Much like their real-life inspirations — the striped bass that keep fishermen guessing every year — Edgartown’s Bass in the Grass have moved on from a spot where they had been plentiful just the day before.

An art installation and scholarship fundraiser sponsored by the Edgartown Board of Trade, Bass in the Grass is a school of more than three dozen three-foot-long wooden fish silhouettes, transformed into one-of-a-kind paintings and sculptures and put up for auction.

Nearly 40 fish planks have been transformed by local artists. — Mark Alan Lovewell

Guarded by Jay Lagemann’s larger-than-life Yellow Stainless Steel Fisherman with Fish on the Line, the original creations by Margot Datz, Trager di Pietro, Deborah T. Colter and other artists have been on display in Main Street’s Alfred and Marjory Hall Park (also known as the mini-park) since soon after the start of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby last month.

But on Tuesday afternoon, as a prolonged stint of rainy weather threatened, the Bass in the Grass were dispersed from the mini-park to their sponsoring local businesses for safekeeping until the end of the derby.

“It’s an effort to better preserve the art and also give a little face time to the sponsors,” said Erin Ready of the board of trade.

Exhibit is sponsored by the Edgartown Board of Trade and provides derby scholarships. — Mark Alan Lovewell

To create the fundraiser, Ms. Ready said, Edgartown businesses commissioned their favorite artists to adorn the fish. Other board of trade members contributed materials and labor to make the wooden blanks.

There are fish painted to look like fish, fish serving as canvases for seascapes, a fish with bicycle parts instead of scales and even a fish-shaped Fenway Park scoreboard.

They’re all on display on the auction website through Oct. 20.

Once the auction closes, the proceeds for each work will be divided evenly between the artist and the derby’s scholarship fund. Last year, when the Bass in the Grass installation made its debut, the auction took in more than $24,000, Ms. Ready said.

“We were able to cut a check to the derby foundation for over $12,000,” she said. “We’re hoping we can match and exceed that this year.”