Our JCAA Fluke Tournament was held on August 6th, and both Ken Warchal and I were weighmasters at Hoffman's marina. It was a very HOT day and we were always looking for small shady areas where we weighed fish on the pier to escape from the beating sun. It was exciting to see the big fluke come in and we saw some nice ones with the largest close to 9 lbs.! I want to thank everybody who volunteered at all of our ports to weigh the fish and by their efforts make this tournament happen! There is a detailed listing of all the tournament winners in this newsletter.
It was held on August 11th at the Clarion Hotel/Motel in Toms River. We had a Great Time! The JCAA had free comfort type of food for all who attended - hamburger sliders, very tasty hot dogs and mozzarella finger foods, plus water and soda. A cash bar was available. Anglers started to arrive around 3:00 p.m., and I did the opening welcoming address at 7:00 p.m. Mark Taylor took the podium after me and he did a great job in announcing the winners from each port and he also drew the winning door prize tickets for about 65 people. The 50/50 winner walked away with $2,000 in cash! A special drawing for those anglers who entered our early sign-up for the tournament ended up with an angler winning $500! Approximately, $65,000 was given away in prizes including the Grand Prize of a boat and motor! Approximately 300-350 anglers showed up for our Awards Ceremony! Ron Zastocki, representing Yamaha, donated our Grand Prize of a boat, motor and trailer (Thank You Ron!). He had a time of his life throwing Yamaha hats and T shirts into the crowd and that added to the excitement of the evening with many hands going up to catch them.
It was an event full of fun and people were in a very happy and upbeat mood! No sour faces here! I want to recognize our members and volunteers that worked so hard to pull the Awards Ceremony together. They include: Don Marantz, Al Marantz, Mark Tayklor, Linda Haertel, Paul Haertel, Frank Richetti, Bill Browne, Bruce Halstater, Doug Tegeder, Kyren Dooley, Charles Lynch, Bruce Vatale and Kevin Morgan. A SPECIAL Thank you goes to our Fluke Tournament Director, Paul Turi, who worked so hard to pull this entire tournament together along with this Awards Ceremony. Thank You Paul!
