Rules & Guidelines

IMPORTANT

There are a total of 64 states and provinces in Canada and the United States. These Rules & Guidelines are important to ensure fair competition among participants. With real prizes and real money on the line it is critical that we do as much as possible to ensure rules are being followed. For this reason we have a strict policy on how photos should be taken, what must be included in said photos, what settings must be enabled and how many photos are required. It is highly recommended you use the Livewell Upload Test to ensure the photos you take with your device will pass Catch Authentication requirements.

Regions

Challenges, Tournaments & Bounties are open to anyone in Canada or the United States. Each state or province is considered a region. You are only able to compete in a region if you are fishing in that region. This does not mean you have to live in said region, only that you travel there in order to be able to compete. You are able to fish any location within that region as long as the photos are submitted within the permitted time.

Livewell

Your Livewell is a photo gallery of all the fish you have caught. While you are able to post previous photos of fish to your Livewell, only fish which have been authenticated will count toward any challenge, tournament, bounty and your angler rank.

Age Restrictions

You must be at least 16 years of age or have guardian consent in order to be a member of LunkerTrunk. Any winnings attributed to a member under the age of 16 will be sent to the signing guardian.

Scoring & Catch Authentication

All submitted catches go through a authentication process to ensure result accuracy and that the rules are being adhered to. This system is partly automated and administered by the LunkerTrunk Support Team. Fish which have passed Catch Authentication appear with a gold seal.

While most fishing tournaments use the weight of the fish to score the catch, online this becomes easy to game and difficult to prove from a simple photo. For this reason when weight is being used to score a challenge, tournament or bounty it is done using the length and width of the fish to calculate the girth along with the weight according to the following formula.

girth = width * 2.45
weight = (length*girth)/800

Catch Photos

You will be asked to take a minimum of 2 photos per fish caught and as many as 4. Any photo depicting the size of the fish must include a ruler, bump board or measuring tape.

Depending on the rules of each challenge you may or may not be required to include size photos. In these cases you must still take at least 2 photos with an alternate pose and/or angle. These photos are used in a comparison as a part of Catch Authentication.

GPS Catch Location

You must take all photos with a GPS enabled phone or camera. Catch locations are never made public. As a part of Catch Authentication we only use your location to establish and ensure the region the fish was caught so that it is counted and ranked accordingly.

We understand the sensitivity many anglers have about providing the locations of their spots. Most especially in competitive situations. By the same token there is a sensitivity to ensuring accuracy as well as the rules are being followed and equally applied to each region.

Catch Information

You must provide the species, size and health of the fish along with photos.

Photo Token

When you join any tournament you are given a photo token to print off. It is important to keep this print out dry so please enclose it in a clear zip lock bag. This token contains a Catch Code for the tournament and must be include in every photo take and submitted.

Date & Timestamp

All photos must have proper digital timestamps and must be submitted on the day they were taken to be Authenticated. Photos not meeting the rules and requirements will not contribute toward any challenges, bounties or rank.

Winning Conditions

The winning conditions are based on each challenge, tournament or bounty and can differ.

Points & Angler Ranking

The points you accumulate and your ranking are determined by a number of factors.

Total Number of Challenges

Total Number of Tournaments

Total Number of Bounties

Total Number of Fish Caught

Total Number of Lunkers Caught

Lunker Ratio

Average Length

Average Weight

Buyins & Entry Fees

Each Challenge, Tournament or Bounty has a different fee and prize structure.