It’s about time to see some green on the water in more ways than one.

The 30th anniversary (green) of the Statewide Tournament and Angler’s Rodeo, better known simply as the S.T.A.R. tournament held each year by the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana, gives all anglers a chance to win prizes worth $750,000 (green) in more than 25 divisions.

CCA-Louisiana’s annual tournament gets underway at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 25, Memorial Day Weekend and ends at 5 p.m. Labor Day Monday, Sept. 2. There’s plenty of time for tournament action between those dates for the state’s many saltwater fishermen – male or female, young or old — to cash in in one or more divisions, including two of the old favorites, tagged redfish and speckled trout, as well as youth, ladies-only, kayak, fly fishing, sheepshead, mangrove snapper, lemonfish, yellowfin tuna and red snapper.

Sam Hopper, CCA-Louisiana tournament director, said in a prepared statement released before 8 a.m. May 14, “We are excited about celebrating our 30th year of competition. Sign up today and the chance of winning some incredible prizes all while supporting a great cause.

“In our 30th year, we have introduced bigger and better prizes and made a few tweaks to the rules, all to give our anglers a better experience and hopefully have even more winners.”

There have been local winners of boats, motor and trailer packages and other fine prizes over the years by fishermen, both inshore and offshore, across the Teche Area.

First things first. To be eligible to fish the tournament participants must be members of CCA-Louisiana.

The S.T.A.R. entry fee is $35 for current members. To register for the tournament plus get a one-year membership is $75. Boys and girls 17 and under can fish for free in the Youth Division with a current CCA-Louisiana membership that costs $10.

Register for the S.T.A.R. contest before May 25 and you have a chance to win Early Bird Prizes.

To see the complete list of rules and regulations go to https://ccastar.com/star-rules/.

There are 28 official weigh stations across South Louisiana. Southwest Louisiana sites include Bowie Outfitters, Lake Charles; Calcasieu Point Landing, Lake Charles; Pecan Island Food Store, Pecan Island; Gulfway Sporting Goods, Kaplan; Don’s Boat Landing, Erath; Dago’s Mobil & Grocery, Lydia; Ivy’s Tackle Box, Morgan City, Spicer Hughes Marina & Motel, Hackberry, and Doiron’s Landing, Stephensville. To see the complete list of weigh stations, go to https://ccastar.com/weigh-stations.

The S.T.A.R. contest, regarded as the largest and richest saltwater fishing tournament in the country, offers more than $750,000 in prizes during the course of its 101-day run.

Hopper points out the first S.T.A.R. entrant to catch a tagged redfish wins a new Chevy Silverado. The second registered angler to catch a tagged redfish takes home a wrapped 23-foot long AVID Mag with a 200-h.p. Mercury. The third angler wins the same package. Fourth through sixth anglers win an 18-foot Freedom Patriot with a 115-h.p. Merc.

S.T.A.R. will implement a Catch, Photo, Clip and Release process for the 100 redfish wearing tags along the coast in 2024. Due to recent changes in redfish slot limits and bull redfish rules by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, anglers won’t have to return redfish to a weigh station.

All they have to do is catch the fish, take a photo (or video) and send it to CCA-Louisiana, then release it.

“We encourage all registered S.T.A.R. anglers to ‘weigh in’ their tagged redfish this way. Even if the redfish you catch has a blue tag in it,” Hopper said.

A blue tag? Lucky anglers who catch a blue tagged redfish win a year’s worth of beer courtesy Michelob Ultra.

Historically, the most competitive division is the Speckled Trout Division sponsored by AVID and Mercury. S.T.A.R. anglers in each of the four geographical divisions have a chance to win a 21-foot long AVID Mag with a 200-h.p. Mercury. The overall speckled trout winner takes home a 23-foot long AVID Mag powered by a 200-h.p. Mercury.

There are two major geographical regions – Western Region and Eastern Division — in the Speckled Trout Division. Each region has two divisions – West Division and Southwest Division for the Western Region and Southeast Division and East Division for the Eastern Region.

For more information, call Hopper at (225) 952-9200. 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.