Pre Entry Requirements

• All anglers participating in BREAM events must be current, financial members of ABT. Membership enquiries to Simon Goldsmith on (07)3268 3992 during business hours.
• Entries to the BREAM tournaments will be filed in order of receipt of correctly completed entry forms and payment. Entering as a boater guarantees a place in the tournament (at the least as a non- boater), where non-boaters are placed with boaters on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Entry is guaranteed for boaters//non-boaters whose entries are received together, fully paid, in a single envelope at ABT 's mailing address before the close of entries. If either the boater or non-boater withdraws, guaranteed entry for the other angler is then revoked.
• No late additions to entries will be considered as a team entry. For example do not ring up and say,"I forgot to enter as Joe Blow's non-boater," or "I forgot to enter Joe Blow as my non-boater". Ensure the entries come together in the one package.
• All BREAM rule enquiries can be directed to Simon Goldsmith on (07)3268 3992 during business hours.

BREAM Events

BREAM Events are contested by a field of equal numbers of boat-driving anglers (Pros) and co-angling passengers (Amateurs). Daily, non-boaters (Amateurs) are randomly paired with boaters (Pros).

• Entry Fees: $110 (GST included)
• Prize Money is calculated for a field of 100
• anglers (50 boats) and will be adjusted up or down according to the number of entries.
  • 1st $2500
  • 2nd $1200
  • 3rd $1000
  • 4th $700
  • 5th $600
  • 6th $500
  • 7th $400
  • 8th $300
  • 9th $300
  • 10th $300
  • Big Bream $500
  • Total Prize Pool $8,300
• Pros will fish for cash prizes, while Amateurs will fish for sponsor prizes.
• BREAM boats must be 3.7m in length or greater. Horsepower and beam must be sufficient to plane the craft with two anglers and full livewell/s. 20hp is considered the minimum to achieve this. All engines must be fitted with a man-overboard or dead man's kill switch and safety lanyard. If in doubt, check with ABT staff or your nearest outboard dealer.
• Boat drivers must wear their engine 's safety lanyard strap that connects to the kill switch at all times while the engine is running. Additionally, all competitors are required to wear personal flotation devices while their boat is planing.
• All boats must have a minimum 60 litres of live well with an aerator or recirculating pump installed and functioning. This must also be insulated if it is above decks. No Nally bins, garbage bins or fish tubs will be accepted.
• Non-boaters must supply their own personal flotation device (PFD) for use in competitions.
• All boaters must ensure an ABT official has received a copy of their current boat insurance policy before competing. This can be faxed to ABT at any time on (07)3268 3993.

Starts

On the Friday night briefing, boats will be allocated a starting position for Day 1 that is determined by the receipt of a fully completed and paid entry. Each day will start with a rolling start where boats file past the start area or start boat, receive a tournament key-tag, have their livewell checked, safety gear checked and safety lanyard checked before being released to fish.

Day 1

• The first day will start with boat one approaching the start area, where it will be held until the designated start time. When released, boat two can approach the start area, be checked and released, and so on until all competitors are released to fish.

Day 2

• Day 2 start will be run as a chase start. That is the boater placed in first position after Day 1 will be released first, then the second placed boat and so on until all boats are released.
• Any speed restrictions, non-boating or non-fishing areas must be adhered to, unless advised otherwise at the briefing.
• ABT reserves the right to disallow unsafe boats (for either anglers or fish) to compete.

Fishing Rules

• There will be a practice fishing ban for all competition waterways and linked systems from dawn on the Monday week prior to the competition until dawn on the Friday immediately before the tournament. An example is if a Qualifier tournament is held over the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st of a month, the pre-fish ban will extend from dawn on Monday the 8th until dawn on Friday the 19th.
• Anglers must fish within the current Fisheries guidelines, and must be in possession of the necessary permits or licences as demanded by the waterway in the state being fished. Anglers should bring these with them to the tournament briefings. ABT will make you go and buy one before letting you fish.
• Anglers may fish any line class with spin, baitcast, spincast or flyfishing tackle.
• Lure and fly CASTING only is permitted. Trolling is not permitted. Trolling is defined as using the momentum of the boat to give the lure action. Casting along a stretch of bank under electric power is fine, as is using your electric motor to keep position; don't, however, leave your lines in the water when changing positions. ABT Staff reserve the right to disqualify anglers deemed to be purposely trolling in defiance of the spirit of BREAM events.
• Fishing is NOT permitted within any defined non-boating or non-fishing areas. Also, if asked to leave a private marina or oyster lease, you must do so.
• Only live bream are eligible for tournament points.
• Fish must be caught during the designated times and kept in the Boaters' livewells.
• No more than five bream per angler are allowed to be kept at any one time. If you already have five fish and catch another, immediately release a fish. Anglers caught fishing with more than the BREAM bag limit will be immediately disqualified and ABT staff reserve the right to check boats ' livewells for excess bream during competition hours.
• Anglers may only use one rod at a time while fishing all BREAM events, including such cases as when a lure is snagged but still attached to the rod, anglers can not pick up another rod and begin casting as this would constitute using two rods.
• All pairs of anglers are to stay with each other at all times,to ensure safety and to validate co-anglers' catches. Additionally, anglers are not permitted to fish from outside their fishing vessels at any time during sessions, including fighting and landing fish.
• ABT reserves the right to place camerapersons on boats and swap non-boater positions to accommodate this need.
• In the case of physical or medical emergencies, ABT officials will judge the acceptability of catches.

Etiquette

• During fishing sessions, no mobile phones or radios should be used, except in an emergency.
• Non-boaters should bring their own PFD to tournaments.
• Boats should remain a cast apart (30metres) while fishing.
• ABT sportsmanship would dictate that care of fellow competitors is of utmost importance. If an angler or boat is in distress it is expected that other competitors will assist. Remember that safety is more important than your day'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.

Points Scoring

• Boater and non--boaters will be scored on separate scoreboards as both divisions are fishing for different prizes. Additionally, boaters will fish for entry into the boater division of the BREAM Grand Final and non-boaters will fish for entry into the non-boater division of the BREAM Grand Final.
• Each angler may bring in five bream per session to the weigh-in, except in Shared Weight events, where the anglers drawn together will bring a collective bag of five bream.
• Anglers are requested to retrieve their boats and trailer them to the defined weigh-in area adjacent to the BREAM stage, or to proceed to the on-water weigh-in site. Bream will be weighed in order of arrival.
• Bream must be the state 's legal length to the fork of the tail to qualify for weighing.
• Bream will be weighed collectively with "Big Bream" candidates weighed individually. Note that it is the angler's responsibility to identify these fish to the weighmaster. In Shared Weight tournaments, please nominate the angler landing the Big Bream.
• Dead fish, as deemed by ABT officials, will not score points.
• Anglers will finish a session by placing the key back on the appropriate peg before the session finishes. Anglers placing their key on the peg after the session finish time will incur a weight penalty.
• Tags not returned by the allotted weigh - in time will be penalised at the rate of 50 grams per minute per angler. If a boat returns later than 15 minutes after weigh-in time both anglers will be penalised 750 grams and all fish caught will not be weighed. There will be no exceptions to this regardless of circumstance.
• Boats that start in an incorrect order will be penalised 500 grams per angler. Boats missing their call-up must wait until all boats have left to be started by ABT staff.
• Boats can return to the weigh - in earlier than the allotted time, however, that 's all the anglers in that craft can fish for the day.

Angler of the Year Awards

The Divisional BREAM Angler of the Year is the most prestigious award a BREAM angler can achieve in their state division. It rewards the angler who is the most consistent highly placed angler throughout the Divisional BREAM rounds, with points per round allocated according to placing. The first placed angler in each Divisional event receives 100 points, and each place below that receives one less point. Anglers do not need to catch a fish to receive AOY points, however, they do need to fish both days in an event to score. This rewards anglers who have made the effort to attend and fish events to the best of their ability.

Note that a negative score will impact on AOY points. Anglers completing a competition with negative points will be placed below anglers scoring zero points in AOY calculations.

Place Points

1. 100
2. 99
3. (tied) 98
4. (tied) 98
5. 96

• Anglers catching no fish for a tournament will incur a 10 AOY point penalty to reward anglers who have landed a fish during a tournament.
• Ties will be settled by countback. The angler with the largest and subsequent largest bag will gain the higher place, otherwise the first angler to reach their score gains the higher place.
• Anglers with zero points will score equal BREAM AOY points.
• At the end of the BREAM Rounds, AOY points are tallied and the Divisional BREAM Angler of the Year is determined. Typically, anglers need to fish all events in the BREAM Divisional Series to be in the running for the Divisional AOY title.

National BREAM Grand Final

The National BREAM Grand Final will be contested between qualifying anglers that receive entry through the BREAM Qualifying events.

In 2005, the National BREAM Grand Final will be contested between the following anglers :

• The top four Pros and top four Amateurs from each Qualifier will make the Grand Final. This will make a Grand Final field of 44 Pros and 44 Amateurs (QLD 8/8, NSW 16/16, VIC 8/8, WA 8/8, SA 4/4)

In the Grand Final anglers fish for the state in which they live. If an angler qualifies as a Pro and later as an Amateur, he/she may choose to fish the Grand Final as either a Pro or an Amateur. The position they leave vacant will be filled by the next angler in line from that event. This decision will be expected to be made as soon as the angler qualifies for the second time, that is on Sunday afternoon.

An example is : Joe Blow from Sydney qualifies at the Lakes Entrance round as a Pro. He is entered into the Grand Final as a NSW angler in the Pro division. Joe Blow then fishes at the Gold Coast as an Amateur and qualifies for the Grand Final as an Amateur. Joe Blow has the option to choose if he fishes as a Pro or Am in the Grand Final, and will form part of the NSW team. If Joe fishes as an Am in the Grand Final, the next best placed boater from the Lakes Entrance round will be offered his vacant Grand Final position.

Reference : http://www.bream.com.au/html/modules.php?name=Sections&op;=viewarticle&artid;=18