Registrations are up, the weather has been good — so far — and plenty of fish are hitting the scales at Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby headquarters, as the annual tournament heads into its second week.
According to derby chairman John Custer, registrations topped 2,000 so far, tracking ahead of last year.
“To be at 2,000 by the end of the first week is a little bit ahead of schedule,” he said. “I think some of that has to do with the good weather, and good fishing, certainly.”
A tropical storm expected to brush the Vineyard this week threatened to sideline fishing for a day or two.
But Mr. Custer said the scale was well used in the opening week of the derby.
“Plenty of fish around, and plenty of fishermen and women,” he said. “The weather’s been great. A concern I have is what’s going to happen with [Hurricane] Jose. A lot of categories are filled which sometimes go unfilled. I think the abundance of shore bonito has been a pleasant surprise the first week, which is awesome.”
Anglers had weighed in 140 bonito by Monday morning, 88 of them caught from shore.
A total of 175 false albacore were weighed in, along with 89 striped bass and 217 bluefish.
The grand leader board had a few new names following the Monday morning weigh in. Weighing in the biggest fish were: Boat bluefish, William Kadison, 18.49 pounds; shore bluefish, Lucas Brewer, 10.45 pounds; boat bass, David Murphy, 29.23 pounds; shore bass, John Stasiuk, 29.61 pounds; boat bonito, Steve Bacelli, 10.80 pounds; shore bonito, Timothy Scott, 7.03 pounds; boat albacore, Tegan Fenner, 12.00 pounds; and shore albacore, Michael Laprade, 11.12 pounds.
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