Tackle shops raise money for family of lost angler

It’s been nearly three weeks since Joel Thompson disappeared off the jetty at Indian River Inlet. Searchers have since found no trace of the Angola angler. As expectations dim, local bait and tackle shops have begun raising money for his wife and son.

Bill Baker Jr., co-owner of Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes, called the collective effort among nine tackle shops unprecedented.

“There are a tremendous amount of fishermen saying, ‘I don’t know him, but we all lost one of our own’,” he said. At Bill’s, dollar bills and change fill the bottom of a plastic jug on the counter. A picture of Thompson holding a hulking 35-pound striped bass is taped to the front of the jug.

Similar jugs sit on counters at Rick’s Bait and Tackle in Long Neck, Old Inlet Bait and Tackle in Rehoboth Beach, Ole Salt Bait and Tackle in Lewes and others. With about $500 already raised, Baker said they hope to raise more than $1,000.

Still, Baker said, the recently suspended search for Thompson’s body leaves no solace for the angler’s friends, and no release for his wife and 14-year-old son. “There’s no closure,” Baker said. “As expected. It doesn’t end.”

Rick Willman, Thompson’s friend and owner of Rick’s Bait and Tackle in Long Neck, said the fruitless search only makes Thompson’s likely death harder on everyone. Willman once ran fishing charters out of his tackle shop, and Thompson, a licensed captain, led a few expeditions. He was well-liked by customers, Willman said, and he took pains to teach them the right way to fish.

While the jug at Willman’s shop isn’t empty, he said he’s disappointed by the trickling pace of donations.

“We’ve been getting some,” he said. “I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been more of a response.”

Baker said Thompson was a “jetty jockey” – a particularly adventurous breed of fishermen who don metal cleats and life preservers to fish the dangerous waters of Indian River Inlet from the algae-slick jetties. Thompson was a standout angler, Baker said – his close observation of tidal patterns and water flow, and his nuanced lure retrieval consistently won him the biggest stripers in the inlet.

He isn’t the first fisherman to be claimed by the inlet. Myungtiki Kim, 45, of Vienna, Va., fell into the inlet’s treacherous waters Oct. 25, 2009. His body is still missing. Despite the obvious hazards, Baker said jetty jockeys are unlikely to abandon the rocks, where skilled anglers can walk away with bragging rights to last the season.

The bravado carries a price, though – and not just for the angler. “It’s strange,” Willman said. “Any time a customer comes in to buy eels, I always think of him. It’s probably going to go on for a while.”