River To Reef In Hours

Time: The ‘In Hours’ River to Reef Competition will run on the second Saturday of each month, coinciding with the Friday Networking Evening, Saturday ‘In Hours’ Game Fishing Competition and the Saturday evening Debrief. Lines in from 5am, lines out at 4pm outside daylight savings and 5pm during daylight savings. 
 

Location: Members must fish within the boundaries of the Coffs Coast Game and Sport Fishing Club Sched Map and associated estuaries opening out to the Sched Map area. Members may leave and return from anywhere within the mapped area if fishing BRE. Any members fishing offshore (passed the mouth of the harbour or any estuary) must leave from Coffs Harbour Port (harbour). Anglers can fish land-based or boat. 

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Target species list: There is a list of overall species that can be chosen to be targeted each month. A specific list of 5 target species (2 BRE and 3 Reef) will be given on the first Saturday of each month for planning purposes for the following Saturday. There will be a random target species released each month also for a lucky door prize 

 

Scoring:
Monthly: there will be prizes in the following categories: 
Champion Junior BRE (up to 15 years) 
Champion Junior Reef (up to 15 years) 
Champion Angler Variety BRE (Most species caught on that day) 
Champion Angler Variety Reef (Most species caught on that day) 
Most Meritorious Fish (committee decide) 
Lucky Random Species (each month a species is selected at random from the list of 23, Longest fish) 

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Yearly: each In Hours River to Reef Comp, anglers’ longest fish in each species (target species or not but must be on the list of overall species) will be recorded and at the end of the 12 months, the longest fish in each species will be awarded a trophy. The aim is to encourage anglers to upgrade in each species to take out longest fish in each species ‘In Hours’. 

There will be a junior (up to 16 years) and a senior (16 years at the beginning of the fishing year (June 1st) and over) category. 

 

​Membership rules: Each member fishing the competition must be a financial member of Coffs Coast Game and Sport Fishing Club. A prospective member will be permitted to fish twice without a membership before needing to join as a financial member to continue fishing in the River to Reef ‘In Hours’ Competition.  

 

DPI regulations: All fish must be of legal size to be entered into the competition. If catches are kept for the table, proper fish handling techniques need to be used. This includes measuring and photographing the fish before it has been humanely killed and bled. Legal measurements and bag limits must be adhered to. Clean away any evidence of blood or damage to the fish for the photograph. 

 

Log on: Each angler must be logged on before the capture of a fish for it to count. Each angler/group/boat must log on with a text message to the club phone from 4am with names of anglers, area of operation and ETR.  Offshore anglers are encouraged to log on and off with Marine Rescue on Channel 16. The club will be using Channel 81 for the game fishing In Hours and we are able to communicate with other boats; excluding the following times to ensure the In Hours Game Fishing Scheds are not interrupted: 7am until end of boat logging on with sched boat, 9am until the end of sched, 11am until the end of sched, 1pm until the end of sched, 3pm until the end of sched, 5pm until the end of sched during daylight savings OR 4pm until the end of sched for the rest of the year. This only occurs between May and September. All anglers must log off by sending a text to the club phone to inform the tournament director that they have returned to port or to their nominated destination by 6pm. Log on and off will be moderated by tournament director or nominated person on the day. 

 

Photographing fish: All fish must be measured on a commercial brag mat (Club or

DPI mat or a commercial brag mat displaying millimetres) with the nose of the fish

firmly on the 0 of the brag mat. The fish must be straight on the brag mat with the

tail in natural position (not stretched out). Measurement on extreme tip of the tail

is the overall measurement of the fish. Fish must be intact (not killed/bled).

No blood is to be displayed in the photograph. Where possible, a photo of you

holding the fish is to be sent alongside your brag mat photo. 

 

Prizes: These will include product and vouchers for local and industry businesses such as Motackle, BCF sponsors and local hospitality/retail businesses. Prizes will be given at the next Friday Networking Session to give the scorer ample time to ratify results. A lucky door prize will be given to one lucky member to attend this event (if a sponsor is secured). 

 

Presentation Night: The ‘In Hours’ River to Reef champion in each species for the year will be crowned. There will also be a trophy for Champion Junior and Champion Senior. This person will be the person to achieve the most winning species in the year of the competition.  

 

Cheating/discrepancies: In the case of cheating or concerns of validity of a catch, please inform competition director ASAP and a decision will be made by the competition committee. In the case of discrepancies, the tournament committee will have the final decision on prize winners.  

 

Tie/draw: In the case of a draw in a species, countback will be used to determine the winner. All photos will have a time stamp on it when sent in, which will be used to determine the countback.  

 

Weather: In the case of gale force winds or marine warning, competition will be delayed to the 4th Saturday of that month. Responsibility of safety is trusted to the skippers of each boat. 

 

Boat Safety: All boats must be registered with the club with a Boat Safety Form to ensure the boat has all the necessary safety equipment required to participate.  

 

Any species that cross over from the River to Reef ‘In Hours’ Competition into the Game ‘In Hours’ Competition, may only be entered into one of the two comps.