Plan the weekend

The comp is scored in the Flatty Father app, scored by Leaderfish. Every angler on every team must be set up in it before Friday, whether or not they log fish themselves.

• Log every fish in the app: the photo on the brag mat with your keytag, the species, who caught it and the length.
• Every fish is checked by an official from its photo before it counts. If one isn't accepted, the app says why, and you can ask for another look.
• No signal is fine. Once a fish is saved in the app it's lodged, with the time the photo was taken, and it sends itself when you're back in range.
• The leaderboard is live in the app, on fishingclassics.com.au and on the screens at Scallywags. It goes dark at 1:00pm on Friday and Saturday and from 8:00am on Sunday, and comes back at each night's reveal.
• Stuck? Help is in the app (Profile, then Help), or message @leaderfish.au on Instagram.

Fish are measured from the mouth to the tip of the tail. A fish under the minimum doesn't count.

Flathead

30cm

Champion Team, Divisional Champions, Champion Junior, Champion Female, Champion Angler, the biggest flathead prizes

Bream

28cm

The biggest bream prizes, Champion Angler

Mulloway

60cm

Biggest Mulloway, Champion Angler

Fishing times. Teams fish only within the times on the run sheet, never before or after. The Tournament Director can change a start or finish time for good reason, and will announce it at the briefing or in the app.

Lunch stop. Fishing stops for lunch on one day only: Saturday, unless the weather makes Friday the better day, in which case we'll announce it a few days before. Keytags go back on the board by 12:00pm, with the same late penalties as any other return, and teams collect them and head back out at 12:30pm. A fish photographed between 12:00 and 12:30pm on the lunch day doesn't count.

Catch photo. Taken directly above the centre of the fish. The fish's mouth touches the 0cm end of the official brag mat. Your team's keytag is fully visible, and so is the measurement the tip of the tail reaches.

Log the catch. Log every fish in the app before your keytag goes back. Officials check each one from its photo, and the points go to your team once it's accepted.

Key tags. Each team is given a unique keytag at Friday's briefing, and a different one before each fishing day, at Karbeethong at 6:45am on Saturday and Sunday. It must be in every catch photo, clearly visible and in full.

Returning your keytag. The whole team must be back at Karbeethong Boat Ramp, in its boat, with its keytag, by lines up. Only a member of your team can hand it in.

Late keytag. If your team is late back, a time penalty applies, as explained at the briefing. If you're 20 minutes or more late, your team's catches from that session don't count.

Released fish. A fish that doesn't swim away once released can't be submitted.

Ineligible photos. The Tournament Director can dismiss a photo that doesn't meet these rules, and can reject a submission if the same photo or the same fish has been submitted more than once. Lodging the same fish more than once on purpose, or trying to lodge a false, edited or fake photo, will be flagged and brought to the attention of all competitors, and the team will be disqualified from the competition.

The boundary. Fish only in the Mallacoota estuary and the rivers that join it, as far as a boat can get. Stay at least 100m back inside the estuary's sea entrance, and don't cross into New South Wales. The boundary map shows the limits.

Pre-fish ban. No fishing on the waterway from 12 October until the comp starts on 23 October. No angler, and no one connected with an angler who means to share fishing information, may be on the waterway in that time.

Keeping distance. Keep your boat at least a cast away from other boats: 30m or more.

Lures or fly only. Hard body or soft plastic lures, or fly. Any line class, on spin, baitcast, spincast or fly tackle.

One rod at a time. Each angler fishes one rod in the water at a time. If you snag up, break off before you fish another rod.

No trolling. Trolling is using the boat's momentum to give the lure its action. Casting along a bank under electric power is fine, and so is using the electric motor to hold position. Leaving lines in the water while you move to a new spot counts as trolling, and staff can disqualify the anglers involved.

Minimum sizes. See Species and minimum sizes.

Scent. Allowed on the lure only.

Berley. None. Nothing put into the water to attract fish, including before the event.

No-fishing zones. No fishing in any marked no-boating or no-fishing area. If you're asked to leave a private marina or an oyster lease, leave.

Staying with the boat. Anglers stay in contact with their boat while fighting a fish. A fish landed by an angler off the boat comes out of that day's catches. An angler seen fishing away from the boat is disqualified for that session.

These aren't black and white rules, but they can be applied to curb blatant disregard for other anglers.

• Fish care. We want every fish to swim away healthy. Have the camera, keytag and brag mat ready before the fish comes aboard, wet the brag mat, and keep the fish out of the water as briefly as you can.
• Don't drop in on boats that are fishing and not under main motor power. Don't pull up close, especially ahead of or upstream of a boat that's obviously casting and moving towards where you've stopped. There's no set distance: judge it by the conditions in that area.
• No one owns a spot, but don't set out to fish on top of a team that did well there in an earlier session. If a team is fishing an area first and clearly doing well, give them room to move.
• Be respectful to everyone on the water, not just the people in the comp.

Boat insurance. Every boat owner gives the Tournament Directors a copy of their current boat insurance policy before the event, by uploading it through the link on the website.

Vessel details. The captain gives the Tournament Director the boat's registration, its insurance and a copy of the captain's boat licence, with the entry.

Boat licence. The captain, or the team member driving the boat, holds a current marine boat operator's licence.

Minimum boat size. Boats are at least 3.7m long, with enough horsepower and beam to plane with the team and its gear aboard. 15hp is considered the minimum to do that.

Engine kill switch. Main engines have a working man-overboard (dead-man) kill switch and safety lanyard, checked before each session. If in doubt, ask staff or your nearest outboard dealer. Drivers wear the lanyard at all times while the engine is running.

PFDs. Worn as the maritime rules for your boat require. Every angler wears a PFD while the boat is underway. Boats under 4.8m: a Type 1 PFD at all times. Boats over 4.8m: a PFD at all times under outboard power.

Age. There's no age limit, but anglers under 16 fish with a parent or guardian.

Speeding. Keep to the waterway's speed limits, as signed and mapped. A team booked by police for speeding during a session is disqualified from that session's score. If a complaint is made about a team speeding and it can be confirmed, the Tournament Director will give the team a warning. A second offence can see the team disqualified for the day of that offence, if the organisers and Tournament Directors decide that's appropriate. Competitors need to be seen to respect the waterway, its rules and everyone else using it.

0.05. The captain and team make sure the driver stays under Victoria's 0.05 blood alcohol limit at all times. Blatantly drinking and then driving a car or a boat can mean instant disqualification, if the organisers and Tournament Directors decide that's appropriate. Drinking before fishing, at the morning briefing, the launch or the start line, isn't appropriate.

Teams in distress. Under section 91(1) of the Marine Safety Act 2010, if the master of a recreational vessel believes someone nearby is in distress, the master must go to their aid as fast as practicable, unless they can't, or in the circumstances it would be unsafe, unreasonable or unnecessary. In a physical or medical emergency, or for teams helping distressed (not just inconvenienced) anglers, officials will judge the catches fairly.

Inconvenienced teams. If a breakdown means a team can't get back to the check-in in its own boat, call the Tournament Director straight away. If another team comes to help, one member of the broken-down team can stay with their anchored or moored boat while another takes the keytag back to the check-in in the helping team's boat. It's a good idea, but not compulsory, for a member of the helping team to stay aboard the broken-down boat so nobody is left alone. Both teams still have to make the check-in time, with the same late penalties as everyone else, so the helping team decides whether it can help and still get back in time.

Please note: a team in distress (at risk of sinking, sinking, capsized, in a serious incident, or with a physical or medical emergency) comes first, and by law you must help if it's safe to. Give no thought to whether helping makes you late with your keytag. Leading or coming last, your fish don't matter when another team needs help.

• Prizes are handed out at the presentations: Saturday's Awards night and Sunday's Champion Team presentation (see Prizes and scoring).
• Prize money not paid on the day goes to the winning team within 5 business days. This doesn't include vouchers, or money tied to a prize at an affiliated event on a later date.
• Payouts vary by competition.

These are only here for extreme or unacceptable behaviour.

Bringing the sport into disrepute. Any angler who behaves unacceptably during the tournament, including threatening or abusive behaviour towards other competitors or officials, sexual harassment of other anglers, or anything else deemed unacceptable, gets a formal warning on the first offence. An angler who offends again after a formal warning is banned from entering the tournament for 12 months from the second offence.

Physical violence. Any angler found to have physically assaulted another angler during the tournament is banned immediately, disqualified, and not welcome back for an appropriate time.

Tournament Director's discretion. The Tournament Director can penalise, disqualify or ban any angler or group of anglers who break any rule, or who act in a way that harms the event, its anglers, its organisers or partners, or its reputation. Disqualified anglers and teams get no refund of entry fees or other costs of attending.

By signing the entry form, anglers agree that the information on it may be shared with a third party, such as the tournament's major sponsor, for marketing.