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CURRENTSJune / July 2015

Cedar Bayou movingalong in many ways

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On front cover: "FirstJump At Cedar Bayou"by Sam Caldwell

Sciencebehind the

projectsBy John Blaha

We have talked about Ce-dar Bayou a lot in thelast couple of years, andour last article gave an

update on how the project is progress-ing. CCA Texas, along with its part-ners in conservation, gets a lot of ques-tions about the monitoring and thescience behind projects, but more spe-cifically, how is it captured and ana-lyzed.

At Harte Research Institute’s(HRI) Center for SportfishScience and Conservation at

Texas A&M University–CorpusChristi Master of Science studentQuentin Hall is currently working onhis thesis titled, “Determination of Sea-sonal Abundance, Density, and Distribution

of Nekton Species Proximal to Cedar BayouPre- and Post-Opening” under the direc-tion of Dr. Greg Stunz.

His specific research focuses on theeffects of reopening the Cedar Bayoutidal inlet on nekton species. Thisstudy is a key component to quantify-ing the success of the Cedar Bayou /Vinson Slough project and has drawna lot of interest from CCA Texas volun-teers and the local community. CCATexas funded $32,000 for the pre-open-ing monitoring of the project area, andthe post-opening monitoring costs arefunded by Aransas County.

On Saturday, May 2, 2015, Hall and other researchers from HRI hosted approxi-

mately twenty CCA Texas membersand volunteers who had shown greatinterest in this part of the project.

The day started out at Goose Is-land State Park. We made our way outto Cedar Bayou on a beautiful day. Thegroup made its first stop not long afterentering the bayou and stopped for atalk about the monitoring portion ofthe project where the movement ofredfish in the system is being tracked.

Quentin Hall from HRI’s Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation demonstrat-ing the download process from the acoustic telemetry receivers to the computer.Photo, Lisa Laskowski

CCA members and volunteers were hosted by team members from HRI’s Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation for aday of science and conservation at Cedar Bayou. Photo, Lisa Laskowski

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CaughtRedhanded!

Report from TP&WGame Wardens

Hall and his team discussed themethod for tracking and gave hands ondemonstrations of the acoustic telem-etry equipment used in the study. Inthis particular project, HRI has in-stalled 10 receivers in the Cedar Bayouand Mesquite Bay area. These receiversare installed at main travel points inand out of the bay and Cedar Bayou.Eleven redfish are a part of the projectstudy and have been implanted withtransmitters. This has demonstrated tobe a simple and proven method usedby HRI in several projects.

In less than a year, over 16,000 detec-tions have occurred with theseeleven fish, and to date all eleven are

still swimming free in the bay, andback and forth to the Gulf. If you catcha redfish in the area and it has a greentag, please release it, and notify theCenter for Sportfish Science at HRI orCCA Texas that you caught it and re-turned it.

Next, the group moved down to-ward the mouth of Cedar Bayou andVinson Slough, and stopped for a dem-onstration on the use of the epibenthicsled. The sled is invaluable in the study.It helps determine what species of ma-rine life are present in the area andtheir density, based on analysis ofsamples from the different samplingspots.

Attendees were invited topull the sled and see the resultsof the samples. Quentin dis-cussed the methods and analy-sis of this sampling methodand what has been seen sincethe bayou was opened andwhen it was closed.

Hall stated “In the two years prior to theopening, not a single juvenile redfish had beenfound in the immediate Cedar Bayou area.Within days of the opening, juvenile redfishwere present.” This spring’s samples haveshown flounder, blue crab, Atlantic croakerand many other species that are all vital to thesurrounding eco-system.

Continued on page 8

During Memorial Day Weekend, 2014, avessel was contacted to do a watersafety inspection. When finished withthe inspection, Game Wardens askedthe occupants if they had been fishingand they responded no.

At this time the Game Wardens in-spected the coolers on the boat and no-ticed a few slot red drums were visible.Upon further investigation of thatcooler, a plastic bag full of slot reddrum was pulled out, totaling 23 reddrum. The Game Wardens then es-corted the vessel to their dock for fur-ther investigation.

While investigating the vessel, 10more red drum were discovered in ahidden compartment under the deck.Four individuals were on board the

vessel in posses-sion of 33 reddrum, ranging insizes from 19.5 into 27 in. Citationswere issued total-ing $2,400 dollarsin fines and$7,707 dollars incivil restitution.

Aransas CountyGame Warden Ri-chard “Marty”Martin appre-hended a subjectwith seventeenundersize speck-led trout. Thesubject was fish-ing from a pri-vate pier onCopano Bay.Criminal casesand civil restitu-tion were filed.

Alex Tompkins from HRI’s Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation andLindsey Laskowski preparing to remove samples from the epibenthic sled.Photo, Lisa Laskowski

~4~2015 Ford F-150 “Texas Edition” XLT SuperCab with Haynie 23 Bigfoot, the Redfish Division prize.

26th Annual CCAState of TexasAnglers’ Rodeo

Sixty “STAR” QualityRedfish are Out there

swimming!ATTENTION ANGLERS! The 26th Annual CCATexas State of Texas Anglers’ Rodeo (STAR) is infull swing with all summer to win! Sixty speciallytagged redfish, ranging from 20 ½ to 25 ½ inchesin length, were set free by Official Redfish Re-lease Teams throughout Texas coastal waters,where people fish, from Sabine Lake to South PadreIsland just days before the May 23 kick-off!These “STAR” quality redfish are out there swim-ming around just waiting to be caught! Couldthis be your year to catch one? Speaking of theredfish tagged division, see the letter from TeamCaptain James Heller about this year's redfish re-lease.

The STAR tournament drew approximately48,000 participants last year, making it one of theworld’s largest saltwater fishing tournaments.This year’s event begins at sunrise on Saturday,May 23 and ends on Labor Day, September 7 at5p.m. Anglers from all across the great LoneStar State can enter all summer-long to vie forover $1,000,000 in prizes in the 26th Annual CCATexas/STAR Tournament! So don’t delay… SIGNUP TODAY! Trophy-sized prizes can be claimedby registered STAR anglers who bring in the first10 tagged redfish. The first five winners willdrive home in a 2015 loaded Ford F-150 “TexasEdition” XLT SuperCab, pulling a brand new 23’Haynie BigFoot boat rigged with a Mercury150L Pro XS OptiMax motor and Coastline trailer.The next five tagged redfish winners will eachclaim a 23’ Haynie BigFoot boat with a MercuryPro XS 150L OptiMax motor and Coastline trail-ers. You will have to supply your own truck totow these rigs home. Last year thirteen taggedredfish were caught, but only four anglersclaimed prizes. The others, unfortunately, werenot registered for the CCA Texas STAR.

Other fish can net big rewards in the tournament.STAR contestants who catch the largest speck-

STAR entrant. The CCA membership fee is$30 annually and the 2015 STAR Tournamentfee is still $20 for a total of $50. In order towin at STAR, an angler must be registered andbe a current member of CCA.

YOUNG ANGLERS FISH FOR FREE! Foryoung anglers ages 6–17, the “New Tide”membership fee remains $10 annually and theSTAR entry fee is FREE!!! Of course, we wantall kids on the water. CCA “New Tide” mem-bers will continue to have the opportunity towin giant scholarships to fund their collegeeducation for just the price of a $10 CCA“New Tide” Membership. We thank our gen-erous sponsors for making it possible for usto offer young anglers this great opportunity.To be eligible to fish STAR, “New Tide”Members MUST BE at least 6 years of age in2015 and under age 18 to enter for FREE. It isthe “New Tide” Member’s responsibility tomake sure their CCA membership is currentand that they are registered for the currentyear STAR tournament.

"HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"Here’s a special note we received from one of theRedfish Release team captains, James Heller, to ourscores of volunteers. Recently, we were informed ourredfish release teams were having trouble findingthe right size redfish for the 2015 release...

All:Our backup sources have produced slot fish forthe STAR Tournament. Thanks to our partnersat the Corpus Christi CCA chapter and thegood folks at NRG and Center Point. Fish col-lection is complete. We will not be angling atsea water intake this weekend. If the winds werenot howling, we would fish for real!But most of all, thanks to Dow for their eons ofhelp. And thanks to all of you for donating somuch of your time to help make the TexasSTAR a reality in 2015.

The tagged red division is the lead event ofSTAR and is critical to this membership drive.Your endurance to collect 45 slot fish (about180 angler hours) is appreciated as it was notthe usual fish rodeo to which we are accus-tomed.Thanks again, and best of luck!—James HellerP.S.: Keep in mind… if you are on a ReleaseTeam, you’re ineligible for the STAR TaggedRedfish Division… SORRY!

Thanks to the amazing crew of volunteers fromDow, NRG, Center Point, CCA Corpus ChristiChapter and Texas Parks & Wildlife. They mobi-lized forces and got the job done!

led trout in the north,central and southern re-gions of the Texas Coastwill each take home aNEW boat prize thisyear… the Shoalwater21' Cat, powered with aMercury 150L Pro XSOptiMax and McClaintrailer! STAR blue wateranglers who land theheaviest kingfish,dorado and ling (cobia)in the Offshore Divisionwill each win the awe-some Polaris RangerCrew 570 EPS UVs inPolaris Pursuit Camoeach with a Big Tex 35saTrailer. In the InshoreDivision the BlueWave’s 180 SV SouthernSkiff boat, Mercury 115OptiMax motor andMcClain trailer will alsobe given to the anglersfor netting the biggestflounder, gafftop andsheepshead. The STARScholarship Divisionsoffer a total of ten col-lege scholarships in$20,000 and $50,000 in-crements. STAR partici-pants, ages 6-10, whocatch the largest floun-der, sheepshead orgafftop will each beawarded a $50,000 col-lege scholarship. Par-ticipants 11-17 years ofage, who catch the larg-est flounder, sheepsheador gafftop, as well as thelargest speckled trout ineach of the three TexasCoast regions (north,central and south) willeach be awarded a$20,000 college scholar-ship. In addition to thesenine scholarship offer-ings, participants ages 6-17 years old in 2015, are eligible for a bonusdrawing that will net one lucky youth a$20,000 college scholarship even if the par-ticipant never wets a line or enters a singlefish during the entire tournament!

YOU’VE GOT TO BE IN TO WIN! ATTEN-TION ALL ANGLERS PLANNING TOFISH THE TEXAS COAST THIS SUMMER!In order to win one of the $1,000,000 in prizesbeing offered in Texas’ largest, richest, sum-mer-long saltwater fishing event, an anglermust be a CURRENT member of CCA, in ad-dition to being registered as a 2015 TEXAS

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!!! ATTENTION !!!*** 2015 STAR Platinum Print Membership ***

NOW AVAILABLEWe are pleased to offer the new 2015 CCA Texas STAR Platinum package, Split Screen!Renowned artist David Drinkard has created another fine print exclusively for CCA Texasmembers! Only 1,750 will be available through this special membership level, which in-cludes your CCA membership (new or renewal) + STAR Tournament Entry… all for lessthan the value of this premium print alone! This 16" x 24" print is on acid-proof paperstock to ensure many years of enjoyment. Package includes your CCA membership(new or renewal), your 2015 CCA Texas STAR entry, plus this special signed, limited-edi-tion print created exclusively for STAR, all for $125!

Split Screen is aone-of-a-kindprint worth thisprice alone. Ifyou would liketo consider one,or several, ofthese limited-edi-tion packages,go to: http://www. startournament.orgmore details or toplace your orderwith the STARDept., call (713)626-4222. Beone of the FIRSTto own this col-lectors’ piece!GET YOURSTODAY!!!

Split Screen! By renowned artist David Drinkard

tablets and desktops. Now STAR anglers havethe chance to embrace the latest in technol-ogy, plus conserve our natural resources. Weare grateful to Texas Fish & Game for provid-ing this STAR-only benefit, while saving sometrees and giving you more options. Be sure toinclude your email address when you registerfor this year’s tournament to automatically re-ceive your FREE digital subscription. If youstill wish to receive Texas Fish & Game inprint magazine form, no problem… a specialSTAR angler price of $8 a year (vs. $17.99/year) is still available, including your access tothe digital version at no extra cost! If you wishto take advantage of this special STAR anglerdiscounted print subscription price, be on thelookout in your email or mailbox for details onhow to activate this special offer. If you havequestions regarding your past or current sub-scription, please call (800) 725-1134 or emailsubscriptions@fishgame.com.

TILSON HOMES $1,000 in FREE Upgrades –Every CCA Texas member who purchases aTilson Home is eligible for a value discount.Tilson will give you $1,000 off on any up-grade such as ceramic tile, hardwood floors,kitchen cabinetry and more. See ad in theCCA Texas CURRENTS newsletter for moredetails or call 1 (888) 540-6705.

STILL AVAILABLE… CCA Texas STARPlatinum Prints Series I-IV: STAR Reds (Se-ries I), STAR Sightings (Series II), School IsIn Session (Series III) & Working the Spoils

(Series IV) are still available. If you haven’t pur-chased one yet and would like to begin yourCCA Texas STAR Platinum Collectible Series,please contact the STAR Dept. and we can getyou fixed up. To own all five of these com-memorative pieces, purchase yours today be-fore they’re all gone! Proceeds from the salesof Platinum Packages will help us continue tofund the STAR scholarships.

2015 PRIZE LINE-UP - Contestants have achance at winning over 100 prizes includingtrucks, boats, motors, trailers and collegescholarships in the following categories:

Texas Ford Dealers Redfish Division – TexasFord Dealers continue to make this divisionthe “Best in Texas”! They will again give eachof the first five registered STAR participantswho catch tagged redfish their brand new allaluminum body truck to get to their fishingdestination in a tough, dependable and stylishride. The first five registered anglers to weigh-in a tagged red will receive a 2015 Ford F-150“Texas Edition” truck. Haynie Boats returnswith the awesome Haynie 23 Bigfoot riggedwith a motor and Coastline Trailer completingthis amazing package. The next five weighedin will receive the same boat, motor and trailerpackages.

For young anglers not of legal drivingage and who reel in the famous tagged red, heor she will receive the boat package plus a$20,000 college scholarship, in lieu of thetruck.

As you start making plans, be on the lookout inyour mailbox. Our great partner, AcademySports + Outdoors, will be sending all currentCCA Texas members a special bonus as a re-minder and to help with some of your fishing ex-penses.

You know you’ll go so might as well sign upnow! Remember, everyone entered in the STARTournament, who will be 6 years old in 2015 andolder, is eligible to win the prizes being offeredeven the TAGGED REDFISH DIVISION! Youcan sign up NOW online atwww.startournament.org!!! Don’t miss “the boat”or “the truck and boat”… register today!

CCA TEXAS MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS - Ourmost generous sponsor offerings still continueto add more value to your CCA Texas Member-ship. Be sure and remember to take advantageof the following wonderful benefits your CCAmembership affords you!

Ford X-Plan Pricing (see details below)

$10 gift card courtesy of Academy Sportsand Outdoors (see details below)

Texas Fish & Game Magazine subscription(see details below)$1000 worth of free upgrades with your purchase of a new Tilson home (see ad on page 23)

FORD X-PLAN PRICING - CCA Texas membershave been remarkably honored by the TexasFord Dealers. They approved X-Plan pricing forus; that is, every current member can buy (orlease) any Ford product at the same price Fordemployees must pay. This means we can save upto $1,000 or much more, just by having a valid$30 CCA membership card!!! Our Ford PartnerCode # is CCA 61; go to www.fordpartner.com,if you are considering a purchase.

SPECIAL BONUS FROM ACADEMY SPORTS& OUTDOORS – Another great reason to signup! Academy Sports + Outdoors will be mailingCURRENT members a $10gift coupon after the tour-nament ends! Specialthanks to Acad-emy Sports +Outdoors forcontinuing tomake your CCAmembership and STAR entry such an awesomevalue!

NEW! TEXAS FISH & GAME MAGAZINE “BO-NUS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION!” - We all loveFREE stuff, and speaking of FREE stuff, manySTAR anglers have discovered the benefit andconvenience of using digital technology andhave requested we do the same. Texas Fish &Game Magazine is thrilled to an-nounce 2015 CCA TexasSTAR participantsare now eligiblefor a FREE one-year (12 issues)DIGITAL subscrip-tion. This subscription(normally $11.99/year)will allow you to ac-cess the latest and mostin-depth outdoors infor-mation anywhere and any-time on your smart phone,

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STAR has reached $5,235,000 in scholarshipsawarded to children 6-17 years of age.

Many thanks to our sponsors for making thishappen. Without them, it would not be possible.

Inshore Division - Blue Wave 180 SV Southern Skiff with aMercury 115 OptiMax

teen with the largest flounder, gafftop and sheeps-head statewide.

But Wait, There’s More…

Runner-Up Prizes - The first through fourth run-ners-up in all divisions will receive various giftcertificates from Academy Sports & Outdoors.

“New Tide” Member Drawing - The “New Tide”Scholarship Drawing will be offered again in2015. “New Tide” STAR participants at least, 6 - 17years old in 2015, are eligible for a bonus drawingthat will net one lucky youth a $20,000 collegescholarship even if the participant never wets aline or enters a single fish during the entire tourna-ment.

Member Bonus Drawing - This unique drawing of-fers STAR entrants a chance to win a fabulous boatprize package even if the participant never wets aline. One lucky contestant’s name will be drawn towin a model with a Dargel 210TV boat, Mer-cury150 Pro XS OptiMax outboard and McClaintrailer.

Major sponsors for the 26th Annual CCATexas STAR Tournament include:Texas Ford Dealers, Tilson Home Corpo-ration, Capital Farm Credit, Mercury Ma-rine, Academy Sports + Outdoors,Whataburger, Ozarka, Rio Ammunition,Hoffpauir Polaris, KTRK-abc13, HoustonCommunity Newspapers & MediaGroup, Fox Sports Southwest, HaynieBoats, Shoalwater Boats, Dargel Boats,Blue Wave Boats, Texas Fish & GameMagazine, Texas Oilman’s Charity Fish-ing Tournament, Coastline Trailers,McClain Trailers, Chris’s Marine and Mt.Houston Marine.

For more information, go to http://www.startournament.org Thanks for supportingCCA Texas and the STAR Tournament!

Trout Division - Shoalwater 21’ Cat with a Mercury 150 Pro XS OptiMax

STAR has awarded$5,235,000 in collegescholarships to 165fisher-kids across thestate, ranging from 6-17years of age and 2015continues to offerplenty of reason for ev-eryone to round up theirkid(s), a rod and reeland head for the water.StarKid Flounder Divi-sion – This divisiongives entrants age 6-10

a chance to win a$50,000 collegescholarship for thelargest floundercaught throughoutthe summer.

Fox Sports South-west StarKidGafftop Division –This divisiongives entrants age6-10 a chance towin a $50,000 col-lege scholarship

for the largest gafftop caught throughout thesummer.

Houston Community Newspapers StarKidSheepshead Division – This division givesentrants age 6-10 a chance to win a $50,000college scholarship for the largest sheeps-head caught throughout the summer.

Academy Sports & Outdoors StarTeensTrout Division - This youth scholarship divi-sion is open to all New Tide members ages11-17 and awards a $20,000 college scholar-ship for each fisher-teen with the largesttrout in the upper, middle and lower coasts.

FRIENDLY REMINDER… The minimumweight requirement for the trout is sixpounds. For all fish weighing less thans i x pounds, if no intentions of mount-

ing young angler’s prize catch,please take a quick picture and im-mediately releaseback into the wa-ter.

StarTeensInshore

Division - This youth scholarshipdivision is open to all New Tide

members ages 11-17 and awards a$20,000 college scholarship for each fisher-

Offshore Division Prize - PolarisRanger® Crew 570 EPS

Trout Division - ATTENTION TROUT AN-GLERS! After years of requesting a more ver-satile boat prize in this division, we hear you!New for this year,winners in upper, middle,and lower coast regions will each take homethe awesome Shoalwater 21’ Cat boat with aMercury 150 Pro XS OptiMax motor andMcClain trailer. The 21’ Shoalwater Cat hull de-sign provides an excellent ride with an 8" draftallowing you to get really shallow, plus runswell in the heavy chop due to the tunnel hulldesign. FRIENDLY REMINDER… If you’reunsure a trout is large enough to qualify, con-sider this “easy rule-of-thumb” - if length isless than 27 inches, chances are it won’t meet

the eight pound minimum weight requirementfor the Trout Division. Unless you intend tomount your fish as a personal best, why notthink about releasing anything that might notmake the cut so she can re-seed the bays.

Offshore Division – ATTENTION BLUE WA-TER ANGLERS! Hoffpauir Auto & OutdoorStore continues to partner with us to providethe offshore angler something that will come invery handy after a long trip on the high seas.Anglers who land the heaviest kingfish,dorado and ling will each receive an awesomePolaris Ranger® Crew 570 EPS UVs in PolarisPursuit Camo each with a Big Tex 35sa Trailer!

Inshore Division – Each win-ner that reels in the largestflounder, gafftop andsheepshead will be hand-somely rewarded withBlue Wave’s 180 SVSouthern Skiff boat,Mercury 115OptiMax motorand McClaintrailer.

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CURRENTS is a membership benefit of the CoastalConservation Association-Texas. It is published bi-monthly, alternate months from the Coastal ConservationAssociation (CCA) TIDE Magazine. Address: 6919Portwest, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77024. Phone: 713-626-4222. FAX: 713-961-3801. www.ccatexas.org

Editor, Sam Caldwell / sam@samcaldwell.comThis is the issue of June / July 2015

Vol. 33, Issue 4

Welcome to theCCA Texas

Online AuctionSponsored by Costa Del Mar

Sponsored by ourfriends at Costa.

Eddie Money & Grand Funk Railroadwill join a 4th and maybe a 5th major

band. As the 2015 Concert develops, full in-formation will be on catexas.org. There willbe an eBlast to CCA members. Meanwhile,

get your friends togetherfor another memorable

CCA Concert For Conservation

GrGrGrGrGreat Feat Feat Feat Feat Foods / Editoods / Editoods / Editoods / Editoods / Editor Ellen Ohmsor Ellen Ohmsor Ellen Ohmsor Ellen Ohmsor Ellen Ohmstttttedeedeedeedeede

We have some great merchandiseup for grabs this month!

Available online 11 am,June 17 till 11 am, June

21—Father's Day!To bid and win, go to ccatexas.org

and click on the link (left hand side)online auction.

Good luck!—Brian Weaver,Banquet Assistant, CCA Texas

Custom Made Igloo Wrapped CCACooler with four CCA Texas TritonTumblers: These items would be perfectfor your next fishing trip!

4th Annual Concert for ConservationSept. 26, Sam Houston Race Track

Pan Fried Trout with Ginger ButterAdapted from “California Sizzles” The Jr. League of Pasadena, CA.

4 trout filets2 T sesame oil / 2 T soy sauce /2 T lemon Juice or rice winevinegar / 2 Green onionsminced / Egg wash / SeasonedFlour / Panko bread crumbs4 T Canola or Peanut oil

Ginger Butter2 green onions finely chopped1 T fresh ginger peeled andminced / ½ cup room tempera-ture butter / Salt and pepper totaste / Juice of one lemon

For the Butter: Process allingredients in food processorand let stand at room tempera-ture until ready to use.

For the Fish: Combine first4 ingredients for marinade, placein a shallow glass dish; add fishturning to coat evenly. Coverand refrigerate for 1-4 hours.

Remove fish from marinade and pat dry. Dip fish in seasoned flour, then eggwash, then in Panko and let rest a few minutes. Heat the oil in a large skillet to me-dium high heat. Add fish filets and cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown andcooked through. Remove from pan to serving plate. To serve, place a generous dol-lop of Ginger Butter on top of each filet.

Custom Made Metal Flounder: Perfectaddition for any beach house or man cavealong the coast!

LynyrdSkynyrd

CCA presents another eveningwith hundreds of your closest

music loving friends—and some of the

finest bands in America.

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Continued from page 2

“Thanks to Harte Re-search Institute’s Cen-ter for Sportfish Sci-ence and Conservationand Masters studentQuentin Hall, we had agreat opportunity towitness some of thecurrent research on-site,” commented CCATexas Dallas Chaptervolunteer RichardPratt.

Pratt continued,“The chance for theteams to benchmarkthe sea life in and

around Cedar Bayouand study its rapidevolution will benefitus for generations. Cedar Bayou is also apristine remote coastallocation, so let’s all doour part to keep it thatway by taking outmore than what webring in.”

One attendeewas high school student

Lindsey Laskowski,who commented,“Thanks to HRI forgiving us a great op-portunity to see howimportant research isbeing done on habitatrestoration projects. Itwas definitely an eye-opening experience forme, and makes me re-ally excited about myfuture studies at TexasA&M Corpus Christi,where I will begin myfreshman year in thefall.” Attendees includedmembers from acrossthe state, which onlydrives home the inter-est in the Texas coastalresources by ourmembers from every-where and shows thatthe desire to be in-volved in CCA Texas isfor the good of the re-source. Special thanksto the Harte ResearchInstitute, and the Cen-ter for Sportfish Sci-ence and Conservationfor hosting this groupfor a day of “Scienceon the Water.”

Alex Tompkins and attendees looking over marine animals captured in epibenthic sled. Photo, LisaLaskowski. Below photo from the February/March Currents: A few days after the historic opening of Ce-dar Bayou to the Gulf, researchers with the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation found abun-dant, newly recruited red drum larvae in the area. Photo courtesy of Center for Sportfish Science andConservation.

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Middle CoastUpper Coast Lower CoastCapt. Mike O'DellBy Capt. Jim West By Capt. Ron Moore

Big year for troutI’m predicting 2015 to be a “spec”tacular yearfor trout, since June and July are prime spawn-ing months. Look for them on the windwardshorelines of Aransas, Copano, and CorpusChristi Bays. Good fish will also be on the shellreefs of Copano, San Antonio, Mesquite, andAransas Bays, usually in 2 to 4 feet of water.

My go-to lure has been the same for 45years now, the 52M series MirrorLure, clearbody with a silver flash, and hand paintedroughly with a red marker to cover about 75%of it. Larger fish will hit these types of lures be-fore the soft plastics, but the most productiveplastic for me has been the purple Assassin witha chartreuse tail and a 1/8th ounce jig head.

With June being one of our windy months,and if it's a bit rough to fish the open bays, tryEstes Flats. Trout and reds are both on the sandholes and grass beds. The water here is nearlyalways clear and fishable.

Cedar Bayou has been open severalmonths now, so fishing will steadily improve.Wade fishing is a very good way to cover theshorelines for spawning trout. Always remem-ber though, step out of the boat carefully; moststingray hits are from blindly stepping directlyon a sting ray.

With the five trout limit, you will be doingmore catch and release. Survival rates vary, butanglers can increase survival by avoiding longstruggles and keeping the fish in the waterwhen releasing it. Circle hooks have beenproven to greatly reduce mortality rates, whileincreasing catch rates.

This year marks my 21st year of guidingon the Middle Texas Coast and 35 years ofpainting the experiences and images I’ve seenwhile guiding. I hope you will take a minute toview some of the paintings on my newwebsite. —Capt. Ron Moore 361-774-3817www.ronmooreartist.com

Ribbon cutting time at Cedar Bayou. Then one last shovelful, and in comes the Gulf.

Go early, go shallowWe’ve had an unprecedented amount of fresh-water coming into the system, especially theback end of the bays, but it was needed. Checkthe southern end of the bays, but Galveston wa-ters are deeper than a lot of Texas water, sothere will be salt water below all the fresh wa-ter. The beach can be excellent with the rightconditions and clarity, and it won’t have freshwater problems.

Here comes the summer bite—and for me,it’ll be an early morning affair, much of the time.For those windy days, make your plans to worksheltered shorelines. In June, look for the sum-mertime patterns to begin, and continue into Au-gust. High pressure fronts and west winds willclear the water. As temps hit the 80’s, after theearly morning shallow bite, you’ll want to headto the middle of the bays. Areas like Todd’sDump, Redfish Island and the Houston ShipChannel can pay off. Check your charts for thefairly new oyster reefs created by TP&W. Therocks and structure are paying off big time, andtrout love those reefs.

My go-to lures depend on water clarity andtime of day. On shorelines, I throw Tops andTails. Small topwaters and small tails, early.Then, if the bite gets finicky, I’ll move intodeeper water. If it’s clear, I like the biggerpaddletails, transparent, with metal flake. TidalSurge, the Maniac Mullet are good. The variouslures from a Beaumont outfit, Texas Trout Fac-tory, are excellent producers.

I’m usually off the pond early in the after-noon, rarely fish more than four days a week,and never on a Sunday. Be sure you take care ofthe resource: keep enough fish for supper, in-stead of having freezer-burned fish later. –Capt.Jim West 409-996-3054 captjimwest@yahoo.comwebsite http://bolivarguideservice.com/

Many of us old Salts remember Jim’s father,Forrest West as a great hunting and fishing guidewho operated Los Patos. Sadly, the resort was de-stroyed during Hurricane Ike.

Thanks, freshwater inflowsI expect these summer months—from AransasBay all the way to Baffin—will be the best inseveral years, due to the inflows and nutrientsall that freshwater brought us. Look for solidreds and nice trout in early June, and as thesummer wears on, don’t be surprised to see re-ally good numbers of trout in super shape, alllooking for your ‘offerings.’

Redfish on our many shallow flats may bemore numerous, but the reds you’ll locate indeeper regions will be bigger, and cause yourreels to scream. There’ll also be more trout outthere, so give those bigger fish a chance tocome home for dinner.

Which leads me to an important part ofany trip nowadays: culling. The little guys de-serve to go back for later, and the really bigtrout should be released for further duty. Usethe least handling possible, in the shortest pos-sible time. Remember that in these summermonths, redfish are tougher and may surviveawhile on a stringer, but specs that you aren’tsure about should be released swiftly.

For the days when wind is a problem—and there will be plenty of those days—make itwork for you by planning your trip early on tofish protected shorelines. Drifting with a softwind can be very productive, if you work at it.

I fish with families a lot, so I like offeringsthat produce. Chief among my go-to lures arethe Gulps, and I really like the white eel variet-ies. It seems that particular flavor works greatfor a couple of weeks, maybe because that’smoving time for the real eels. Then, it’s back tothe New Penny Gulp for me. Doesn’t mean youcan’t experiment, and depending on water clar-ity (or the lack of it) you should give the bigtopwaters and heavy paddletails an opportunityto produce.

Be courteous, because courtesy has a wayof coming back to you. Use that kill switch, besure your lights work, and always look afteryour crew. –Capt. Mike O’Dell 361-438-1866web, afishingfantasy.com

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CCA Texas SocialHappenings

Alvin-PearlandEmery Sadler 713-501-2778

Monthly General Meetings (Anglers Night Out):7PM - First Tuesday of the month. Location: Spring Creek BBQ / 9005 Broadway,Pearland Tx.77584Alvin/Pearland CCA Chapter Banquet June 18,2015, 6pm. Location: Knights of Columbus Hall,2320 Hatfield Road, Pearland Tx 77581.

Banquet planning is in full swing. Corporatetables and Sportsman Raffle tickets are nowavailable. The Sportsman Raffle this year willhave 5 guns and 5 yeti coolers for a total of TENwinners. Joes BBQ will once again cater theribeye steak dinner. Our Live auction, Silent auc-tion, Raffle items are coming together and look-ing to be the best ever!

Thanks to the following Table sponsors:CommonWealth Financial, Sun Belt Valve, Acad-emy, Payne Brothers Firearms/Allied Fire Pro-tection, Crain Group, Critical Project Services,Dorsett Concrete, Sprint Waste, Alliance Equip-

Chapter Updates have been edited forbrevity to allow everyone’s voice to beheard. For the full version, go to yourchapter’s area in the CCA website.

Drop by www.ccatexas.org,click on Local Chapters.

ment, Dashiell Corporation, BAAD Marine. Wewould like to say thanks to all our sponsors, wewould not be able to do what we do withouttheir support!

A Special thanks to our recent speakers:April-Capt. Scott Null, May- Capt. Caleb Harp forsharing their knowledge of equipment and fish-ing tactics.

June 2 General Meeting (Anglers Night Out)SPEAKER: TFO (Temple Fork Outfitters) BanningCollins

July and August- NO MEETING—GONEFISHING

We would welcome new board memberswho would like to get plugged in. Our monthlychapter meetings have a great speaker lineupand we will have a raffle. Bring a friend, a kidand get plugged in! —Emery Sadler 713-501-2778

Aransas BayCarter Crigler 435-830-5984

jccrigler@hotmail.comBabes on the Bay Sweet Sixteen was just recentlycompleted and the Aransas Bay Chapter wouldlike to thank all participants and hope everyonehad a terrific time. A special thanks also go to allthe vendors, volunteers and the volunteerTP&W Game Wardens who conducted theweigh-in. As for the past 13 years KarolScardino, tournament director, deserves a bigthank you for her continued dedication and com-mitment to making Babes on the Bay the worldsbest all women’s fishing tournament. A donationof $5000.00 on behalf of CCA Babes On The Bay,Aransas Bay Chapter, will be made to “Go ForFish, Not Drugs” kids fish event sponsored bythe TP&W Game Wardens. In case you arewondering plans are already underway forBabes on the Bay XVII. Looking forward to see-ing you again next year or if you have not been aparticipant in the past come and joint in the funin 2016.

Aransas Bay Chapter’s 16th Annual Banquetis scheduled for 8 August at the Paws and TawsConvention Center in Fulton, Texas. Come joinus for a fun filled evening consisting of a liveauction including trips, sculptures, art, etc.;raffle; door prizes; and silent auction. Titlesponsor for the banquet is Ron Hoover RV andMarine. Tickets will be available at RockportTackle Town and Ace Hardware Rockport and in-clude dinner catered by Black Tie Affairs Cater-ing, Inc, open bar, and a CCA Membership. Forany questions concerning advanced ticket reser-vations, sponsor opportunities, donations or anyother matter contact Michelle Green, BanquetChairperson, at jeepgirl.green@gmail.com.

Members from the Redfish Bay, CorpusChristi and Aransas Bay Chapters joined forcesto staff booth at Rock the Dock Boat Show inAransas Pass to sell CCA and Star memberships.Thanks for everyone’s support.

The Aransas Bay Chapter was very fortu-nate to have Aaron Horine, PE., from Coast and

CCA Texas Banquet SeasonKicks into Full Speed

CCA Texas is excited about the early suc-cess of the banquets held to date andlooks forward to a busy spring and sum-mer. Be sure to check out the CCA Texascalendar and attend the banquets ofyour choice in your local area and acrossthe state. NOW AS SCHEDULED:4 JUNE LIVE OAK ANNUAL BANQUET11 JUNE KATY ANNUAL BANQUET18 JUNE CENTEX ANNUAL BANQUET18 JUNE ALVIN/PEARLAND

ANNUAL BANQUET25 JUNE MATAGORDA BAY

ANNUAL BANQUET25 JUNE TOMBALL/MAGNOLIA

ANNUAL BANQUET25 JUNE SAN JACINTO

ANNUAL BANQUET

9 JUL GREATER WOODLANDS ANNUAL BANQUET

7AUG LOWER COLORADO ANNUAL BANQUET

8AUG GALVESTON ANNUAL BANQUET8AUG ARANSAS BAY

ANNUAL BANQUET13AUG LOWER LAGUNA MADRE

ANNUAL BANQUET13AUG NORTHWEST HOUSTON

ANNUAL BANQUET20AUG ORANGE COUNTY

ANNUAL BANQUET20AUG SAN GABRIEL

ANNUAL BANQUET20AUG HILL COUNTRY CHAPTER

ANNUAL BANQUET28AUG TRINITY BAY

ANNUAL BANQUET

In April we took a trip out to the Bird IslandCove Marsh Restoration completed projectsite and the Oyster Lake Shoreline site inGalveston Bay. Stay tuned for video footagecoming soon at www.ccatexas.org/project-vid-eos. In the meantime, check out the CCA TexasFacebook page to see a video from that day,which includes an exciting encounter with acrab!

Our various social media platforms make itpossible to spread the word about projects,events, and positive impacts CCA Texas is mak-ing on the Texas Gulf Coast in real time. Theparticipation of our enthusiastic members helpto strengthen the conversation and educate thepublic about the importance of the great workbeing done!

In each issue of Currents, CCA Texas willfeature a recent Facebook photo, TwitterTweet, and Instagram photo. Please “Like” ourFacebook page and follow us on Twitter andInstagram to get the latest updates from CCATexas and become a part of the conversation!

Facebook:Matthew Hannes sentus these photos ofkiddos Nicole, Kira,and PhilippHoffzimmer on a fish-ing trip last October toPOC with Capt. KirkMorgan. Great catcheseveryone! We love theCCA Texas hats.

Twitter:@SportfishCenter: JohnBlaha, Asst Director of@CCA_Texas helps aCSSC crew sample forjuvenile nekton nearCedar Bayou.

Instagram:Out checking onsome HTFT projectsin Galveston today!TPWD’s Bird IslandCove Marsh Restora-tion is complete.There’s still somegrass planting to bedone, but everything looks great! CCA Texas con-tributed $50,000 to this project. Thank you to allof our generous members, partners, and spon-sors for making important projects like this a re-ality!

Facebook: facebook.com/CCATexasTwitter: twitter.com/CCA_TexasInstagram: instagram.com/cca_texas

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Harbor Engineering as guest speaker at ourApril meeting. Aaron was Project Manager forthe Cedar Bayou Project and provided an over-view of the design, construction and current sta-tus of Cedar Bayou and Vinson Slough. He pro-vided a most informative talk and answeredquestions about the project and what the futuremay hold. He assured those in attendance thatmovement of the mouth 400 plus yards to thesouth and the channel becoming somewhat lessthan straight is following engineering projec-tions. Tight lines—Carter Crigler

AustinScott Sanderson 512-637-1750

scott@mbsquoteline.comThe 36th Anniversary Austin banquet is behindus now and the support for Conservation oursponsors, donors and members show continuesto amaze. The Palmer Events Center waspacked full with over 1700 CCAers and theywere treated with live music from CharlieRobison, great food, once-in-a-lifetime-trips andjust a generally super night. Thanks to our pre-senting sponsors, Covert Chevrolet and Indepen-dence Title, and everyone involved for makingour banquet the best CCA has to offer.

A lot of folks have a lot of new toys or tripsto take. 2015 Boat Raffle winner, John Bundy,has a brand new Shallow Sport. Willie Schmidtwon the Sportsman’s 4WD and is tooled to ter-rorize south Texas. Henry Kubena has a brandspanking new Polaris Ranger Crew fromHoffpauir Polaris.Preston Luster,and 20 others, be-came LifetimeCCA members atthe banquet. Tothank them all weheld a specialdrawing, thatPreston won, andhe’s going to theAbacos! All told,lucky winnerswalked off withnearly $200,000 inprizes!

Next up on the calendar for Austin is An-glers’ Night Out at Abel’s on the Lake July 15th.Like the banquet, ANO is a blast and 200 or sogather with us at these for fun, festivities and afree meal compliments of Smokey Denmark’s.We always have a great guest speaker, admis-sion is free and you don’t have to be a memberto come so BRING A FRIEND AND ASK THEMTO JOIN CCA. We have great raffles with allkinds of great prizes and that’s where Georgebought his winning Shallow Sport ticket. Sothere’s another great reason to come.

Be sure to “Like” Coastal Conservation As-sociation Austin Chapter on Facebook to keepup with everything our awesome chapter has go-ing on. If you want to join a fun group of folksand help raise money for CCA, send me a noteabout joining the Austin board.Now it’s time togo fishing! —Scott Sanderson

Bay AreaCurtis Anderson 832-421-6377

Brazoria CountyWes Dingee 979-299-8245

Brazos ValleyJohn Ben Strother 979-220-1738

jbsunlimited@yahoo.comThe spring is about over and fishing with familyand friends is beginning! Hope everybody is reg-istered for the Star? This has to be the bestbang for the buck when it comes to fishing.

There are so many great prizes and so manyways to win them. Take a young person fishingand if they catch the biggest they win a collegescholarship. What a great excuse to take a kidfishing. The Inter Chapter Challenge was a big hitagain and it would be great if there were 59chapters there. Brazos Valley CCA has beenthere for every one since the beginning and thereason is because we have fun year after year.It is a great time and everybody shares the spiritCCA stands for.

We filled a table May 1st for the AggieChapter Banquet. Ian Kocker and his membersdid a great of entertaining the crowd. It is grati-fying to see the next generation take CCA to thefuture.

The first club fishing outing was May 14 to17 at Rockport. Our group had a grand timebunking at the Last Resort. The fishing was greatand we needed some practice for the Inter-Chapter Challenge.

We have over 800 registered CCA membersin the Brazos Valley and would like you to joinus at our monthly meetings. We will be sendingan email blast each month for these meetings.We always have a great time. The meeting placeis the Brazos Center Pavilion on the 2nd Tuesdayevery month. With food, beverages, and a lot offish stories. If you need more information giveme a call, text, or email and don’t forget to regis-ter for STAR and get a CCA license plate. Hopeto see ya there! —John Ben

BrenhamDennis Crowson

979-451-2472Dennis.crowson@hotmail.com

We held our annual crawfishfundraiser April 23. It was thelargest fundraiser the Chapterhas held with over 650 personsattending, eating over 4500pounds of crawfish. Specialthanks to all those who made ita great night including tablebuyers, sponsors, auction itembuyers and board members.

There are some good pictures of the eventon our website. Drop by CCAtexas.org, Brenhamchapter. The Brenham CCA Chapter meets the4th Thursday of each month at Mike HopkinsDistributing at 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome.Our next meeting will be May 28th. For more in-formation contact me at (979) 451-2472 ordennis.crowson@hotmail.com. –Dennis Crowson

Brush CountryHank Henry 361-215-6803

CentexWelcome new president Wayne Webb

254-405-1300 sheyhunt@aol.com

Central HoustonTodd Buster Mobil, 713-545-1897

The 39th Annual Central Houston CCA Banquetwas a resounding success. We would like tothank all of the board members for their effortsto make it another great event. Many thanksalso to Silver Eagle, Fishing Tackle Unlimited,Academy Sports + Outdoors, Simms Fishing Prod-ucts, Waterloo Rod Company and Mowdy Boats.Luke Johnson was the winner of the 2015 23’Mowdy Cat powered by a 200 HP Suzuki four-stroke. But most importantly we would like tothank the people that attend our banquet year-inand year-out. Without your continued supportthe Central Houston banquet would not be whatit is.

Next year’s banquet will be the 40th AnnualCentral Houston CCA Banquet and we’re goingto try and make it an extra special occasion tomark this milestone. —Todd Buster

Colorado ValleyEugene Ulrich 979-249-7425

WOW, what a great banquet! The Colorado Val-ley Chapter banquet was held on March 26th atthe KC hall in LaGrange and we were blessedwith our largest attendance to date. Our chapterwould like to extend our sincere appreciation toall who attended and helped make our eventsuch a huge success. Our board members—Eu-gene Ulrich, Bo Janda, Trish Kubena, RustyKubena, Gary Janda, Danny Olenick, and JKBrandt along with our committee members—Dave Fehlker, George Gold, Kenneth LeFrance,and Kendall Rohde plus our committee helpers—Connie Janda, Laurie Janda, Brenda Fehlker, KarieBrandt, Verlene Ulrich, Chris Brugger, and MikePetras did a tremendous job and worked veryhard preparing for and putting on our event.

Of course, Ellen and her crew did a fantas-tic job of preparing and helping ensure our nightwas a big success as well. We also wish to ex-tend a huge thank you to all our table sponsors,print sponsors, our tumbler raffle sponsor, ourKoozie sponsor, our table topper sponsor, andour door prize sponsor for their generosity.

In addition, we would like to thank BrownDistributing and Capitol Wright Distributing fortheir generous donations. The KC crew againdid a tremendous job of preparing our Ribeyesteak and shrimp dinner. Our raffles, silent auc-tion, and of course our live auction were allhuge successes. The Colorado Valley Chapterwishes to extend a very special thank you foryour generosity to all who participated in theseevents.

Hope all of you are enjoying fun and event-ful spring fishing with summer trips right aroundthe corner. Wishing bent rods and tight lines toall!! —Eugene Ulrich

Corpus ChristiJay Gardner 361-658-7159

jaygardner@scientist.comGreetings from the Coastal Bend. Whew! Weare still trying to put the last banquet to bed, butwe are already gearing up for next year. I wantto wish all the other Chapters “good luck!” inyour upcoming banquets – time to hit a homerun, and remember, its all “for the fish” asRandy Poelma says. I would like to again thanksome of our sponsors for the banquet, includingEnvironmental Evolution Energy Services LLC,Harte Research Institute (Isnapper), and Nyati Ser-vices Inc. We are also gearing up for the Inter-Chapter Challenge this year, and Corpus ChristiBoard members are already pre-fishing and as-suring me that they are going to place at or nearthe top this year. Bring on the competition! Seeyou all in Aransas Pass.

Other than that, we are looking forward toour upcoming events, the Poco Rojo kidfish tour-nament (which will be interesting this year!), theGuides Cup (contact Bruce Laser atblaser@premier-yamaha.com to learn how tosponsor the Guides Cup), and of course our pe-rennial favorite, the ladies fishing tournamentBabes on Baffin. Lauren Roesener is again head-ing up the charge this year as Director, with herreturning super-committee comprised of JudyArnold, Valerie Chilton, Michelle Gutierrez, Mar-garet Ehman, Angie Baines, and the rest of the la-dies. Please contact Lauren atlaurenleeroesener@gmail.com to find out how tosponsor this event, and of course watch thewebsite at babesonbaffin.com to keep up withthe dates and latest news on the event, and to

John Bundy checks out his new ride, a2015 Shallow Sport.

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register. Y’all stay cool out there thissummer, and have fun on the water!—Jay Gardner Environmental ScientistNaismith Engineering, Inc.jgardner@naismith-engineering.com

Dallas / North TexasHal Thomas 972-612-1684

Wow! Thanks to everyone who at-tended the CCA Texas Dallas ChapterBanquet at the Frontiers of Flight Mu-seum in Dallas. The evening was ter-rific as we enjoyed great food preparedby G Texas, and celebrated SamCaldwell as the Dallas CCA 2015 Conser-vation Sportsman of the Year. Previousrecipients were Gary Lumas, Dr. GreggStunz and Lefty Kreh.

We set a record for proceeds fromthe event, in keeping with the purposeof supporting CCA Texas. The folks inDallas are fantastic and very generousand we say THANK YOU!

Our sponsors went all out makingthis year’s event a success. Our friendsat Mariner Sails, Tailwaters, and MarineMax have generously offered opportuni-ties for us at the banquet and after. OnMay 16th, we are celebratingTailwaters’ 8th Anniversary and we willhelp them by cooking lunch for theevent. This summer, Mariner Sails willhost a Dallas Chapter meeting and laterthis year Marine Max and the DallasChapter will get together for another chaptermeeting.

We are excited for all that is happeningwith CCA. New memberships, renewals fromold friends and great projects that are making adifference encourage all of us to come alongsideand support the people who make CCA great.Please check out the web site and join in the ef-fort. We would love to see any photos youwould like to share with us and to hear your sto-ries. Best wishes and tight lines —Hal Thomas972-768-3521

East TexasDr. Jim Norman 936-554-3165

jnorman7@suddenlink.netFort Bend

Robb Gaston 281-239-9755Ahoy Mateys. Ft. Bend committee members havejust wrapped up our 29th annual banquet andwhat a great banquet it was. We had over 475 inattendance this year which was up 18% from lastyear. I would personally like to thank each andevery one of you for your generous contributionsand support.

A special thanks to Texas Citizens Bank ofRosenberg for graciously helping us out. Thisyear’s Grand Prize was an 18.5’ JH PerformanceOutlaw w/115 HP Yamaha from Sport Marine inRichmond, Texas, with a Coastline Aluminumtrailer. I’d like to thank JH Performance Boatsand Sport Marine in Richmond for all they did forus on this year’s boat, what a great group to dobusiness with. I’d also like to thank 5S Designsin Rosenberg for the awesome boat wrap theydid for us this year. We also had numerous newmembers to our executive board who helped outtremendously.

Mark your calendars: Our “Ladies Only”fishing tournament, Lingerie On The Bay isscheduled for September 18-19 in Matagorda.New Date!! Entry forms will be posted atwww.matagordabay.com andwww.wadefishing.com. The Jimmy Guest Memo-rial Kid’s Fishing Tournament in Matagorda is onJuly 11, 2015. Information for this event can befound at www.matagordabay.com or give me ashout! Bent rods and screaming reels —RobbGaston

Fort WorthHunter Baird 817-437-8351

We spent most of the 2014-2015 year working tomake sure that the 2015 banquet was not forgot-ten easily. With a new auctioneer to liven up theparty, your FW Chapter reached new heights. Aspecial thank you to all of those who made itpossible. It seems that some new trips and newboard members created the buzz to make thisone of our most successful banquets that I havepersonally been a part of. Thank you for yourcontributions to a great night. Mother natureblessed us with some of the most beautifulweather we could expect during a usually rainyand hot time of year.

Thank you to Joe White Tank Company(www.jwtank.net) for supporting us again at thisyear’s banquet. Another thanks to Brad Wallaceand the team at http://northtexasmarine.com forstepping up at a high level to help sponsor theevent. There were too many sponsors to list butwe still want to recognize the efforts of each ofyou so thank you to all of our table sponsors atthis year’s banquet. Coming off a banquet withrecord attendance we are excited about whatour chapter is going to accomplish during thenext GM membership/banquet season and knowthat none of it is possible without your continuedsupport.

If anyone one of you readers is interestedin getting more involved with your local chapter(or you simply want to take one of your boardmembers on a fishing trip, HA) never hesitate toreach out to us. The weather is turning warmerand our attention is turning to the coast forthe next couple of months. We hope you canfind some time to search for tight lines, sandbetween your toes and a nice cold Cerveza!Stay tuned for our next general membershipmeeting in the fall. —Hunter Baird

GalvestonDr. Ken Ellis 713-962-7731

Save the Date: The Galveston Chapter 22ndAnnual Banquet will be held August 8th,2015. We will back at Moody Gardens Con-vention Center. The folks at Moody Gardensare going to prepare a Fajita buffet with all

the trimmings. There will be plenty ofcold beverages available as well as sev-eral cash bars.

Be sure to watch your mail and emailsfor more details in the near future. Checkout our 2015 Raffle Boat: 2200 Purebay byBlue Wave, Suzuki 4 Stroke DF150 TX Mo-tor and McClain Trailer. Only 500 ticketsare being sold and are on sale now! Youdon’t want to miss out on this deal. Con-tact any board member to purchase tick-ets.

We recently held our first kid’s fishingtournament and it was a great success.We’d like to thank all those folks whoparticipated and helped sponsor thisevent: Fishing Tackle Unlimited,Harborwalk Marina, Longhorn Dental,Ron Hoover Marine Galveston, Texas CityAnglers, Treasure Island Trophies. All thekids had a great time and walked awaywith goodie bags filled with lots of trea-sures.

A big thank you to the Galveston chap-ter board and to our tournament director,James Larue. Great Job. We will be host-ing a membership meeting on June 11th at6:30 at M & M Bar and Grill. TheShimano Pro Staff will be on hand toshare some of their fishing techniques.As you can see, we are pretty active. Ifyou’d like to be involved with your localCCA Chapter please contact me. We

would welcome the participation. —Ken Ellis

Golden TriangleJoel Foxworth 409-466-2614

Our next event will be the 35th Annual Golden Tri-angle Chapter Banquet at the Beaumont Civic Cen-ter on Thursday, May 21st. Main raffle item thisyear is a NauticStar 2110 Sport CC Boat spon-sored by MobilOil Credit Union. Tickets will be$20 each or six for $100. To purchase raffle tick-ets or tickets to the Annual Banquet, pleaseemail Drew Adams at dadams@ccatexas.org oryou can call Joel Foxworth at the number listed.—Joel Foxworth

Greater Sugar LandWelcome new president Richard Lindley

832-270-0398richardlindley@att.net

We held our annual banquet and crawfish boilon Thursday April 9. We had another successfulbanquet this year and we look forward to grow-ing our banquet attendance next year, now thatwe have moved to a much more spacious venueat the Stafford Centre.

The Greater Sugar Land chapter wouldlike to say a big thank you to everyone that at-tended the banquet and helped support such agreat cause. We would also like to thank all ofour generous donors and sponsors for makingthis year’s banquet a huge success. We couldnot continue to grow and achieve our goals with-out the support of these generous donors andsponsors. We want to thank our banquet chair-

Galveston's 2200 Purebay by Blue Wave, Suzuki 4Stroke DF150 TX Motor and McClain Trailer.

Dallas Conservation Sportsman of the YearSam Caldwell accepted the award as PresidentHal Thomas, auctioneer Ed Phillips and a sold-out Dallas crowd applauded.

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man, Judy Kveton, for an exceptional job in plan-ning and guiding our volunteers.

Houston Elks Lodge 151 had their kid’s fishand Easter egg hunt in April. The Greater SugarLand CCA helped them by supplying the rods,reels and bait. We helped the kids with baitinghooks, learning to cast and how to handle thefish for return to the lake. The next kid’s fish willbe in Sugar Land on May 16, 2015 at EldridgePark. I want to thank our outgoing officers fortheir contribution over the last two years. Theyare: Richard Lindley, Vice President; RobertBailey, Secretary; Paul Lawson, Treasurer; JudyKveton, Banquet Chairman and Barbra Lindley,Kid’s Fish Chairman. Our new officers for thenext two years are: Richard Lindley, President;David Kveton, Vice President; Robert Bailey, Sec-retary; Paul Lawson, Treasurer; Pam Canavan,Banquet Chairman; and Barbra Lindley, Kid’s FishChairman. Thank you to our board members forsupporting our efforts and officers. —WeemsTurner 713-857-8897

Greater WoodlandsJames Kay 281-363-4417

www.ccatexas.org/greater-woodlandsThe GWC hosted Phil Cambra of Shimano for aspeaking engagement at Papa’s Ice House inSpring, Texas. Phil passed on some great infor-mation and introduced us to the World ofShimano. Thank You Phil for you time and dedi-cation to our Chapter. Next GMM will be in Junecheck e-mail message and check our web page fordate and time.

CCA Texas Greater Woodlands Chapter – 8th

Annual Banquet – Thursday - July 9, 2015. TheGrand Palace in Spring, TX. Please visit our webpage for updated information on the banquet.Pre-Sale Raffle Tickets for our Banquet areAvailable. We are offering the Sportsman Raffleof 20 Prizes which was a great success last yearand a Sellout. You may contact the followingpeople to secure your tickets. Bryant Bennett -(281) 757-5011, Charlotte O’Dell - (832) 368-8263,Nick Hibler - (361) 537-1082, James Kay – (281) 363-4417, Drew Adams - (361) 649-9223. KeepConserving…To Keep Fishing!!! —James Kay

Guadalupe ValleyJon Eric Rodriguez 361-243-1017

Hays CountyTim Young 512-573-7939

hayscountycca@gmail.com

Heart of the HillsJim Simmons 210-380-5709

fishtxsurf@AOL.comHope you had a good Spring and are enjoyingthe Summer fishing season with the kids. It iswith great sorrow that I bring you sad news.Chapter member, Robert “Bob” Beckett, passedaway on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. In his earlyyears, Bob was a High School All-American foot-ball star, a football player and graduate of SMUand a Captain in the U.S. Air Force.

He owned Beckett Ford in Boerne in 70’sand then had a successful career with GE Capi-tal. After retirement, Bob helped run a homedaycare and drove a school bus for Boerne ISD.In his free time, he was an avid golfer, fisher-man and photographer. He was also a dedicatedCCA volunteer and regularly worked as thegreeter at our annual banquets. Our condo-lences to his wife, Gloria, and his family who heloved so dearly. We will miss Bob’s friendshipand his smiling face. —Jim Simmons

Hill CountryMiles Engelke 830-303-1827

Hello Fisher Women, Men and Kids. As I writethis article for currents, the temperature at my

office is 52 degree’s, the cool fronts are stillhanging around. Our chapter social and fish fryheld Sunday, March 29 was a fun time for all. Weheld our 1st. general membership meeting April21st. at the Elks lodge. Our speaker was JoeyFarah of Farah’s Backwater Adventures. Joey pre-sented a very informative talk on different fish-ing techniques using baits and lures, also vari-ous methods of rigging your rods/reels. He heldeveryone’s undivided attention for a solid twohours and answered numerous questions.Thanks Joey for your time and sharing some ofyour secrets with us.

Our next event is our chapter tournamentSaturday June 6, 2015 in Rockport Texas at Drift-ers Resort and RV Park. Final registration is June1, 2015. Contact Josh at 830-708-2986 or Sterling at830-305-5128. Our next general meeting will beJuly 21, 2015 at the Elks Lodge, program to be an-nounced.

June 12 – 13 is the 2015 Inner Chapter Chal-lenge Tournament.

Our chapter banquet will be Thursday Au-gust 20, 2015 at the Civic Center in New BraunfelsTexas. Mark your calendars, tell your friends. Topurchase a table call Todd Thetford at 830-660-8825. We are selling in advance (300) only Pre-mium Choice Raffle Tickets for $100 each, Prizesare as follows:

Grand Prize winner will choose between aMahindra eMax 22 tractor provided by TexasTractor Country or a Polaris Ranger 570 Crewprovided by Wood’s Cycle Country.

2. Will receive a Benelli Nova 12 GaugeShotgun. / 3. Will receive a 65 quart Yeti Cooler. /4. Will receive a Shimano Chronarch Reel/American RodSmith Rod. / 5. Will receive aGoPro Hero Camera. Drawing will be held atour banquet, tickets can be purchased fromDarlene Cook 830-214-3067, Royce Harboth 830-832-7430, Bill Daughtery 830-708-2339 or any ofour directors.

I would like to acknowledge and thank oursponsors for their participation in our chapter:Reel Em Inn on The Bay, Redfish Bay Boat HouseRedfish Willie’s, Kontiki Beach Resort, WhitakerInsurance, KGNB KNBT, Power Engineering Ser-vices, Cemex, StayTuff, Fishers of Men RV,Sandollar Motel, Creative Eyewear and FAPCO.

If you have any questions or would like toget involved with our chapter, let me know. (210)260-8968. Treasure The Trips, —Miles Engelke

Houston HomebuildersMack Davis 832 381-6130

Houston Real EstateDale Couch 281-953-2510

We are pleased to announce two new Directors.Sam Yager of Sam Yager Incorporated andMichael Cox of Johnson Development areaboard and active. Our banquet is next Feb. 9,2016. Al Brende of Land Tejas has committed todonate one of his very posh time shares for thebanquet. Thanks, Al. More details soon. —Dale

KatyClint Hilton 713-515-3991

WE DECIDED TO CHANGE VENUES FOR THE2015 BANQUET. This year, our banquet will beheld June 11th, at Palacio Maria (near the cornerof Mason and Highland Knolls. Lots of cold beerand the same great crawfish or catfish as yearspast. The new venue can hold up to 600 people,plenty of room to mingle, extra space for moreprize items, and lots of room to grow.

Individual tickets are only $65, and reservetables for 8 are $1250 or $750. All tickets includea CCA membership. I recommend the $1250tables as they include several premium benefits!We have also ironed out our main raffle item:

Katy is becoming k nown as the “gun” chapter!We are raffling 20 guns, supplied by PayneBrothers Firearms. Tickets are $20 each, or 7 for$100. Tickets are printed, and ready for pur-chase. Raffle tickets are limited, and when theyare gone, they’re gone!

Meetings will be back with speakers, sowatch your email for the official update. If youneed banquet or GUN raffle tickets, pleaseholler! —Clint Hilton

LaredoJesse Martinez jmartinez@bushlan.com

956-763-5555Lee County

Welcome new president, Byron Kalbas979-540-0056

The Lee County Chapter had a quarterly meet-ing on Tuesday, March 24, 2015. After a shortbusiness meeting we had the developers of thenew fishing app Saltwater Up. They gave a shortpresentation on the workings of the app andhow it can help you prepare for your trip on thewater and many features that are incorporatedwithin the app to help you while on the water aswell. If you haven’t checked out Saltwater Up yetgo to the app store in iTunes and check it out.

Mark your calendars, the 5th annual LeeCounty Chapter CCA Banquet will be held onThursday, October 15, 2015 at the Sons of HermanHall in Giddings, Texas. Hope everyone has agreat summer, and God Bless Texas! —ByronKalbas bkalbas@yahoo.com

Live OakBrad Kotrla 979-732-1669

Lower ColoradoTim Munos 979 332-2876

Here's just one picture of the Lower Colorado CCAChapter Kid Fish that was held Saturday April 18.See more on the Lower Colorado website atwww.ccatexas.org.

Despite the terrible rainy weather thatweek, we had 45 kids show up for the event.Through Capital Farm Credit’s sponsorship andmany others, we were able to provide an educa-tional and fun time forthe kids. Each youngsterwho participated, wenthome with a brand newrod and reel, thanks toour generous contribu-tors. The half-day eventincluded several hoursof fishing, a casting con-test, fishing awards forthe different age groups,many door prizes,drinks, and hot dogs. Capital Farm Credit isproud to be a sponsor of this event.

Thanks to the many CCA Chapters in thegreat state of Texas and the Coastal Conserva-tion Association, these kids have the opportunityto learn about our aquatic environment, conser-vation of our natural resources, and have someplain old fun. Many CCA Chapters will host oneof these events every year. Kids, ages 3 to 14,are invited to participate for free. A big THANKYOU to the Lower Colorado CCA Chapter.—Clint Hewitt hewitt.clint@heb.com

Lower Laguna MadreOscar Garcia III 956-491-8148

MainlandEric Minor 281-534-6242

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Matagorda BaysChad Hensley 979-543-2734

As I write this we are loading trailers andstuffing bags for our 10th annual LiL’ SaltiesFishing Blowout. This year we have a fullload with 250 youngsters signed up. Theevent is held every year on Mother’s Dayweekend at the Matagorda Harbor. This freeyearly tournament for the kids of MatagordaBays Chapter is something special, each kidgoes home with a fishing story, fishing rodand a bag full of goodies. A big thanks goesout to our corporate sponsors for this event :Gulf Coast Leaser Service, Prasek’s HilljeSmokehouse, Mustang Caterpillar, E. A. Collins &Sons, Dalton Trucking and Crane, Backup UtilityContractors, O’Day Drilling, Polasek Construc-tion, Cedar Creek Woodshop, R and R Printing,Texas Tackle Factory, Full Auto Firearms. Also abig thanks to all the other donors who contributeto the event, I would like to mention their namesbut would run out of room.

Our chapter banquet is scheduled for June25th this year at the El Campo Civic Center. Theboard is hard at work getting all the ins and outstogether for the night of fun and fundraising. Besure to reserve a table or get your ticket early.The event has Sold Out for the last 6 years.

Our 22’ Tran Sport raffle boat is turningheads all around the area so be sure to get acouple of tickets before they are gone. If youare not in the area and need boat tickets orwant to purchase tickets for the banquet feelfree to contact Wesley Smolik (979) 543-2753.Thanks again to Polasek Construction for step-ping up as a boat sponsor this year. Withouttheir generosity we would not be able to havesuch a great chapter. Feel free to contact me ifyou have any questions about the chapter.—Chad Hensley

MidCoastDavid Jenkins 361-578-5580

Northeast HoustonJason Law 713-898-8594

In early April, we hosted our annual crawfishboil and fundraiser at the Humble Civic Center.Thanks to all of the folks who attended theevent, the great exhibitors, and amazing North-east Houston Board members, the event was ahuge success. I would like to give a specialthanks to our hardworking board members:thank you Samantha Law, Tim Stamps, JimmyBurke, Melyssa Greene, Sean & SarahMcCullough, Ray Ramos, Rick Benavides, KansasSwope, Nate Gonzalez and our CCA Area Direc-tor, Brian Weaver. —Jason Law 713-898-8594

Northwest HoustonAlan Massey 281-414-6341

First off, we would like to give a HUGE thankyou to Sam Caldwell for being our guest speakerduring our April Fish Fry Membership Drive! Wehad a great attendance come out and enjoysome fantastic catfish with all the fixin’s whilelistening to Sam speak about the beginning yearsof GCCA, into the progression of CCA. Samscreened an early GCCA video, The EndangeredCrescent. Filmed by Fred Carr, Craig Camp andCaldwell, the video won one of the nation’s topawards in 1985.

Our board members were in full force thatnight prepping and cooking for this event -thanks guys and gals! And last but not least, ouramazing sponsors for the night! Brad and PingAlpin with Blue Water Seafood for donating theside dishes, Houston Distributing for hosting andproviding the refreshing beverages, and catfish,Steve and Don for catching our delicious fish!

By the time you are reading this, hopefullyour next General Membership Meeting hasn’tpassed. On June 2nd, we are proud to welcome

Chicken Boy with Chicken Boy Lures! If you’venever met Chicken Boy, do yourself a favor andjoin us in this informative and highly entertainingevening! Believe me, you will learn a thing ortwo about catching flounder and you can see foryourself the amazing lures Chicken Boy makes.The meeting will be held at the Houston Distrib-uting facility (Stein Room) located off High LifeDr, starting at 7pm. We will have beer on tap, sodon’t miss this!

For those of our members who like to planin advance, go ahead and mark down our Au-gust 4th General Membership meeting. We willbe welcoming Bryan Slaven, an outstanding wildgame chef! Bryan is the man behind the “TexasTasted” article in Texas Fish and Game magazine.An avid recreational fisherman himself, Bryanwill share with us different recipes for our favor-ite seafood! Only thing you have to do after thismeeting.....CATCH SOME FISH! Lastly, PLEASE mark your calendars forThursday, August 13th. We are holding our 26thAnnual CCA Northwest Houston Chapter Ban-quet! Preparation has been underway and weare excited for another successful year of raisingfunds for our precious coastal fisheries andhabitats! The banquet will be held at theRaveneaux Country Club. If you plan on attendingor would like more information, please visit theCCA Texas website under the Northwest Hous-ton Chapter page. We are accepting sponsorshiptables at this time and we plan on another soldout event - don’t wait to get your table!

As always, we welcome any current or fu-ture CCA members to join our chapter Board ofDirectors. We have a great group of men andwomen and are always inviting more hands togrow our chapter! If you are interested in joiningour banquet planning committee, contact ourPresident, Alan Massey or our CCA Assistant Di-rector, Drew Adams (713) 626-4222. We meet ev-ery first Tuesday of every odd month (July 7thwill be our next) at the Houston Distributing fa-cility off High Life Drive in the Stein Room - start-ing at 7pm. We would love to see you! –AlanMassey

Orange CountyScott Bandy 409-988-3667

sabandy@ymail.comThe banquet planning has begun with our chap-ter. We are busy getting the information for our7th annual banquet in the mail. This year’s ban-quet will be August 20, 2015, at the Orange CountyConvention and Expo Center, kicking off at 6 pm.Each year our banquets have grown in numbers,so please act early if you or your company plansto attend this year. If you are interested in helping with the banquetcommittee, please try to attend the next meetingon May 11th, or contact one of the BanquetChairmen. Follow us on Facebook @ OrangeCounty CCA Chapter. —Scott Bandy atscottbandy77@yahoo.com / Louis Moore atlouis_moore@yahoo.com / Davis Dixon atdcdixon149@yahoo.com

Port O'ConnorBill Moore 361-983-4690

Our chapter is in the process of planning the 16th

Annual POC CCA Banquet, which is slated forSaturday October 17. As usual, your participationand ideas to improve this year’s banquet are al-ways welcome. Tables will again be available toindividuals, groups, businesses, and/or corpo-rate sponsors. The time and dates of upcomingmeetings will be emailed over the next couple ofmonths. We are looking forward to seeing youthere, and if you want to get involved, give us acall.

The Chapter has been saddened by thepassing of a valued member, Debbie Busby. Wewill not only miss her as a member, but as adear friend. Also, many of you reading this willbe in the POC area, July 15-18 for the PocoBueno. Come by, and visit many of our banquetdonors. See you at POCO in POC, “Where it allbegan.” —Bill Moore

PrairieSharon Goebel 979-877-4103

On April 2nd, the chapter held its 18th AnnualFundraiser Banquet at the Cat Spring Hall. Thisyear we had a sellout event and one of the larg-est sell of corporate tables thanks to Kirk Hoppefor all his hard work coordinating the tables.The meal was a great hit this year, Thanks toMikeska’s BBQ for catering the prime rib andshrimp. This year we had 9 guns and one cross-bow in the cap and card game for $25. Thanks toIndoor Outdoor of Bellville for all the guns.I would like to thank all the sponsors who do-nated the caps. Thanks to Mark Switzer for beingthe auctioneer and his team for putting togethera great auction. The silent auction also was agreat hit thanks to CCA and Academy and all thesponsors for donating the items and thanks toFat Dog Firearms and Riley’s crew for sponsoringour coolers.

This year we had the pleasure to serve theBull Red Table to Diamond H Ranch. I would liketo thank MARK III for donating the Koozies.Phillip Fairchild has done this for the past18years, and thanks to Mikeska BBQ and RonChess for donating the CCA cutting boards thatwere given out to the live auction buyers.

Again, thanks to CCA and Academy for thedonations. Thanks to Coleman Todd and hisstaff for making the Banquet a great success, andto Pat and Francis Sechelski for the artwork fram-ing. I thank Wittenburg Printing and Patricia andPam for generously donating their service.

On June 12 and 13, CCA will be having theInterChapter Challenge Tournament in PortAransas, If you would like to be part of thisevent contact one of the Prairie Chapter Boardmembers. On August 1st we will be having ourannual Kid Fish Tournament at the WietstruckLake in Bellville, this is a free tournament for thekids for more info contact Lori Cruz at 713-992-7874. I would like to personally thank SharonGoebel for all her hard work organizing theevent, she spends many days and hours to makethis a successful Banquet. And a big thanks to allthe Prairie Chapter Board members for theirhard work putting this Banquet together. If I haveforgotten anybody I’m sorry. —Ron Chess Sr 979-525-9254

Redfish BayNorman Oates 361-758-0266

The 2015 Redfish Bay Chapter Annual Banquetwas a fun and successful event! While the Boarddoes everything in its power to make it an enjoy-able family event, it is at its heart a fund raisingevent, and our net income set a new record forthe second year in a row. I want to thank oursupporters, donors, attendees, Board members,and CCA Texas staff for making this one of our

Matagorda Bays' fully rigged 22’ Tran SportXLR8 powered by a 200 HP Suzuki, with allblack powder coated aluminum, and tee top. Itsits on a double axle Coastline Trailer.

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best Banquets ever. Special thanks to our donorswho continue to provide a wide variety of itemsthat make our raffle and auction items of inter-est to everyone that attends. Our CCA Texas staffsaid we had one of the best silent auction selec-tions that they had seen. Another great Banquet!FYI – next year’s Banquet will be on April 23,2016, or April 30, 2016. Mark your calendarsnow, and we will let you know which one assoon as possible.

The Take a Kid Fishing event will be June 5& 6 at Woody’s Sports Center in Port Aransas.This is a great event and real fun for youngfisherpersons. The signup and meal is Fridayevening, and fishing is Saturday morning untilnoon. There is an awards ceremony and hotdogs after fishing. Each fisherperson gets a rodand reel and a trophy. This is truly a memorableevent for your young children or grand-children.Bring the kids and enjoy!

We can always use more help on theBoard, please contact me if you are interested.—Norman C Oates 61-758-0266 H361-790-2748 C

Rio Grande ValleyGeorge McCaleb 956-984-8688

gmccaleb@hotmail.com Sabine-NechesDarin Johnson409-790-9855

Greetings from SE Texas. We are currently work-ing on our next event, KIDFISH! We will be hav-ing our event later this summer so stay tuned.This is going to be a bigger and better event thanyears past. Not much else to report, fishing onSabine is slowly returning to normal after all therain we had. Keep an eye on the inbox for thelatest on KIDFISH. We look forward to seeing allof our junior anglers back for another year offun. Tight Lines! —Darin M Johnson (409) 790-9855

Sam HoustonBrandon Kolaja 281-

797-6908I hope everyone isfinding time to enjoyour Texas coastline.Fishing reports havebeen good when theweather cooperates.The board is gearingup for the annual ban-quet which will be heldonce again in Septem-ber. Also, please golike our page onFacebook as we willbe updating it soon.Happy fishing andhope everyone has agreat summer. —Bran-don Kolaja 281-797-6908

San AntonioJimmy Gibson 210-

287-4378Spring has sprung and ifyou aren’t fishing youshould be because thebite is on!

Back in the realworld of San Antonio,your chapter has beenbusy. First we had agreat turnout for our 2nd

Annual “Hooked onClays” sporting claysshoot. We held it at theNational Sporting Clayscomplex which if you have been there, you willknow it is fabulous. We had 200 shooters turnout with lots of raffle prizes, fried catfish andeven a band. I want to thank all of the partici-

pants and sponsors as wehave had such great sup-port.

A special thanksgoes out to Silver Eagle,our Budweiser wholesalerfor their contribution. Sec-ond, the banquet commit-tee has been hard at workputting together our annual36th Chapter Banquet. Itseems to get bigger andbetter every year with big-ger raffles from guns toboats, Harleys, RV’s and ashooting cart to name afew. The live auction tripsand items are the best wehave ever had, from SamCaldwell’s “ First Jump AtCedar Bayou“ painting inthe live auction (check thecover of this Currents is-sue) Argentina dove hunts,New Zealand stag hunts,Georgia fly fishing, to the

opening day of the south zone on a specialranch in South Texas for you and your friends.The banquet is May 14th, so by the time youread this it will be in the history books. Hopeyou were there…and thank you for your sup-port.

Remember our first battle cry “SAVE THEREDFISH.” As Always, Thank you for doingyour part. Until the next Currents, travelsafely, enjoy your summer, take family,friends, and kids fishing. —Jimmy Gibsonjimmy.gibson@cstbrands.com

San BernardJayson Zahradnik 281-202-8438

This San Antonio CoorsLight Harley will havebeen won Thursdaynight, May 14.

Touching moment: A Marine ColorGuard presents colors at the SanAntonio banquet. /Johnny Rayburg

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San GabrielJohn Melnar 512- 497-8284

Our banquet is set for Aug 20th and we are veryexcited about the new venue at the Cedar ParkCenter. Making this move has literally opened thedoors for us. Our goal is to get 500 people to at-tend the banquet, but we will have room formany more. Individual tickets are $125 each,which includes an open bar, great food, andplenty of opportunities to win. Reserved Bull RedTables will be $1,500 which will be 10 top tables.We also have sponsorships starting at $2,000.

Since we are growing the event, we havealso increased our popular Gun/Yeti Raffle to in-clude 15 guns and 15 coolers. Additionally, wehave brought back our UTV Raffle which will bea 2015 Polaris Ranger Crew 570. Tickets for boththe Gun/Cooler and UTV Raffles will be $100. Alltickets for the Banquet, Raffles, as well as tableand sponsorships can be purchased online atour Chapter’s webpage at http://www.ccatexas.org/chapters/inland/san-gabriel/.

I would also like to thank our fine sponsorswho have already committed their continuedsupport, including Don Hewlett Chevrolet as ourTitle Sponsor, Aday & Associates, PMB HelinDonovan, Morris Glass, Gibson Concrete, Inde-pendence Title, and R Bank. If you have anyquestions about table sales, sponsorship levels,or how you can help with the banquet, pleasefeel free to contact me. —John Melnar 512-497-8284 jmelnar@piscavore.com

San JacintoJim Wilson 713-828-7639

SouthwesternRobert Hart 830-879-5541

TAMU Ian Kocher Mays Business School

512-632-9222ikocher12@gmail.com

Texas State UniversityRyan Wishnow 832-444-3598

rw1303@txstate.edu

Tomball/MagnoliaMatt Maddox 281-770-7858

Greetings!Hope everyone had an enjoyablehunting season this year full and filled up thefreezers. Now that all that hunting gear iscleaned and stored away until fall, it’s time tosuper tune those reels and go out after themspots and dots.

Please mark your calendars for the Tomball/Magnolia CCA Banquet. This year it will be heldon Thursday, June 25th at the Tomball VFW Hall.Single ticket and table prices will go out in thebanquet flier soon, so keep an eye on the mail-box. The chapter banquet is open to membersand non-members alike, so invite your friendsand neighbors to join us for the food, friends,and fun. If you haven’t yet, please friend us onFacebook as we will be posting banquet infor-mation and other upcoming chapter events onour Facebook page. For information, please con-tact Matt Maddox 281-389-5924 or JasonKaptchinskie 281-770-7858. —Matt Maddox

Tri-CountyChristian Hildebrand 830-534-2730

Trinity BayGerald Payne 281-385-2894

We’re in the middle of gearing up for our August28th Banquet in Baytown, Texas. Last year we se-cured a larger facility, which gave all attendeesmore room to eat, drink and mingle as theybrowsed the abundant silent and live auctionitems. In addition, the large array of raffle itemsand the excitement of our dice game kept every-one energized throughout the evening. As al-ways, the drinks were cold and the boiled toperfection shrimp were plentiful and superb.

Based on our recent meetings, we feel 2015will be another stellar year for us. *IndividualTickets – $40 each, $70 per Couple (CCA member-

ship and meal included) *Reserved Tables 8 per-sons - $500, *Title Sponsor - $1,350, *ExecutiveSponsor - $2,250 * Platinum Sponsor - $3,250* AllReserved and Sponsor Tables include CCA mem-berships for each guest, banquet meals, table giftsand more. Title/Executive Sponsor includes 2tables of 8 – Platinum Sponsor includes 3 tables of8. The chapter is also announcing a SportsmanRaffle, loaded with prizes that will entice anyoutdoorsman. The tickets can be pre-purchasedbefore the banquet through any Trinity BayBoard Member or Drew Adams - CCA Texas, As-sistant Director (713) 626-4222.

Banquet information: August 28, 2015 atNuevo Leon Social Events, 1000 Park Street,Baytown, Texas 77520. We look forward to seeeveryone again this year and we want to sin-cerely thank all of our sponsors. —Gerald Payne281-728-6278

Trinity ValleyJohn Hebert Jr 936-334-2528

With summer quickly approaching, we havesome exciting events happening. Our chaptercontinues to grow and by the time this is pub-lished we will have held our 2nd annual fishingtournament.

We had a great turnout last year and expectan even better one this year. We are also cur-rently in the planning stages of our 3rd annualbanquet. If you’d like more information on any ofthese events or you’re interested in becoming amember, please contact John Hebert Jr. at(936)334-2528 or Jennifer Creel at (936)334-2314.We’d be happy to hear from you. —Jennifer Creel

West HoustonMike Ayers 832-248-9352

West TexasCraig McDonnold 432-682-3499

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samcaldwell.comTexas State Artist 2004

DU State Artist 2010-2011281-455-9390

The Last Laugh

Conservation Sportsmanof the Year

Richard Pratt, longtime Dallas CCA volunteer, won SamCaldwell's painting in the Live Auction,"Greater Fish Hawks." To view thepainting as it progressed as a video,and read Caldwell's remarks on theaward, drop by the Caldwell Art Cave.

"Wheels Down"Now arriving on Cedar Bayou Landing strip 4, Pelican Flight

2020. Another Great Humor Photo by Pauline Osburn.

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NON-PROFITU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDHOUSTON, TEXAS

PERMIT 2532

U.S. Coast Guard Air & Sea RescueNational Response Center: 800-874-2143Port Isabel: 956-761-2668Corpus Christi / Marine Safety Office:boating emergencies, chemical andoil spills: 361-888-3162Port Aransas: 361-749-5217Port O’Connor: 361-983-2616Freeport: 979-233-3801Houston, Galveston: 409-766-5620Sabine: 409-971-2195

COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION TEXASMEMBERSHIP APPLICATION (including STAR Entry)

Name Phone______ Date _________________________

Address City State Zip_______________

NEW MEMBER _______ RENEWAL ______ (Member ID for renewing members only)_______________________________________ EMAIL ____________________

MEMBER: $30 ___ Membership card, decal, bumper sticker, Texas CURRENTS newsletter & TIDE magazine. ASSOCIATE: $15 ___ Per each family member. All membership privileges except TIDE and CURRENTS.

PRINT MEMBER: $100 ___ All of the above plus CCA Texas print of your choice. LIFE MEMBER: $1000 ___ CCA Life Membership piece, print, plus member gifts. Payable in four $250 installments.

STAR ENTRY FEE: $20 ___ Tournament entry fee. Must be a current CCA member. NEW TIDE: $10 ___ Tide newsletter, decal.

Members 17 and under only Age: ______ Date of birth: ________ NEW TIDE / Star: $10 ___ Same as above, plus “FREE” STAR Tournament entry. Age: ______ Date of birth: ________

Credit card number ________________________________ Signature _____________________________________________________________________________________

Credit card expiration date _________________________ By entering this tournament, I agree to be bound by the STAR Tournament Rules, Release and Indemnity Agreement. I understand that thereare specific rules governing the conduct of the tournament and that upon request a copy will be mailed to me. 6919 Portwest, Suite 100 / Houston, TX 77024 / 713-626-4222 / Website: www.ccatexas.org

Method of payment___ Check/Money order Charge to my:___ MASTERCARD___ VISA___ AMEX___ DISCOVER

The Texas Parks & Wildlife website isyour starting point for almost any-thing you need to know about outdoorTexas, including links to many areas.Visit http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us To focus on fishing andboating, visit http://www.tpwd.-state.tx.us/fishboat/

Current size, bag and possession limitsare now available through the Texas Parks &Wildlife website: TPWD has a number toreport game violations. 1-800-792-4263. A partner with CCA in aiding Texasgame and Game Wardens is OperationGame Thief. Drop by and put this websiteon your favorites list:http://www.ogttx.com/

CoastalConservationAssociation

6919 Portwest Suite 100 / Houston, TX 77024

CURRENTS NEWSLETTERJune / July 2015

Cedar Bayou:Hands on science shows

success of CCA investments

Photo, Lisa Laskowski