In a Tourney setting what is the minimum length a fish has to in order to consider it a "keeper". Do sizes in a tournament vary based on Tounament organiser or body of water,from state to state? Are rules pretty much consistent or do the rules change from tourney to tourney?

How do "slot limits " work?

Im asking because I fish a lake and catch alot of dinks. I have never fished a tourney and think it would be neat to do a day of Fantasy tourney fishing,just to see if I can catch a limit of keepers. I dont have a livewell so after every fish is caught and measured,it would be photographed and returned to the water.

Im not even thinking of keeping a tally of weight...Just a tally of the fish that would qualify as keepers in a tourney.

In any tournament you must follow all state & federal laws so legal length will very    

most will follow state and federal laws ... some organizations have a 12 inch minimum regardless of state laws. Here in Kentucky, spotted bass really have no legal length limit. some tournament organizations say a minimum of 12 inches on spots ... others make them be 15 inches like the LM and SM.

Most of the tournament I have fished the min. size limit was 12inches unless the lake has a limit greater than that. One of my lakes is 14inches.

When I do a fantasy tournament I usually try to catch at least a 10lb limit. But that depends on the lake.

Each State has differents sizes, but also some States may have sizes that vary.  Most tournaments will use the size that fits that area.  If it is 12in for all bass then that is what it will be.  Like the Pittsburgh Classic.....all dinks...lol.  My State....min length is 14in.

Slot lakes vary depending of biologist recommendations, such as Lake Fork.   For years, the slot was 14-21 inches until the big die-off.   Then in 2001, the slot was raised one inch every year until 16-24 inches was in place.

The state set the slots on certain lakes,    in Texas, a legal fish can't touch the 16 in mark, but can the 24 inch,    anything in-between 16 and 24 inches must be released immediately, you can't even put her in the livewell.

Slot lake limit tourneys are a crap shoot because you are allowed to keep any size fish below 16 inches regardless.

Ideally, you would want to catch bass that are 15 7/8, but catching 5 of those would be lucky.  So on Fork, 9 lbs on 5 is excellant most of the year.

Since Tx has spots, Guadalupe, and crosses, most Tourney directors make the minimum length the same as the state regs. for LMB, 14 inches even though spots and guadalupies have smaller size standard, this takes out the confussion of properly identifing the bass correctly.

matt