2012 East Cooper CCA banquet

Original art by Joe Shuford on the live auction

Dem Boys: Reed Simmons, Jack Sisson, Johnny Crislip

The May 4 conservation banquet for the East Cooper Chapter of CCA drew a record 106 sponsor members! Who says that saltwater conservation is not important to recreational anglers? In fact, it is those same recreational anglers who are in touch with our natural resources, and who pay for licenses and tackle. Funds generated from those sales provide the proper science-based facts to base future fisheries management decisions on. The lighthouse facility on Shem Creek served as the backdrop for this night of fellowship, food (Chas. Bay Gourmet) and drink, raffles and auctions. One of a kind art, guided fishing trips, and furnishings for the sporting life were just some of the items that CCA members got to bid on. CCA SC director Scott Whitaker thanked those he could for their help with the banquet, and one group of anglers remembered an angling friend who had recently passed away. John Friend was a member of Team Excel, a small group of wheelchair-bound anglers who love to fish, who attended the banquet and left an open table setting in his honor. Saltwater bonds are indeed deep bonds, and plenty of other friends at the CCA banquet were swapping fishing stories about the early offshore bite, or maybe about how the redfishing had been slow in the mornings this week. It's likely that most of the banquet patrons departed the event with a renewed vigor to get back on the water and to catch some fish!
Look for more social photos in the May 17 edition of the Charleston Mercury.

To read past blog entries about the East Cooper CCA events click here.

Team Excel with photo of John Friend

Carol and John Gourdin with Missy and Michael Hunter

To read about how Guy Harvey partners with CCA in SC click here.