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CCA holds successful awards banquet
  
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By ALEX WUKMAN
The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) gave away over a million in prizes at their annual State of Texas Angler’s Rodeo (STAR) Tournament Awards Banquet October 2. The prizes included boats, trucks and cash.
This is the 19th year that CCA has conducted the tournament and most years have seen an increase in participation.
“We had well over 40,000 people register,” said CCA STAR tournament director Bill Kinney.
Kinney went on to explain that CCA shoots for 40,000 in registration, and while this year did exceed the targeted number, it wasn’t as high as past years.
Kinney said that the economy took its toll on registration; he quickly added that even with the decreased numbers for 2008, he was still pleased with the involvement. However, some at the event noticed a lowered number in attendance for the banquet.
Both Kinney and the staff of the event attributed the attendance decrease to the hurricane and explained that they hoped those who did come would be able to let go of the events of the last few weeks, if even for a few hours.
“We’re just trying to get people’s minds off the hurricane. Some people here lost their houses and we want to help them forget about that for a while,” said auctioneer Ed Philips, who conducted CCA’s live auction.
One of the things that helped quite a few of the people who did attend forget about the nation’s economic troubles and the Houston area’s weather problems was the prizes that were handed out. CCA gave out nine boat, motor and trailer packages and three truck, boat, motor and trailer packages.
The truck packages featured what the CCA website and event literature described as “a fully loaded 2008 Ford F-150 Texas Edition truck, 22’ Triton LTS boat, 150 hp Mercury outboard motor and McClain trailer.” The total cost of the truck package was estimated at $60,000.
To win a truck, boat, motor and trailer, an angler had to be a CCA member who had registered to compete in the STAR tournament. The tournament was conducted from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
To win one of the truck packages, the registered angler had to hook one of the 60 tagged Redfish that CCA released over the 600 miles of Texas coast. And out of those 600 miles, all three winners were from the Houston area.
Kenneth Milne, a Heights area litigation attorney, found himself out on a boat with two of his buddies at the start of August. He’d been trolling the water for a while and was getting thirsty.
“I was about to go back to the boat and get a drink but I thought I’d do one last cast,” said Milne. When Milne threw out his artificial lure, he wound up catching one of the 60 tagged Red Fish on that last cast.
He said that fortunately he had seen a photo of one of the tags a week beforehand so he knew what he’d caught. When asked if he and his friends pulled up anchor then and there to find an authorized weigh station to register the catch, he said, “No, we stayed out a while longer.”
Shelly Acker, a Champions area manager for Nabisco, and his fishing buddy did just the opposite. Ironically though, Acker wasn’t even planning on going out fishing that day.
In a written account of that day, Acker stated that as he and his neighbor John Overman were preparing to go out early Acker decided to check his fishing license.
“Something told me to check the expiration date and when I opened my wallet I found that my license was expired,” wrote Acker.
Acker’s narrative goes on to read that, “I told John that I didn’t want to ruin the trip so he should just go on without me, but John said no. He then drove around until we found a place that was open that would sell me a fishing license.”
Acker explains in his account how if it hadn’t been for Overman’s insistence he would have just gone back to bed.
“John made sure I went out that day,” wrote Acker.
Acker also wrote that if hadn’t been for Overman, he wouldn’t have joined CCA or registered for the STAR Tournament.
“John explained about CCA to me and after he told me what they were I joined and then I signed up for the STAR Texas Tournament,” wrote Acker.
He also stated that after he landed the tagged Red Fish, Overman told him it was over for the day.
“John said ‘That’s it.’ I asked him, ‘What do you mean,’ and he said, ‘That’s it for the day.’ We pulled up anchor, went back to the dock and started looking for a registered weigh station,” wrote Acker.
In between Acker landing the tagged fish and the awards ceremony, he suffered a work-related injury.
“I tore my Achilles tendon. I’m on worker’s comp right now,” said Acker. However, Overman wasn’t going to let something as small as a torn tendon prevent his friend from collecting his winnings.
“John even volunteered to drive the truck home for me,” said Acker.
When asked if there any words of advice he could share about where to look for Red Fish, Acker said, “Get into the marshes. You got to look for where they’re feeding.” That was advice that Henry Anderson of Galveston didn’t need to hear.
Anderson also brought in one of the tagged Red Fish. His capture marked the third eligible angler to land one of the grand prize fish before the end of the tournament.
Bill Kinney, CCA STAR Tournament director, said that there had been more tagged fish caught; they just weren’t caught by eligible anglers.
“We had a total of 17 tagged Red Fish caught; however to be eligible, you had to be registered before you caught the fish,” said Kinney.
“There were 14 unfortunate anglers who forgot or neglected to sign up this year and it cost them dearly, to the tune of about $60,000 each,” said Kinney. Kinney explained that what CCA staff found truly amazing about the tagged redfish contest was the recapture rate.
“The 17 caught out of 60 released is a 28 percent recapture rate in three months. When Texas Parks and Wildlife releases tagged redfish, their recapture rate in only 3 percent annually. Clearly, we want them caught, almost 10 times as bad,” said Kinney.
In addition to passing out the truck, boat, motor, trailer combos, CCA also distributed nine boat, motor and trailer combos. Three of these went to a registered angler in the Upper, Middle and Lower Coast divisions who brought in the largest Speckled Trout.
Three more went to registered anglers who brought in the largest Kingfish, Dorado and Ling. A Ling is also known as a Cobia. And the last three went to registered anglers who brought in the largest Flounder, Sheepshead and Gafftop.
Jason Lingo of Seabrook brought in an 8 lbs. 7 oz. Speckled Trout. He won the Upper Coast division and walked away a Shoalwater 22’ Legend, 150 hp. Mercury outboard and a McClain trailer.
Henry Mills of Houston landed a 7 lbs. 3 oz. Flounder and took home an 18’ Cobia 186 Center Console with a 90 hp Mercury outboard and a McClain trailer. Rick Graham of Friendswood brought in a 9 lbs. 3 oz. Sheepshead and also left with the 18’ Cobia package.
There were two truck, boat, motor and trailer packages that went unclaimed, a fact that didn’t escape Kinney. He noted that in 2007 they also gave away three of the five, and he hopes that will change next year.
“We are always striving to get more people involved,” said Kinney.
This is the 19th year that CCA has conducted the tournament and most years have seen an increase in participation.
“We had well over 40,000 people register,” said CCA STAR tournament director Bill Kinney.
Kinney went on to explain that CCA shoots for 40,000 in registration, and while this year did exceed the targeted number, it wasn’t as high as past years.
Kinney said that the economy took its toll on registration; he quickly added that even with the decreased numbers for 2008, he was still pleased with the involvement. However, some at the event noticed a lowered number in attendance for the banquet.
Both Kinney and the staff of the event attributed the attendance decrease to the hurricane and explained that they hoped those who did come would be able to let go of the events of the last few weeks, if even for a few hours.
“We’re just trying to get people’s minds off the hurricane. Some people here lost their houses and we want to help them forget about that for a while,” said auctioneer Ed Philips, who conducted CCA’s live auction.
One of the things that helped quite a few of the people who did attend forget about the nation’s economic troubles and the Houston area’s weather problems was the prizes that were handed out. CCA gave out nine boat, motor and trailer packages and three truck, boat, motor and trailer packages.
The truck packages featured what the CCA website and event literature described as “a fully loaded 2008 Ford F-150 Texas Edition truck, 22’ Triton LTS boat, 150 hp Mercury outboard motor and McClain trailer.” The total cost of the truck package was estimated at $60,000.
To win a truck, boat, motor and trailer, an angler had to be a CCA member who had registered to compete in the STAR tournament. The tournament was conducted from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
To win one of the truck packages, the registered angler had to hook one of the 60 tagged Redfish that CCA released over the 600 miles of Texas coast. And out of those 600 miles, all three winners were from the Houston area.
Kenneth Milne, a Heights area litigation attorney, found himself out on a boat with two of his buddies at the start of August. He’d been trolling the water for a while and was getting thirsty.
“I was about to go back to the boat and get a drink but I thought I’d do one last cast,” said Milne. When Milne threw out his artificial lure, he wound up catching one of the 60 tagged Red Fish on that last cast.
He said that fortunately he had seen a photo of one of the tags a week beforehand so he knew what he’d caught. When asked if he and his friends pulled up anchor then and there to find an authorized weigh station to register the catch, he said, “No, we stayed out a while longer.”
Shelly Acker, a Champions area manager for Nabisco, and his fishing buddy did just the opposite. Ironically though, Acker wasn’t even planning on going out fishing that day.
In a written account of that day, Acker stated that as he and his neighbor John Overman were preparing to go out early Acker decided to check his fishing license.
“Something told me to check the expiration date and when I opened my wallet I found that my license was expired,” wrote Acker.
Acker’s narrative goes on to read that, “I told John that I didn’t want to ruin the trip so he should just go on without me, but John said no. He then drove around until we found a place that was open that would sell me a fishing license.”
Acker explains in his account how if it hadn’t been for Overman’s insistence he would have just gone back to bed.
“John made sure I went out that day,” wrote Acker.
Acker also wrote that if hadn’t been for Overman, he wouldn’t have joined CCA or registered for the STAR Tournament.
“John explained about CCA to me and after he told me what they were I joined and then I signed up for the STAR Texas Tournament,” wrote Acker.
He also stated that after he landed the tagged Red Fish, Overman told him it was over for the day.
“John said ‘That’s it.’ I asked him, ‘What do you mean,’ and he said, ‘That’s it for the day.’ We pulled up anchor, went back to the dock and started looking for a registered weigh station,” wrote Acker.
In between Acker landing the tagged fish and the awards ceremony, he suffered a work-related injury.
“I tore my Achilles tendon. I’m on worker’s comp right now,” said Acker. However, Overman wasn’t going to let something as small as a torn tendon prevent his friend from collecting his winnings.
“John even volunteered to drive the truck home for me,” said Acker.
When asked if there any words of advice he could share about where to look for Red Fish, Acker said, “Get into the marshes. You got to look for where they’re feeding.” That was advice that Henry Anderson of Galveston didn’t need to hear.
Anderson also brought in one of the tagged Red Fish. His capture marked the third eligible angler to land one of the grand prize fish before the end of the tournament.
Bill Kinney, CCA STAR Tournament director, said that there had been more tagged fish caught; they just weren’t caught by eligible anglers.
“We had a total of 17 tagged Red Fish caught; however to be eligible, you had to be registered before you caught the fish,” said Kinney.
“There were 14 unfortunate anglers who forgot or neglected to sign up this year and it cost them dearly, to the tune of about $60,000 each,” said Kinney. Kinney explained that what CCA staff found truly amazing about the tagged redfish contest was the recapture rate.
“The 17 caught out of 60 released is a 28 percent recapture rate in three months. When Texas Parks and Wildlife releases tagged redfish, their recapture rate in only 3 percent annually. Clearly, we want them caught, almost 10 times as bad,” said Kinney.
In addition to passing out the truck, boat, motor, trailer combos, CCA also distributed nine boat, motor and trailer combos. Three of these went to a registered angler in the Upper, Middle and Lower Coast divisions who brought in the largest Speckled Trout.
Three more went to registered anglers who brought in the largest Kingfish, Dorado and Ling. A Ling is also known as a Cobia. And the last three went to registered anglers who brought in the largest Flounder, Sheepshead and Gafftop.
Jason Lingo of Seabrook brought in an 8 lbs. 7 oz. Speckled Trout. He won the Upper Coast division and walked away a Shoalwater 22’ Legend, 150 hp. Mercury outboard and a McClain trailer.
Henry Mills of Houston landed a 7 lbs. 3 oz. Flounder and took home an 18’ Cobia 186 Center Console with a 90 hp Mercury outboard and a McClain trailer. Rick Graham of Friendswood brought in a 9 lbs. 3 oz. Sheepshead and also left with the 18’ Cobia package.
There were two truck, boat, motor and trailer packages that went unclaimed, a fact that didn’t escape Kinney. He noted that in 2007 they also gave away three of the five, and he hopes that will change next year.
“We are always striving to get more people involved,” said Kinney.
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