Come join us at the coast tonight!

We have 2 coastal captain's meetings tonight.  Both are 6:00 pm.  Come by the Carrabelle Boat Club in Carrabelle or Port St. Joe Marina in Port St. Joe.

At both meetings we will be registering folks and handing out boat bags and t-shirts to registered anglers.  Remeber, the deadline to register for the Classic is midnight tonight!

Register online and save 10 dollars or come by the captain's meetings tonight June 17th.

We will be having food and beer at the Carrabelle meeting so get there early and grab some good eats and drinks.

Everything is coming together for a big weekend of fishing!

One small change we wanted to let you know for those of you heading out from Franklin County. Both county ramps (Timber Island and Lombardi's Seafood boat ramp) are closed to the public until the oil response operation is complete. While the oil spill response efforts continue, alternate boat ramp locations are available. The alternate boat ramps include:

• Marine Street in Carrabelle is city owned and has 2 ramps.

• Hwy 98 in Carrabelle (beside C Quarters Marina) is city owned.

• Moorings Marina on Hwy 98 (at the foot of the bridge.)

• Lanark Village Boat Club on Hwy 98.

There may be limited traffic flow on Timber Island Road, so look for directional signs if you plan to drive your fish to the weigh station. And remember, there are several slips available for dropping off fish at the Carrabelle Boat Club. You can pull in, get your fish weighed and then head to one of the ramps listed.

We continue to monitor the NOAA closure lines from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. As of June 3, 2010, we are cautiously optimistic that the Big Bend Saltwater Classic will be held June 18th through June 20th. If the NOAA closure lines advance easterly to the waters off Panama City, we may be forced to cancel the tournament. If we are put in this unfortunate position, we will work with each registered angler to refund the registration monies paid, less any transaction charges we incurred through PayPal. Please understand that cancelling the tournament is not what we want to do. As a 501 c 3 non-profit, it is our major fundraiser for the year. Please be patient if the tournament is cancelled as it may take a few days to begin refunding money.

But for now, we are working hard to make the 22nd annual Big Bend Saltwater Classic another great family fishing event. We have not stopped planning! We hope to see you at one of our weigh stations.

The current NOAA closure boundary is currently well offshore of Florida. All State of Florida waters remain open to commercial and recreational fishing. The Classic is continuing to monitor the spill and preparing for the 2010 tournament.