The tournament, traditionally held at Grand Isle, was moved at the request of the marina operators due to lodging issues with regards to the BP Oil Spill.

Reports are that redfish in the Delacroix area are heavy and hungry, and the turnout is expected to be good for the event.

The Captain's meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Friday, with registration opening at 5:00 PM.

Prizes include a 2010 Ranger Banshee Extreme valued at more than $30,000. The boat is powered by a 60-horsepower, four-stroke Yamaha outboard and is equipped with a Bob's four-inch Ultra Light Jackplate, Power-Pole shallow water anchor, Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird electronics, Blue Point Fabrication metal work and Loadmaster trailer.

Mark your calendars for this great charity event. It kicks off on Friday night, Sept. 10th at the Laishley Park Community Room with a Seafood Boil & Shrimp Creole at the Captains Meeting- There will also be a silent auction and raffle with lots of great stuff. Saturday morning the fishing will begin at safe light as teams try to catch 2 redfish with their bait of choice.

Weigh In begins at 1:30pm at the Laishley Park Pavillions. Tournament ends at 3:30pm and there will be a BBQ for all the tournament anglers.

We will still have the same great food, free Budweiser Keg from Peace River Distributing, and our same awesome Flatsmasters Raffle.

Saturday morning we will check out as usual from Laishley Park with the numbered start from the pier. The weigh In, however, will be at Harpoon Harry's at the tip of Fishermen's Village. Weigh In begins with flight #1 on the dock at 3:30pm, the leader board and Awards Ceremony will be indoors on the stage at Harpoons.

Registration is open now for Redfish Series #5, you may register online HERE, or in person at Laishley Marine in Punta Gorda, or Capt' Ted's Tackle in Port Charlotte. Friday Payments, Payments at the Capt. Meeting, and the morning of the tournament will include a $25 late fee and be cash only.

OAK ISLAND, NC (WECT) - It's not very often you hear about good news coming out of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This is a different kind of story.

Last December, Harry Schwarz, a member of the Army stationed at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, went diving with some friends off the Cuban Coast. On the trip, his book bag went overboard. In that book bag was his military identification, license, credit cards and $295 in cash.

"I freaked out big time," Schwarz said. "I thought it was a lost cause."

About eight months later, a wildlife officer looking for birds on the beach strand in Whiskey Island, Louisiana, found something buried in the sand. It was not a bird covered by oil, but a backpack. That bag belonged to Schwarz.

"I was in awe that someone had found my bag," Schwarz said.

The bag drifted about 1,250 miles from the Cuban coast to the Louisiana coast. All of the contents that Schwarz lost that day in December were still in the bag. The biologist who found the book bag sent all of the contents back to Schwarz's home in Oak Island, including the cash.

"I'm not saying the oil spill is a good thing, but if anything good came out of it, I got my money and bag back," Schwarz said.

Register in advance- ($225 per team) in person at Laishley Marine in Punta Gorda or Capt, Teds Tackle at Ingman Marine in Port Charlotte.

Register online at www.flatsmasters.com, Register at the Capt. Meeting or the morning of the tournament- $250 CASH ONLY

Our guest speaker will be Jack Holmes from the SKA who will discuss the upcoming Jacksonville Fishing Rodeo and answer any questions members may have about the event.

We will also discuss the upcoming Club Championship.

Come on out - door prize raffle, 50/50 raffle, June championship qualifier winners report, cold beverages, hot food, and good times.

Howard with STAR Fish

That morning, Howard traveled to Palacios and fished the near the Grasse Point Bait Camp. He waded out alongside a low jetty and fished the area until 8 a.m.

Ricky Howard caught a tagged redfish to win one of the top prizes in the CCA STAR fishing tournament. Photo by CCA. Howard caught and released three undersized redfish. He had only planned to fish a couple of hours, but then a jumping mullet in shallow water caught his eye.

He switched to a cork rig, baited with cut croaker, and pitched it where the mullet had sprung out of the water minutes before. It didn’t take long before Howard felt a pull.

“I knew it was a keeper or one that was too big. My drag only hollers when it’s a big fish! I couldn’t help but get a tiny bit excited,” Howard said. “At that moment I was just happy it was bigger than the first three I’d thrown back.” When Howard reeled the fish in, he spotted a tag below the dorsal fin.

“My mind was racing but I was trying really hard not to get too excited about the tag as I knew it might be from last year,” he said. “That’s my kind of luck.”

Without his glasses, Howard couldn’t read the tag. Taking no chances, he put it on a stringer, and then put the stringer inside his floating fish basket with the remaining croaker.

Howard spotted a familiar looking boat and waved it over, believing it was a friend. The man was from Austin taking the friend’s boat out for a run. Howard asked if he could hitch a ride to the bait camp dock.

Handing the boater the redfish, Howard asked, “Can you read that tag? I don’t have my glasses with me.” The man looked at the tag, replying, “I don’t understand it. It says ‘2010 CCA.’ What does that mean?”

“I thought I was going to faint,” said Howard, “I couldn’t believe it. I told the guy it meant I’d just won a truck and boat. I don’t know if he believed me or not.”

After passing a polygraph in Houston, Howard officially became the first STAR winner for 2010. As of this writing, four other tagged redfish had been caught, two by anglers who were not entered in the tournament. The other two are pending polygraph examinations.

Howard’s lucky catch has netted him a new Ford F150 pickup hooked to a Coastline trailer loaded with a 23-foot Haynie Big Foot boat and Mercury 150 Optimax motor.

After weeks of estimates, countless models and hundreds of boat excursions seeking hints of oil in Louisiana's marshes, a bleak picture began to emerge this week as the first signs of thick, dark oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be seen blanketing a patch of marsh grass near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

At the eastern reaches of the delta, where Pass a Loutre meets open water, dark brown oil was covering an entire patch of cane grass on Wednesday. On the open water, a dark-brown tint could be seen on grasses just above the water's surface.

A few feet inside the marsh grass, where the currents move the water less, there was a thick coating of oil -- much different from the random, smaller clumps of oil or thin sheens seen during the past two weeks across Louisiana's coastline.

"This is a small area," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "If this comes in in waves and goes farther inland into the marsh, we'll be 25 to 30 years, if ever, recovering from this."

Nungesser and Gov. Bobby Jindal were at the site Wednesday as part of a continued push to get the Army Corps of Engineers to approve -- and BP to pay for -- the construction of barrier islands offshore to intercept the oil before it moves into the state's fragile wetland ecosystems.

More information about federal and state response can be found at: Federal Department of Homeland Security Environmental Protection Agency NOAA Office of Response and Restoration U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State Alabama Department of Environmental Management Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Texas Parks and Wildlife Recreational Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

In addition to the tragic loss of life, the oil spill and resulting fishing closure pose a severe threat to the Gulf of Mexico's marine fishery resources and sportfishing industry, although ultimate impacts on recreational fisheries and wildlife are impossible to predict at this time. Recreational fishing contributes $41 billion dollars in economic output in the Gulf Coast region annually and supports over 300,000 jobs.

The highlight each day was the Flatsmasters Elite Series Weigh-In on the Laishley Crab House stage. Bleachers were brought in to ensure the crowd had a good view of the teams. On sunday, the weigh-in kicked off with the Junior Flatsmasters Finals where the top six young anglers competed and weighed their redfish on stage to determine the 2010 Junior Flatsmasters Champions.

Over 2,000 people attended the weekend long festival and plans are already underway to make 2011 even better!

This month is highlighted by the Sweetheart Couples Fishing Tournament on May 22nd. Billed as the social fishing event of the year, the Sweetheart Couples is a fun event and a chance to get out on the water with your sweetie! Plan to make a weekend out of it with our Weekend Getaway package at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel directly across the street from the marina.

For more info and photos on all past and upcoming events visit www.flatsmasters.com. Thanks again for making the Flatsmasters Tournaments the number one inshore fishing tournaments in Florida. We are leading all major inshore tournaments in Florida with attendence and are continuing to grow!!!