Polygraph examinations typically have three phases:

1) a "pre-test" phase during which the questions to be asked are reviewed. A "stim" test is often administered during this phase to trick the subject into thinking the polygraph can actually detect lies);

2) an "in-test" phase (during which the polygraph charts are collected), and

3) a "post-test" phase during which the polygrapher will interrogate the subject and seek a confession if he believes that the subject is lying.

It is not uncommon for polygraph examinations to take 2.5 hours or so. The 30-minute polygraphs you've seen at fishing tournaments are the exception, not the rule.

The reason that there will be 11 questions is that the polygraph procedure includes not just the relevant questions (which you've listed), but also so-called "control" questions as well as irrelevant questions.

The polygraph operator exhorts the examinee to answer all questions truthfully, but secretly assumes that denials to the "control" questions will be less than truthful. One commonly used control question is, "Did you ever lie to get out of trouble?" The polygrapher steers the examinee into a denial, warning, for example, that the kind of person who would lie to get out of trouble is the same kind of person who would cheat in a fishing tournament. But secretly, it is assumed that everyone -- even those who won fair and square -- has lied to get out of trouble.

The test is scored by comparing physiological reactions to these probable-lie control questions with reactions to relevant (e.g., "Did you receive any fish from anyone outside of your boat?") questions. If reactions to the "control" questions are greater, the examinee passes; if reactions to the relevant questions are greater, he/she fails. This simplistic methodology has no grounding in the scientific method and results in many innocent people being wrongly branded as liars.

Polygraph tests also include irrelevant questions like "Is today Wednesday?" The polygrapher falsely explains that such questions provide a "baseline for truth," because the truth of the examinee's answers will be obvious. But in reality, irrelevant questions are not scored at all and merely serve as buffers between sets of relevant and control questions.

The test is inherently biased against the truthful, because the more candidly one answers the "control" questions, and as a consequence experiences less stress when answering them, the more likely one is to fail.

On the other hand, liars who understand the trickery behind the "test" can beat it by covertly augmenting their physiological reactions to the "control" questions. This can be done by constricting the anal sphincter muscle, biting the side of the tongue, or merely thinking exciting thoughts. Truthful persons can also use these techniques to protect themselves against the risk of a false positive outcome. Although polygraphers frequently claim they can detect such countermeasures, no polygrapher has ever demonstrated any ability to do so, and peer-reviewed research suggests that they can't.

You'll find the foregoing explained in much greater detail in The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF).