This year’s event, the 26th Annual Big Bend Saltwater Classic lived up to its reputation as one of the top fishing tournament’s for recreational anglers in the southeast. The event is held on Father’s Day Weekend each year and is a huge attraction for all anglers and their families to come out and enjoy a weekend of fishing in a tournament atmosphere. The event is headquartered at The Moorings in Carrabelle, Florida. This is the place where patrons come to take part in the festivities such as live music, food and drink vendors, displays by local artists and much more. Some just come out to see the fish being brought in from the boats for weigh-in at The Moorings or the other weigh stations located at Shields Marina in St. Marks or Port St. Joe Marina in Port St. Joe, FL.
The big fish of the tournament was a 64.40 pound wahoo weighed in at Port St. Joe. There was also a tournament-record king mackerel which weighed in at 49.85 pounds. There were many nice fish brought in at all of the weigh stations this year and the competition was intense. To see a listing of the final results, go to the Leaderboard link on the BBSC website (www.saltwaterclassic.com).
Many people do not realize this, but the Big Bend Saltwater Classic Foundation (BBSC) is a non-profit organization whose main focus is to raise funds for The Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR). All proceeds from each event go to OAR to help build artificial reefs in our local waters. Over the past 26 years, the BBSC foundation has raised over $500k to assist with OAR’s mission. 2014 has been a busy year for OAR as some new reef projects have been completed and others are in the planning stage.
On June 17-18, 2014, OAR successfully completed a project which placed many new artificial reefs off Franklin County, FL. The project placed a total of 44 artificial reef modules within two separate reef sites in the Gulf of Mexico south of Dog Island. One group was placed about 10.5 nautical miles offshore in 50 feet of water as an expansion of the popular Robby’s Reef, named in honor of Robby Redding. The second group was placed in a new reef system south of Robby’s Reef called the Dixon Camp Memorial Reef. It is located approximately 11 nautical miles from the east end of Dog Island in 60 feet.
The new modules added to Robby’s Reef include 8’ tall, pre-fabricated Florida limestone reefs and 4’ tall ecosystem reefs. These additional patch reefs will enhance the existing structures that were placed there in 2011. OAR dive team members found amberjack and spanish mackerel already working the reef on the day the materials were placed in the water.
The Dixon Camp Reef was constructed with Florida limestone reefs and new 15’ tall “Super Reefs.” Each of the three patch reefs in this group contains Florida limestone reefs placed in a triangle-shaped pattern with a Super Reef placed in the center. Each Super Reef has a mounted plaque attached to it as a tribute to Dixon Camp. These reefs make an impressive display when they show up on the bottom machine and an even more impressive sight when diving them. OAR expects the structures to provide habitat and hunting grounds for king mackerel, spanish mackerel, cobia as well as grouper and snapper.
These projects were the result of cooperative efforts between OAR, the City of Carrabelle and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Artificial Reef Program. Additional project funding was donated in part by Charley and Leslie Redding, who host a “Fun-raiser” every December to honor their son, Robby, and to raise money for OAR to place reef materials. Byron and Kitty Camp also raised funds for the project to honor their son, Dixon. Both families lost their sons too early in life and approached OAR with the idea of building these reefs. They continue to be active participants organizing events and raising funds. OAR was able to assist these families by working through the maze of required reef permitting, contracting and local government coordination required for the construction of a large-scale artificial reef project. All of the reefs were constructed and deployed by Walter Marine, Inc. (reefmaker.com)
OAR operates as a membership-based non-profit organization managed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors. These efforts would not be possible without those who have volunteered time or donated money to OAR and an important part of these efforts is provided by the Big Bend Saltwater Classic. The BBSC tournament Board of Directors and volunteers have continued to support the mission of OAR for 26 years and counting.
For more information on OAR and local artificial reefs, please visit oarreefs.org.
The Organization for Artificial Reefs is a registered 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit dedicated to the professional development of public artificial reefs.