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First Tagged Red Caught First Day of 2003 S.T.A.R. E-mail
With S.T.A.R. less than 12 hours old, Ronnie Haggard, a 46-year-old moving and storage company owner from St. Amant, La., landed the 2003 tournament’s first tagged redfish, winning himself a $25,000 boat rig.

Haggard landed the prize-winning redfish at about 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 24 – the first day of the CCA Louisiana/Mercury Outboards Statewide Tournament and Anglers Rodeo (S.T.A.R.). The redfish hit on a live shrimp dangled near the rocks on the Gulf of Mexico side of Grand Isle.

“I wasn’t fishing for a tagged redfish or any other prizes,” Haggard said. “I was just fishing for speckled trout with my son. He said he saw something on the fish. I didn’t know what it was. If I knew what it was, I would have used the net, but I just flipped it into the boat.”

A year prior, early on the morning of May 25, 2002, fellow St. Amant angler, Charlie Lieux, also caught a tagged redfish on that opening day near Grand Isle. Lieux went into the books as the quickest boat winner in S.T.A.R. history.

Haggard didn’t claim the quickest prize in S.T.A.R. history, but he landed the first of 23 possible boat packages offered this year in the largest and richest saltwater tournament on the coast. The Coastal Conservation Association released 50 specially tagged redfish throughout Louisiana public waters. Like Haggard, each of the first 10 people entered in S.T.A.R. who catch a tagged redfish will win a ready-to-fish 2250 FishMaster boat powered by a 150-horsepower Mercury on a Magic Tilt trailer, a prize worth $25,000.

“I entered the S.T.A.R. two years ago, but not last year,” Haggard admitted. “My nephew said I must be nuts not to enter because I fish out of Grand Isle all the time. The odds are slim to catch a fish that wins a boat, but the odds are exactly zero for anyone who doesn’t enter the tournament. I didn’t catch a lot of fish that Saturday, but it’s still going down as a memorable fishing trip.”

Offering more than $500,000 in prizes, S.T.A.R. runs the entire summer, through 5 p.m. Labor Day, September 1st. Last year, a record 13,000 anglers fished in the event, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. Even people who don’t catch a fish could win a 2003 Chevy Avalanche in a bonus drawing.

In 2002, Lieux and two women, the first female boat winners in S.T.A.R. history, won boats in the Tagged Redfish Division. That tied 1999 for the most boats won in the category. Three other anglers caught tagged redfish, but had failed to enter the tournament before they boated their redfish. In 1998, five fishermen caught tagged redfish, but not a single one had entered the S.T.A.R. People can’t win if they don’t enter.

Anglers could win more boats in the six largest-fish categories. Using the Atchafalaya River as the boundary, CCA divides Louisiana into two speckled trout zones. Three anglers from each zone will win boats. The top trout from each zone will earn a 21-foot Bay Champ powered by a 150-horsepower Mercury outboard and Magic Tilt trailer.

Anglers could also win by catching the top speck for each month in each zone. Four monthly winners will each take home either an 1860 Blazer Bay with a 90-horsepower Mercury outboard and Magic Tilt Trailer or a 188 Baystealth with 90-horse Mercury and trailer.

The tournament also uses the Atchafalaya River to divide the state into two flounder zones. The person who lands the top flounder in each zone will win a 1652 Xpress boat with a 40-horsepower Mercury outboard and Magic Tilt Trailer.
 
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