You're years behind us bud. We've all done it and tossed the towel. Good Luck!

Annnndd weeeee allllll sayyyyyy. Amen.

I am very good at math. Participating in the STAR is like buying a lottery ticket. Sure, you can't win if you don't play, but the only reason it raises a lot of money (that CCA spends in Texas) is because the costs of participation far exceed the value of the prizes.

Lotteries are nothing more than additional taxes for those who are bad at math.

The Boycott the S.T.A.R. movement had wide participation last year and was likely a contributing factor to CCA organizing the "State of the Lake" meeting last summer. It is also most likely the best chance we have to prevent CCA from getting behind new proposals for more restrictive regulations and to get them actually focusing conservation efforts on things that really matter in Louisiana.

I bet CCA would love comments to be restricted to private CCA meetings, but the fact is they pay a lot more attention when issues are aired openly at popular sites like SaltyCajun and Louisiana Sportsman, because open discussions hit them in the pocketbook.

Dude we've been there and done that, in person. There are now new organizations forming. Don't sit here and say all we do is ***** and moan.

If someone does find yourself in CCA company, you should ask why they spend so much money in TX and so little in LA.

That's all good and well, and I understand where y'all are coming from. But to tell people not to do something because you were unsuccessful and those before you were unsuccessful is crazy talk to me. Sounds like a piss poor attitude to have. Sounds a lot like quitting. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie That quote is in no way a reference to anybody on this thread. Sounds to me like we would have a big group at every single meeting hollering the same thing. Guess it's just easier to do it on here, and discourage people who want to do the unthinkable and make waves at meetings held by the sinister group they call CCA.

Good luck bud. A few pointers that may have some influence on your success. Get some ball hugger khakis, a PFG shirt tucked in, a nautical flag belt, flip flops, frat strap for your shades, a fraternity symbol ankle tat, and most importantly have family with money.

Report back here when you save the coast. And while you're at it go take care of America's welfare problem and deficient school system.

But seriously Good Luck, report back and tell us how it goes.

P.S. you better take that profile pic of all those gar down. They'll put a tight limit on those too if they see that Pic!

Say you pay a mechanic to fix your car and he keeps coming back to you and asks for more money, are you going to keep giving it to him? I would imagine you wouldn't. Now say he was using your money to fix someone else car while yours is neglected. Would you be satisfied with this? I mean someones car is getting fixed? In the mean time you find out that the're no other mechanics that will fix your car in town. Will you keep giving money to him with the hopes he fixes your car?

Again, the people that are on here, "*****ing and moaning" as you would say, are the same ones that were at the State of the Lake meeting, ASKING QUESTIONS. CCA just prescribed to that Patches O'Houlihan philosophy of "Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge".

You can throw out "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" if you want, but that doesn't change anything. What is going to have to happen is an organization to counter CCA, because trying to change it from within does nothing.

What I love is people that say they don't agree with everything CCA does, but they still give them their money. So what don't they agree with? It must not be anything serious if they are still willing to give their money to them.

I would give my money to DU or the N W T F in a heartbeat, because they do good work in our state. Never will give another dime to CCA because they don't. They build a reef or two and say "hey, look what we did".

Got to organize something to counteract them. That is the only way to change anything.

And here's a quote for You! "Don't tell me, SHOW me!"

We've all walked the walk and are talking the talk. Where were you at the state meetings, public meetings, and local chapter meetings?

Get off your couch and go take the walk and then come back and tell us how the cow eats the cabbage.

State of the Lake

What we learned


Cameron water shed don't like salt and it never rains in there even though Lake Charles gets 20inchs of Rain
Cameron water shed Gets Zero

Oyster dredging ;
Since dredging oyster numbers have dropped off like ENRON stock but WLF said ; well we can't really blame it on oyster dredging yet
( if you saw that chart your jaw dropped for a few seconds

Dredging ; yes sir we drege out side if the jetties and just pump it back into the water so the slit just flows down channel and back in lake
( That woman was a freaken idiot )

What else did we learn ??

Can I get an Amen??

Here is the problem ; not one person who is a CCA sunshine pumper will come on this site and defend the CCA with facts

The last person to make that attemp was CCA Lake Charles Chapter President Raymond Little and he tuck his tail and has not logged back on since July of. 2014 !!

CCA has ZERO answer
CCA has tee times with "life time members only"
CCA is happy if Will Drost and HRG get there limit reductions with lack of proof or science !
"You know it's the right thing to do "

That the biologists/scientists that actually track and maintain the data for the weir system have no control if it is open or closed. They just submit the info to a panel of people that then make the decision. And it just so happens that that panel has a vast interest in that marsh behind the weirs staying as fresh as possible.

I'm not saying the weirs should be open or closed more or less frequently, I am saying that it should be regulated by scientific data and analysis related to coastal erosion and aquatic habitat, not by a group of hillbilly landowners who favor a certain decision for a biased reason.

BTW if I catch a Tagged Redfish Im going to eat that's sucker and enjoy the hell out of it !!

I work and can afford my own truck and boat !

yep. I probably have a better chance of winning spending my $50 on lottery tickets than on a star ticket

Still want to make these shirts

Let's not get on to this topic again. It has been knocked around enough. Plenty of information already floats around this forum on this topic. No use having another thread degrade into that.

All I will say is that there has been a lot of research on that Marsh, and there are certain people that know what needs to be done. Are those people the ones making the call? Not necessarily.

But again, CCA has nothing to do with that. It is an issue that fishermen have, and CCA does not get into it. Why? I don't know. You would think if fisherman have legitimate concerns about the operation of the weirs, an organization that is composed of fishermen would do something.

The thing is, the CCA is not a Fisherman's organization. It is a conservation organization composed of fisherman. A conservation organization who is supposed to be concerned about a particular resource, in this case, our coast and our fisheries. Their actions state otherwise.

Shouldn't a major concern of a fisheries organization, or any conservation organization, be the habitat of its representative species? DUs is, The N W T F's is. CCAs is not, or else they would be more concerned with the marshes that also constitute the estuary.

The fact is, CCA is a conservation organization that does not concern itself with two foci central to any legitimate conservation organization: scientifically-driven management decisions and habitat.

Ma'am what are we doing with the dredge material from this offshore dredge that never stops running?
Her: Well we dump it right next to the area we just dredged.
Ma'am, you don't think it is filling back in the channel you just dug out?
Her: No, we don't think so. The material is too light and fluffy to do anything else with.

Unless you have a bunch of money and want us to pump it onto your land. Please see north end of Black Lake

:shaking::help:

Following the State of the Lake meeting in July, some colleagues and I contacted Leigh Anne Sharp (who gave one of the weir talks) and requested the detailed CPRA weir opening data. The good people at CPRA took some time to compile the data for us in a spreadsheet format and review its accuracy, but by September, we had complete opening and closing data of every weir gate going back to 2012.

This data not only allowed us to correlate weir openings over that time period with our independent assessments of fish condition, it also allowed us to compare weir openings with salinity measurements and other scientific factors and hard data that purportedly go into the decision whether or not to open the weirs.

Assessment of the data makes it very clear that since CPRA took over weir operation in 2012, the weirs have been operated in accordance with the management plan and the best available scientific data.

There is a lot of anecdotal and circumstantial evidence to suggest that weir openings were not based on scientific data or established management principles prior to 2012, but we've had a good look at the hard data that shows that the weirs are being managed responsibly now and have been since 2012.

Progress in the area of weir openings now depends on lowering the salinity in the main lake to allow greater openings without allowing more salt back into the marsh. "W" is on top of this and efforts here should be much more productive that criticizing weir operation or sending $$$ to CCA:

Oh he smart!

Yep (emphasis has been added.)

This should be of the utmost importance to CCA. When Man(especially a conservationists) messes with nature it his duty to make sure that it is managed or restored back to its original functioning state or better. The weir system is a perfect example. It is a biological balance of making sure coastal erosion is controlled as well as providing a safe habitat for so many coastal species, like a coastal marsh originally was intended.

Glad that this issue is supposedly being addressed.

I would like to know the actual odds of catching a tagged redfish. It has to be higher or about the same as buying $25 powerball tickets. How many tagged redfish are caught each year? 2 or 3 divided by the number of redfish caught in the state.

Precisely my point. When you lose track of that, you are no longer a conservationist.

You can break that down even farther. How many total redfish, how many anglers and how many casts per angler lol. It's astronomical at best.

You know at least one CCA pumper has called Baton Rouge and said

Have you seen how they are making fun of our Frat Organization ?

I hope they read it all and let it soak in to the bone, stop hand jerking the rich off and do your damn JOB !!!

In spite of your intent, this post did nothing to demonstrate how "smart" you are, instead it demonstrated that you will sell your integrity at the price of a very minute chance at winning a truck. I primarily fish for redfish, I catch a lot of them, I've probably got a better chance at catching a tagged redfish than most folks, simply because redfish are my focus, but I won't enter the STAR because I have issues with CCA similar to those expressed here by others, and I won't sell my integrity. If I catch a tagged redfish, I'll thank God for it as I say grace over its blackened fillets. I won't post about it here or on social media because I'm not going to help draw attention to or drive funding for the CCA or the STAR tournament.

The only way CCA is going to focus on actual conservation issues that effect us here in Louisiana is when it is costing them too much not to. You would be surprised at the number of people who are no longer supporting CCA in any way, including "passing up the chance to win a truck doing something they already do" .

In my humble opinion, the CCA lost focus when the grew to a size that required more of their time and efforts be spent on raising money and growing/maintaining membership than on actual conservation work.

Emphasis added. I agree completely.

Me either, I've always seen it spelled Balogna

My boat caught right at 6000 fish total out if big lake last year and not one were a STAR winner or Tagged Redfish

Theres a reason hes called "math"geek:rotfl:

^^^^^^^

Tar-And-Feather CCA
 

Ok, while I agree with most of the issues with CCA; I think the whole Tar-And-Feather bandwagon is a little overboard. People love to be apart of something, even if it's just *****ing about something.

Straight up question, what other organizations do we have to address the issues?

Full Definition of BALONEY

: pretentious nonsense : bunkum —often used as a generalized expression of disagreement

Why do a group of people working together for a common cause have to file paperwork with the IRS to be legitimate in your eyes?

Charter boat captains, interested anglers, and other Salty Cajuns (and a few Cajunettes) have been working these issues consistently for several years.

You need not be an official non-profit to write your legislator, petition the LWC, appear before the LWC to make comments, exert various kinds of pressure on local groups, or boycott the S.T.A.R.

I no longer recommend Zebco reels, because their quality sucks, the buyer is getting no return for his $$$, and he is likely to be disappointed with the outcome of the money spent.

I recommend against CCA and S.T.A.R. for the same reasons.

I remember all the grad promises made by CCA and its cheerleaders touting, "just wait and see, CCA is doing all sorts of things behind the scenes but we cant talk about it just yet"

well where is this magic they promised they were doing "behind the scenes"? maybe we need to wait 30-40 years before they can talk about it lol.

why aren't they working to double red limits and reduce minimum size limits on them to 14"?

why aren't they fighting to increase speck limits state wide back up to 25 fish per day everywhere?

why aren't they working to remove black limits altogether and reduce minimum size limits on them to 14"?

all 3 of these have science saying it will not hurt the population but actually help the populations and the fishery to do them.

why aren't they suing to get canals reopened and stop the wholesale barricading and closing off of our traditional public access marsh waterways. where are they on the wholesale theft for private use of our fisheries populations that are captured and stolen by a few as the fish are allowed to be barricaded off from the public?

why aren't they doing any of these things? because they are just a shell game to take our money and get rich off it as they work exclusively for the best interest of texas waters and against anything that gives Louisiana more then texas has which is the whole purpose and only reason for reduced trout limits and triple tail limits near texas, it is to take away any incentive to texas fishermen to come spend their money in our state.

we in Louisiana are the port-a-potty, and CCA is sitting on the seat above us laughing all the way to the bank as they dump all over us and watch silly cheerleaders and excuse makers defend their undefendable actions and complete lack of actions.

Great questions. I think CCA showed a decade ago that they are not really about habitat protection or conservation or sound science.

They are about bringing money back to TX for restoration projects there and also about exporting restrictive TX-style regulations to LA.

Amen brother! Been saying this for years that if I can get my boat in there I should be able to fish and hunt. You can't own tidal water! I should be able to fish and duck hunt anywhere I get my boat. Them greedy landowners don't own those fish or ducks and they got thousands of coots in their place thy don't even shoot. Let me in!

Ratdog
 

^^^^^^^^^^
R u related to Ratdog?

This guy^^^^???

Oh boy, let the fun begin. Slickfish has arrived.

Where's MJ and his popcorn, cause when W finds out, the show is going to start. Lmao!

Quality over quantity

There is a fine line in regard to that. If your limits are too conservative, thereby leaving too many individuals in the population, they can out eat themselves, therefore reducing quality.

Its a simple concept. You have X number of prey. If your predator population increases beyond the carrying capacity of the habitat, the health of that population will decline.

You have to take a certain number out, and by doing so, you leave less individuals to feed on that same prey population.

Yes, at some point you can do more harm than good, but I don't think the 25 trout limit was harming anything. That is evident by the studies that have been done.

Quality has gone down ever since limit change

Look at STAR weight each year after and look at Shoot Out weights after

Since the limit change " Trophy Lake " status it's been all but trophy lake !!

Too many small fish left in the lake and we are not taking out enough , on Bio told me our lake can handle a 30 -40 trout person limit

yep, people don't realize leaving too many fish causes overpopulations and that mean not enough food source to support the numbers so that reduces fish sizes.

its not lower limits = big trout, its more food source = big trout

but many want to turn saltwater speck fishing into catch and release like bass fishing :spineyes: