81-Year-Old Wins T.I. Reef Benefit

TOWNSENDS INLET — The oldest angler in the field landed the heaviest flounder to win a recent tournament benefiting the local artificial reef.
Joe Reese, 81, of Avalon, brought in a 6.05 lb. fluke to capture the trophy. In addition, Reese’s fish and the four biggest of his teammates were heavier than the total weight of the five biggest caught by the fishing team from the other side of the inlet in Sea Isle City. Kevin Lamp Jr. landed a 4.62 lb. flounder for the heaviest one for that team.
It was Avalon’s third win in four years in the 4th Annual Townsends Inlet Reef Fluke Tournament giving the community that’s “cooler by a mile” the T.I. Reef Cup and bragging rights for another year.
“We’re getting tired of bringing the cup home to Avalon every year,” said a smiling Jim Moran, one of the tournament sponsors who owns Moran’s Dockside. “This just shows the quality of anglers we have on this side of the inlet.”
The two tournament sponsors from Sea Isle City had something to say about that.
“Everyone gets lucky once in a while,” responded Brian Larsen, of Larsen’s Marina. He guaranteed a win for Sea Isle next year.
Wes Bandy, owner of Gibson’s Tackle in Sea Isle, agreed with Larsen.
“We all know that Sea Isle is a tougher town than Avalon,” he said. “I’m sure our trophy will come back to us next year.”
Despite the good-humored jabbing between the tournament sponsors, they all agree on one thing — the Townsends Inlet Reef. By running this tournament, they were able to raise $2,000 to help purchase a commercial trawling boat to be sunk on the reef.
The T.I. Reef is one of 15 artificial reefs along the New Jersey coastline that are constructed and managed by the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.
The reef provides a habitat for dozens of varieties of fish and shellfish; new fishing ground for anglers; underwater structures for scuba divers; and economic returns for tourism and fishing industries.
The reef is a half square mile rectangular shaped patch of ocean floor about 3.8 miles offshore that’s been built up with various sunken materials including old vessels, concrete castings and reef balls, which are four feet wide concrete igloo-like structures with many holes for fish to hide in. Water depth at the reef is between 50 and 65 feet.
The T.I. Reef is the newest in the state’s reef system having just been approved for construction by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2006. Since then, the state has deployed 896 cubic yards of reef balls, 3,976 cubic yards of castings and six sunken vessels or 3,535 cubic yards.
Some of the sunken vessels include: Donna’s Star, an 82-foot trawler sponsored by friends of Donna and Atlantic Cape Fisheries on Dec. 20, 2005; Margie Starns, a 31-foot former Coast Guard crew boat sponsored by friends of Margie on July 18, 2006; and two 77-foot trawlers sponsored the T.I. Fluke Tournament on April 6 and Aug. 13, 2007.
Because the reef is so important to local fishermen and funded almost entirely by private donations, Moran, Larsen and Bandy are looking for more sponsors to help them run the tournament and collect money throughout the year for improvements and maintenance to the reef.
For more information on how to support the T.I. Reef, call Moran at (609) 368-1321.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com