933, Effective 11/28/2019, Expires 11/28/2029.Amended by Number 45, Filed November 9, 2023, Proposed by #13798, Effective 11/1/2023, Expires 11/1/2033.