Red snapper is returning to the CCA Texas STAR Tournament for the first time since the species was removed as a category in 2004.
Coastal Conservation Association Texas announced the addition of red snapper to the offshore division of the 2021 tournament Tuesday. The move comes after the fish kill from the February freeze prompted CCA to revise its popular tourney, removing several species and making the tagged redfish division catch-and-release only.
The decision also comes on the heels of the final report of the Great Red Snapper Count, a three-year, $12 million study by some of the world’s leading marine fisheries scientists that estimates the Gulf of Mexico holds more than three times as many red snapper as previously thought. The project approximates 110 million snapper in the Gulf, while a recent federal stock assessment had the number at 36 million. Texas alone has 23 million, according to the Great Red Snapper Count.
CCA Texas originally removed the category from the tournament because the stock was considered in decline and anglers have experienced shorter federal seasons in the past decade as part of stringent management of the stock, including just nine days in 2014. States have since taken over setting seasons for private recreational anglers, which has helped assuage the situation, and the hope is that the results of the Great Red Snapper Count will continue to liberalize future seasons, which bodes well for anglers in the STAR Tournament. The 2021 federal for-hire season is set for 63 days starting June 1 and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is expected to make other decisions on the fishery in the near-term.
“It was kind of a perfect storm,” said Dylan Sassman, CCA Texas STAR Tournament’s assistant director.
“We just wanted to make sure the timing was right, that anglers had optimal opportunities to get out and participate in it past that 9-mile mark.”
The prize for heaviest red snapper caught is a 570 EFI Polaris Ranger in Pursuit camo, a Big Tex trailer and a STAR trophy. If there is a tie, the fish that was weighed in first will be the winner. Four runner-ups will get Academy Sports + Outdoors gift cards.
Red snapper must be at least 20 pounds to weigh in, an effort to be conservative with the fishery and not overload weigh stations.
The other species in the offshore division are kingfish, dorado and cobia with minimum entry weights of 30, 20 and 50 pounds, respectively.
CCA Texas announced at the beginning of this month the cancellation of the speckled trout, flounder, sheepshead and gafftop divisions and revision of the redfish division for this year’s tournament due to the significant fish kill on the coast.
“We had to do what was right for the fish, whether that hurts the tournament or not,” Sassman said at the time.
“We just felt like this was the right thing to do to take the pressure off the resource and let it build back to healthy, sustainable levels.”
Now, participants will get an opportunity for a fish that hasn’t been part of the tournament for 17 years.
“Should be a fun year,” said Sassman.
April 02, 2021 at 03:18AM
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Red snapper category returning to CCA Texas STAR Tournament - San Antonio Express-News
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