Major League Fishing announced today that it's instituted rules that will penalize anglers who allow fish to touch the deck of their boat or haphazardly toss them back into the water during MLF competition.
"There won’t be a lot of fish hitting the carpet, because when fish hit the carpet, anglers get penalized,” said commissioner Don Rucks. “That’s actually one of two significant new rules for us that are aimed at protecting the fish our anglers catch.”
The new fish-handling rules are:
> Anglers will be penalized with 2 minutes of inactivity if they allow a fish to touch the carpet of their boats:
> When releasing fish back into the water, anglers’ hands must be no higher than the boat’s gunnel above the water's surface. Failure to properly release a fish will also result in 2 minutes of inactivity.
“It is not anyone’s first instinct to keep a bass suspended in the air after a catch," said Rucks. "But frankly, we’re asking our anglers to play at a higher level. And conservation is something we’d like to stress. If you keep fish from hitting the deck and if you gently put them back into their environment, they’re healthier."
“But I have to add that, even though our anglers were in full agreement with the rule change, we had to dish out a few penalties.”
The Major League Fishing Summit Cup was filmed Aug. 27 through Sept. 1 on Chautauqua Lake in Western New York. The event will air in its entirety on Outdoor Channel beginning in January.
The Summit Cup’s championship round will also be broadcast on NBC Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. ET. An extended time, web-based pay-per-view version – Extended Cast – will be offered shortly after the television broadcasts.
