The TBF is a group of fishermen (and women) who enjoy fishing tournaments, but still want to enjoy the fun of fishing with friends. While we are competitive, most of us don’t really aspire to become pros as much as we do to have a good time and learn from other fishermen. We have a tournament trail, open tournaments and member insurance. Each year we send members who qualify to fish the National Semi Finals and the TBF National Tournament., Over the next few paragraphs we will try to break it all down for a better understanding of what we do.
DUES STRUCTURE
The costs to be a member of the TBF of CT are quite simple and relatively cheap. To join our organization will cost $85.00 per year.
TBF – CT membership $35.00
TBF National membership $15.00
MLF membership $$35.00
Reduced fee of $50.00 for your first year as a new member.
These are the organizations who provide us with an insurance policy which covers EVERY MEMBER for our events at the club and state levels. This insurance alone would cost more than the total cost of membership, if each of the clubs were to purchase it.
These are also the organizations that support us and allow us to have an organization that is not limited by our state boundaries. We ask that our members support us by fishing some of the opens and fishing to qualify for the National Semi Finals, but neither of these things are mandatory at any level. Our goal is to keep the costs and obligations to a minimum, while providing the maximum opportunities to our membership.
TOURNAMENT TRAIL
Each year the organization hosts a 5 event tournament trail for the membership. There are two divisions in which the members can choose to fish. A “Boater” Division and a “Non-Boater” Division. Boaters will compete against other Boaters and Non-Boaters will compete against other Non- Boaters for cash prizes and to earn spots at the National Semi-Final tournament. Although we do not allow people to pair together with their friends, we will allow pairing within a club. If more than 50% of the membership of a given club is fishing a tournament, the members are allowed to pair up with other members of the club. Members are only allowed to fish together two (2) times a year. We do this so that people will be more comfortable in the tournament environment. While this doesn’t usually matter to veteran tournament anglers, many newcomers to the sport are intimidated by the idea of fishing in the back of someone’s boat who they have never met. One of our major goals is to introduce new people to the enjoyment of tournament fishing, and this is one of our methods for doing so. Members of the organization who are so inclined can also fish the state tournament trail to try and qualify for the National Semi Finals. Points are accumulated over the year based on your finish at each of the five tournaments, minus one drop (your lowest points) tournament. The top boater and non-boater advance directly to the TBF National Tournament event. The next 6 Boaters and 6 Non-Boaters qualify for the National Semi Finals and have a chance to advance to the TBF National Tournament.
OPEN TOURNAMENTS
Each year the organization hosts a number of “Open Tournaments”. People who wish to fish these tournaments are NOT required to be TBF members, although many of our members do fish them. You can fish these open events as a team or alone. There is an 80% payout at each of these tournaments to the top 3 finishers. If more than 20 boats participate, 4th place gets a free open tournament entry voucher. The balance of the monies is used to help support all of the endeavors of the organization. These tournaments are run by the National Semi Final qualifiers from the previous year. We try to schedule these around the many other opens and trails that are out there for the convenience of those who would like to fish. As with our trail we also keep the costs for these tournaments low to encourage participation in a less than great economy.
NATIONAL SEMI FINAL QUALIFIERS
(previously referred to as the “STATE TEAM”)
In addition to the state tournament trail members may compete in a separate National Semi Final (NSF) qualifier tournament to try and qualify to fish the TBF National Semi-Final Tournament. We hold a qualifying state tournament which any member can fish. It is held on a body of water located somewhere within the State of CT. The number of points earned determines the placing of the entrants. The Top 2 Boaters and the Top 2 Non-Boaters qualify for the National Semi Finals. As was explained in an earlier paragraph, several National Semi Final Qualifier positions are also determined by the State Trailevents over the course of the year. The Top 6 Boaters and the Top 6 Non-Boaters are also National Semi Final Qualifiers. The Bass Federation of CT will pay expenses (based on funds available) for the National Semi Final and National events which will be explained in the next paragraph. Every year National TBF hosts a National Semi-Final Tournament in which all the qualifiers
