BATON ROUGE – The Statewide Tournament and Anglers Rodeo, better known as the S.T.A.R., has something for every saltwater fisherman who likes to cast for cash/PRIZES.

Coastal Conservation Association-Louisiana’s summer long tournament gets under way on May 27. It’s one of the largest and richest saltwater fishing tournaments in the country, one that encompasses the entire coast of Louisiana.

Fishermen can compete in a boat in inshore and offshore waters, padde in a kayak in the marsh or areas sheltered from wind and/or waves, or, even, walk the shoreline to fish or surf fish along a beach. CCA-Louisiana tells it like it is in a prepared statement: “If you fish saltwater, S.T.A.R. has something for you.”

There’s a lot of money for CCA-Louisiana members who register to fish the tournament and catch a prize-worthy fish. S.T.A.R. is offering more than $750,000 in merchandise prizes, including four boat packages in the Speckled Trout Division, pickup truck, RV and boat package in the Tagged Redfish Division and, naturally, new kayak models in the Kayak Division.

“S.T.A.R. continues to grow and evolve to make it better each year. This year is no different. We have added new prizes for Kayak and Yellowfin Tuna, and most importantly we have hired a new S.T.A.R. tournament director that will be 100 percent focused on the tournament,” said Rad Trascher, CCA’s executive vice president who preceded Sam Hopper as S.T.A.R. tournament director.

Hopper, a Monroe native, was a regional director for nearly three years for CCA-Louisiana. He has fished the S.T.A.R. contest since he was a young boy.

“This is truly a dream job for me. I can’t wait to get started and I am blessed to be able to take over this position with Rad still in the office to help along the way,” said Hopper, who admittedly brings a new perspective and passion to the tournament based on his experience with S.T.A.R.

Trascher will oversee S.T.A.R. as well as focus on bringing in new sponsors and focus on creating more conservation projects for the Sportsman’s Paradise.

S.T.A.R. is open to fishermen and fisherwomen 18 years old and older. Current CCA-Louisiana members can register for $35 while prospective members can enter for $75, which includes a one-year membership into CCA-Louisiana.

Boys and girls up to 17 with current CCA-Louisiana membership of $10 can fish for free in the Youth Division. The youngsters also are eligible for all of the adult divisions, too.

The Offshore Division, steadily gaining in popularity, includes yellowfin tuna, mangrove snapper, lemonfish and red snapper.

Abbeville outdoorsman Gary Trahan had the biggest mangrove snapper last summer while fishing aboard Unreel, a homemade 50-foot long, 16-foot wide aluminum boat with two pontoons built by his friend, Allen Lemaire. The ungainly looking but ultra-seaworthy craft went out the first weekend in June 2022 to the Eugene Island rigs where Trahan hooked and boated a 14.05-pounder.

He was fishing on that trip with his son, Hatch Trahan of Abbeville; Troy Gardner of Lafayette, the boat’s captain; Chance Thomas and his son, Gavin Thomas, both of Maurice; Patrick Poupart of Lafayette, and Jason Vecker of Abbeville.

The winning mangrove snapper wouldn’t come out from the legs of an oil field platform to eat. Trahan tried cut pogey and whole pogey without success before baiting up with a plain old market shrimp.

Still, the mangrove snapper wouldn’t bite. Until one of the crew members hooked and fought a wild lemonfish, which apparently triggered the mangrove snapper to eat.

When it did, he put it in the boat with a cabin that looks like an Airstream camper. The crew played him on the fish’s exact weight.

“They said, ‘Oh, he weighs 13 pounds.’ (But) all that time they knew it was 14 pounds. They didn’t tell me. The captain said, ‘They were afraid to tell you because you’d either fall off the boat or quit fishing,’ ” Trahan said with a laugh.

Trahan, a long-time, avid supporter of the tournament, plans to go out on Unreel again this summer to defend his title in S.T.A.R.

“I have nothing but good things to say about it. We all enjoy it. All my family participates … My wife, Nancy, our son, Hatch, our daughter-in-law, Brittany, and our grandson, Wyatt James Trahan (7 years old),” he said recently.

The self-employed agricultural mechanic since 1987 finished third in the mangrove snapper category in 2020 and 2021. He’ll be seeking back-to-back wins this year.

The 2023 S.T.A.R. event gets underway May 27 and ends at 5 p.m. Labor Day Monday, Sept. 4. For more information go to ccastar.com. Or contact Trascher at (225) 952-9200 or rad@ccalouisiana.com.