Zerek BARRA Series Rules

Updated: 18th January 2021

Rule enquiries to ABT during business hours on (07) 3387 0888.

Entry Fees

• $250 per team per event.

Entry Process

• Anglers should use the entry form found on the www.abt.org.au website.
• Entry forms will be released before the opening of entries.
• Completed entry forms submitted to ABT will be added to the event entry list. 
• Start order will be drawn at each event briefing. (Note the 2020 TOY will start first at the first event they fish for the season).

Pre-entry Requirements

• All BARRA Tour entrants must be current, financial members of ABT.
• ABT Membership forms available on the www.abt.org.au website.
• All boats competing must provide evidence of insurance. This can be supplied with entry or ABT Membership or email to admin@bream.com.au.

Boat Requirements

• Boats must be at least 3.7m in length, 20hp minimum, be carrying all the necessary safety gear for the lakes fished.
• Boats must not exceed the maximum recommended HP on the Australian Builders’ Plate.
• Boat drivers must wear their safety/kill switch at all times the boat is on the plane.
• All team members are to wear their PFD (Type 1) while the boat is planing. All jackets worn must comply with the required standards as dictated by the relevant waterway authority.
• Navigation lights (port/starbord and all round anchor light) must be working for the boat to be allowed to start. All lights must be on at all times after official sunset.

Practice Fishing

• There will be no practice fishing on the day of the event. Practice fishing is allowed until midnight the evening before the event unless otherwise stated.

Event Briefings

• See the BARRA Tour Event Info Sheets for briefing times and locations.
• All competitors are to pre-register at the briefing location (with SIP if required) BEFORE the stated briefing time. Failure to do so will result in a starting penalty, regardless of the reason for absence.

Boat Checkout

• After the briefing, boats will be checked for a functioning safety switch, PFDs and navigation lights.
• At the briefing, boats will draw a key tag which will reflect their start number.
• ABT reserves the right to disallow unsafe boats to compete.
• Start order is in order of draw (Day 1) and a chasing start (Day 2) where the leading team leaves first.

Start Process

• The start boat will release boats, one at a time, in numerical order of the key tags.
• Once released, boats are to proceed safely to their chosen start location abiding by waterway rules and with due care and attention to other competitors and other waterway users.
• Any speed restrictions, non-boating and non-fishing areas must be recognised. Failure to do so will result in disqualification from the session, disqualification from the event or a weight penalty as deemed appropriate by the Tournament Director.

Fishing Process

• Anglers must fish within the existing Queensland Freshwater Fisheries guidelines and be in possession of a current Stocked Impoundment Permit (SIP) where required.
• Anglers may fish any line class.
• Lure and fly casting only is permitted.
• If you’re not catching meteries on the surface and you’re just fishing for anything, you’ll be labeled a hooligan and must answer to narcissistic YouTubers.
• Trolling is not permitted. Trolling is using the powered momentum of the boat to give the lure action. Casting along a stretch of bank using an electric motor is fine, as is using your electric motor to keep position; don’t, however, keep your lines in the water when changing positions. ABT reserves the right to disqualify anglers deemed to be purposely trolling in defiance of the spirit of BARRA events.
• Only one rod per angler is to be used at any time. This includes when one rod is snagged and the angler picks up another rod to fish with. The angler will be considered to be using two rods and may face disqualification. Go get it off, bust it off and get the snagged lure out of the water.
• Fishing is not permitted in any defined non-boating or non-fishing areas. ABT will attempt to outline all of these in the briefing, however, failure to outline at a briefing is not a reason to fish any no-fishing areas.
• The lure and line is considered an extension of the boat, so there is to be no casting into no fishing or no boating areas.
• Only knotless nets are to be used for landing fish – preferably Environet-style with fine mesh.
• All pairs of anglers are to stay together at all times.
• Fishing is to be conducted from within the boat. Anglers must remain in contact with the boat at all times while fishing – including while fighting and landing the fish.
• In the case of physical or medical emergencies, ABT officials will judge the acceptability of catches.
• Any complaints about behaviour or rule breaches bust be addressed with the Tournament Director within 30 minutes of the end of the session. There is no point making a complaint after the presentation.
• Penalties for rule and conduct violations may include the following:
  • Disqualification of fish from your limit, starting at the largest.
  • Disqualification of entire catch for the day
  • Disqualification from the tournament
  • Disqualification from future ABT events
• Any concerns regarding clarification of rules can be discussed with ABT officials BEFORE the start of the tournament.

ABT Tournament Series App

• At the briefing, teams will be given a folder to record a backup of their results, but all results will be submitted by the ABT Tournament Series App.
• Anglers should download the app from the Apple App Store or from Google Play and go through the registration process.
• Pre event app questions can be directed to Stefan Sawynok on 0409 811 551.
• You need to make sure that you set-up and “Enter” the event (in-app) and set it to Offline mode before you travel out of phone range (especially on Teemburra and Faust). That way it will work in Offline mode.
• When you land a barra, take one pic on the supplied Zerek brag-mat. You may overlay the Zerek mat on a standard mat if this makes it easier for you to manage the process.
• Take a pic from above of the Barra on the mat. The mouth must be closed and the nose level with the end of the mat and the pic must be in focus. Re-take the pic if it doesn’t meet these criteria. This is the pic that we will use to validate your length recorded. If we can’t see both ends of the fish on the mat, we can only award length that we can see.
• Take an interesting glory-pic on the app. This may be with the lure the fish was caught on, a grip-and-grin or anything else that helps you express the fun of Barra fishing. This will be used in the event reporting and social media feed.
• You may take smartphone pics and then import them into the app, however we strongly suggest that you immediately enter the data into the app after release – even in “Offline” mode. Anglers sometimes find it difficult to enter the data en-masse at the end of the session.
• Note that lengths are to be entered in millimetres (eg: 86cm Barra = 860mm) and lengths are to be rounded up to the nearest centimetre.
• If the event is run out of cellphone service range, make sure you drive to a location where the results can be submitted via your smartphone data immediately after you finish the session. The next morning is too late.

Scoring Process

• Weights will be allocated with the Impoundment Barra Length/Weight Curve, supplied by Queensland Fisheries. The Table is attached at the end of this document.
• The heaviest 5 Barra per team will be added to make the total team weight for the session.
• Ties will be settled by biggest fish and subsequent biggest fish. In the case of a tie for a limit or biggest barra, ties will be settled by the time of capture. The earlier fish wins.

Finish Process

• At the end of the session, anglers are to return their key-tag to the tag board at the ramp. This is to be done BEFORE the allotted finish time. Teams will be penalised at the rate of 5kg per minute that they are late. After 15 minutes, the Team catch is disqualified and a -25kg penalty is applied.
• Anglers are to return their scoresheets to the crate provided adjacent to the tag board.
• Anglers can then drive to a service area to upload the results via the app. App and scorecard results will be reconciled.
• Presentations will be conducted simultaneously with the briefing of the subsequent event.

Code of Conduct

• During fishing sessions, no mobile phones or radios should be used, except in the case of emergency or to communicate with ABT staff and to use the ABT app.
• ABT sportsmanship would dictate that care of fellow competitors is of utmost importance. If any team or boat is in distress it is expected that other competitors will assist. Remember that safety is more important than your session’s catch.
• ABT will encourage Fisheries and Boating Officers to attend all ABT tournaments to police safety regulations, registration, relevant boating legislation as well as alcohol and drug laws.
• Anglers are not to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs during tournament briefings and competition hours. ABT reserves the right to request a breath alcohol test prior to the start, or at the completion of a fishing session.
• It is expected that teams shall, at all times, conduct themselves in a manner becoming a professional sportsperson. Behaviour that will reflect unfavourably on ABT, its members, representatives and sponsors will subject the angler’s catch to penalty or disqualification.

BARRA TOY

• The Overall BARRA Team of the Year (TOY) is the most prestigious award a BARRA team can achieve. It rewards the team who are the most consistent throughout the qualifying rounds, with points per round allocated according to placing. The first placed team in each event receives 100 points, and each place below that receives one less point.
• Teams do not need to catch a fish to receive TOY points, however, they do need to fish both days in an event to score. This rewards teams who have made the effort to attend and fish events to the best of their ability.
• Teams catching no fish for a tournament will receive 10 TOY points less than the last placed fish catching team.
• Teams receive one bonus point per fish caught in their limit for each session. Eg.  Catching a full five barra limit in one session results in 5 bonus points, for a two day event this could mean up to 10 bonus points for the team. 
• Ties will be settled by countback. The team with the largest and subsequent largest bag will gain the higher place, otherwise the first team to reach their score gains the higher place.
• At the end of the Rounds, TOY points are tallied and the BARRA Team of the Year is determined. A team’s best five events will count towards their Overall TOY Calculations.
• The TOY from the previous year gets to start first in the first event of the series.

2021 Zerek BARRA Tour Weight/Length Table