Lifelist Rules

Rules for using the lifelist system.  This is to make it a level playing field for everybody and bring the lists up to one single standard.

#1.  Every lifelist photo must be a photo of the fish that you personally caught. 

#2.  The fish must be identifiable from the photo.   

#3.  No taxidermed fish.

#4.  Fish must be hooked on the inside of the mouth.   

Rule Explanations:  Juvenile (smolts/parr) of salmonids, and juvenile catostomids/cyprinids do not count.  They all look the same.  You must catch an adult specimen to claim the species, not net or microfish a bunch of smolts.  This rule has been abused heavily in the past, and caused a great many accusations and recriminations to fly.  Blurry photos or photos that do not include enough of the fish for positive identification will be rigorously deleted.  The lifelist is a permanent record, verified by the usership of roughfish.com and the species judges, that you caught the species.  Rule violations should be referred to the community first, and to the webmasters for arbitration with the Council.  You must catch an adult specimen.  Our decisions are final and not subject to revision without additional photos or evidence.

Guidelines:  Photos should ideally be of the angler who caught the fish, holding the fish in the area it was caught.  Obviously, this will not always be possible, but all Roughfishers should strive to not only take an excellent photo of their lifelist catches, but to document the setting in wihch the fish was caught.  Also, the fish should not be mishandled or damaged.  Some fishing websites disallow all photos of obviously dead or mishandled fish, but we will continue to allow these photos, with reservations, as long as this is not abused.  Be respectful of the fish.  Roughfishers should treat their catches with respect regardless of species.