A Brief History of OAR's No. 1 Fund-Raiser

In 1989, OAR launched a tournament series to raise funds for its reef development program. This year, hundreds of fishing families in North Florida will participate in the Annual Big Bend Saltwater Classic (BBSC), the largest professionally run fishing tournament in the Florida Big Bend Gulf Coast.
By 1991, the BBSC had become too large for OAR to operate alone. Therefore, auxiliary nonprofit agencies serving the North Florida community were invited to help run the event in exchange for a share of the proceeds.
Today, the tournament is under the direct control of a non-paid board of directors and is incorporated as The Big Bend Saltwater Classic Foundation, Inc.

The Classic may be the fastest growing tournament in Florida, if not the entire Southeast. Since its first year (1989), participation in the Classic has jumped nearly 375 percent. The tournament now ranks among the top six saltwater fishing tournaments, in terms of numbers of participants, in Florida, according to Florida Sportsman magazine.

The tournament's first headquarters was Shields Marina in St. Marks, Florida. Since 1991, the tournament has been held on Father's Day Weekend and headquartered in Carrabelle, Florida.