What started out as a simple question back in December by
a local fishermen turned into a mission for the dive team. While waiting for slack tide at the inlet a
local fishermen ask the chief diver of the team about why he was losing all his
fishing lures in this one spot.
The chief went on
to explain that there were hang ups on the bottom that the fishermen can get
hung up on and that was one of the things the team does trying to clear these
up.
The fishermen
said it doesn’t always happen, but at times no matter what his does he loses
his gear. The chief told him the sand moves around and what’s there today might
be covered tomorrow. But we would check out the area and see what was down
there.
During the dive,
team members search of the area in question nothing was found but a flat sand
bottom. The team did kept an eye on this
area and around the middle of March the chief diver did find a fairly larger
lump of fishing line sticking out of the bottom.
first time we saw the mount
Since no one is
really fishing at this time of year he put a float on it to mark the location.
Over the next 4 dives more of the lump was pulled free of the bottom and a plan
was made to pull it free and remove it from the water
float on the mount 
a float on each end
On Sunday March
28 2021 the plan was put into action. The dive truck (347) was pulled up as
close as we could get it to the spot of the sinker mount and thanks to the
Point Pleasant Beach Police department, who closed off the area we needed, we
were able to use the heavy duty winch on the front of the truck to help pull the
debris free from the bottom and out of the water.
Thanks to the Point Beach Police for blocking off the area
The team came
with a plan because the current in the inlet can be extremely strong. The plan
was to get divers in as the tide was still coming in and get a line out to the
mount. Ali B. and Rich G had this job. Once the line to the mount was in place
they would take down a large grapple hook and set it in the mount. Now the dive
trucks winch would start pulling the mount out of the bottom.
Ali and Rich
 |
| setting up the line out to the sinker mount |
 |
| grapple hook set |
Chris T. and
Perry B would bring down lift bags and hook them into the mount and with the
truck pulling the lift bags would also provide lift. At the same time Ali, Rich
and Chris and Perry would be fanning the bottom to free it and cutting any
lines still hung up.
Perry and Chris ready to go 
lift bag ready for air
With assistant
Chief diver Joe S on the controls of the winch and keeping a steady pull on the
line the mount slowly started pulling free of the bottom. Chief diver, Chet N
was swimming around making sure everyone one was safe and shooting video. At
last the mount pulled free of the bottom and was pulled over to the wall and
pulled from the water.
Assistant Chief diver Joe S. on the winch controls
 | ||
Chet with a head mounted video camera
|
The last three
divers in were Joe (OJ) S. and the two Jim’s, Sr. and Jr. Their jobs were to
clear the area of any debris and cut away any leftover lines. By now the
current was getting fairly strong and it was time to retrieve all our lines and
floats.
Joe (OJ) getting ready to drop in 
Jim Sr & Jr dropping in
The mount turned out to be over two hundred pounds of fishing line and now that area is clear of any hang ups and we will not be seeing dead fish and crabs entangled in this mess.
