CCA Florida STAR, presented by Yamaha, offers a share of $500,000 in prizes and scholarships to Florida Youth
CCA Florida, the state’s leading organization dedicated to marine fisheries conservation, education, and advocacy, launches the 6th annual CCA Florida STAR competition on July 1. The nearly 100-day event, offers over $500,000 in prizes, with $100,000 of this being in Youth Scholarships, and invites anglers of all ages and skill levels to walk away with prizes from a brand-new truck or boat, motor, and trailer packages to scholarships and more.
The STAR competition launched in Florida in 2015 with a focus on conservation through the use of technology and a catch, photo, and release format. CCA Florida uses the social media-based event to educate the public on the importance of protecting Florida’s marine resources and STAR’s smartphone app eliminates the requirement for anglers to harvest or capture and transport fish while promoting the proper handling of all species. In addition, non-anglers can participate and win by collecting trash and debris.
“Since we launched STAR in Florida, we’ve seen anglers catch more, release more, support the recovery of our state’s marine resources, and walk away with new boats, scholarships, and amazing new gear at the same time,” stated STAR Director Leiza Fitzgerald. “Since the start of the competition, we’ve awarded anglers with over One million dollars in prizes, including $500,000 in scholarships to youth anglers across the state.”
The 2020 STAR competition includes 17 divisions targeting 12 species. The signature division of STAR is the Tagged Redfish division which the Flagler Sportfishing Club has been instrumental in helping with over the past three years by providing wild-caught redfish from their Club’s Spring Fishing Classic held in April. Anglers from the Club tournament provided their live redfish from the weigh-in to CCA Florida STAR for tagging and release back into the nearby counties for STAR anglers to recapture. This year the Spring Classic had to be rescheduled and did not provide the opportunity to utilize their tournament fish for tagging and release. Prizes in the signature division of STAR include a new boat, motor and trailer packages including a Contender Boats 22 Sport, a Pathfinder Boats 2200 TRS, a Hewes Redfisher 16, a 21’ Carolina Skiff all powered by Yamaha Outboards.
STAR and the Flagler Sportfishing Club are very interested in engaging youth anglers in fishing and conservation and together continue to provide tremendous incentives to get our youth engaged.
For only $10, youth ages 6 – 17, will receive New Tide Membership and free registration in STAR and participate to win boats, scholarships, and other great prizes.
The STAR Youth Scholarship Division presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, offers $100,000 in scholarships: two $25,000 scholarships presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Realtree Fishing and ten $5,000 scholarships. This year Flagler Sportfishing Club will join CCA Florida, Beall’s Stores Inc., Talk of The Town Restaurants, Southeast Environmental Solutions, Florida Sports Coast, Tailin Toads Apparel, and the Plantation Inn Crystal River as a $5,000 presenter. At the conclusion of the competition, winners will be determined by a random drawing of all eligible entries. The Flagler Sportfishing Club Scholarship winner will be drawn from only Flagler County participating youth entries. In this division youth anglers may submit a photo of their fish on the 2020 West Marine Official STAR measuring device (one photo a day) of any of the following species; ladyfish, jack cravalle, Sheepshead, snapper, snook, spotted seatrout, redfish, grouper, dolphin (Mahi Mahi) or kingfish. The fish must be of legal minimum size according to FWC regulations.
The Tagged Redfish Division Prizes include two Salt Marsh Skiff 1656 tiler boats, powered with Yamaha Outboards, trailers, Minn Kota trolling motors, and Humminbird electronics for the first two winning youth anglers in this division.
The Tagged Dolphin Division offers a $10,000 scholarship if the first dolphin is caught by a New Tide member.
Youth anglers also have another wonderful opportunity, the Costa Kick Plastic Trash Division. Youth participants can pick up garbage during the competition while they are out on the water or from the shoreline. They must submit a photo of the five-gallon bucket full of collected trash (which they dispose of properly) with the 2020 West Marine Official STAR Measuring Device via the STAR smartphone app for their shot at a $1,500 prize package, Kahuna Beach Wagon, Costa sunglasses and other great items from Costa. For every five-gallon bucket of garbage, a STAR Youth participant submits they will also be provided with 30 minutes of community service hours. Youth participants will submit their community service log with a parent’s signature of hours to STAR Director Leiza Fitzgerald, who will verify submissions and return to the Youth participant. The Costa Kick Plastic Trash Division presented by Papa’s Pilar provides a great opportunity for youth to garner their community service hours while practicing conservation and on their schedule. It is a great way to engage youth and keep waterways clean.
STAR encourages participants of all ages to protect and conserve Florida’s fisheries for future generations. For a full list of divisions and additional details, visit ccaflstar.com.
