Pete Bergeron and half a dozen fellow fishermen stood on the pier at Memorial Wharf in Edgartown. It was Thursday morning and as the early chill burned off the water, the anglers enjoyed one of the last quiet moments of summer fishing.
On Sunday, Sept. 15, at 12:01 a.m. the 79th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby begins.
Over the next month, local and off-Island fishermen will head to the shores, jetties and waters around the Vineyard to try their luck reeling in bluefish, bonito and false albacore. They will rise early, go to bed late (if at all), skip work, school, chores, meals, all in the pursuit of bragging rights and, for the grand prize winner, a new boat.
Over 3,000 fishermen are expected to enter the competition this year, derby president and Tisbury School principal John Custer said.
Last Tuesday, Mr. Custer welcomed students back to school, re-entering the refurbished building after a five-year construction project. A few days later, he was helping to get derby headquarters in shape — pushing out the dust, hauling in scales, hanging fresh leaderboards in the small shack at the end of Dock street on the Edgartown Harbor.
This Sunday the first weigh-in takes place, from 8 to 10 a.m., with another one in the evening from 7 to 9 p.m. Headquarters becomes a community gathering spot during the twice daily weigh-ins, much like it has been since the very beginning, back in 1945 at the end of World War II.
Adam Darack, who has sat on the derby’s governing committee for 15 years, was lending a hand last Saturday. He said he has been fishing the derby since he was 10 years old.
“I love the derby,” he said. “I think it’s the best community event. Anywhere. Period.”
On Saturday, volunteers hauled in a steady stream of supplies, from old wooden ramps to a box of hats, in preparation for the thousands of fish that will be weighed in during the month-long competition.
Most said the fishing has been good this season and they expect a robust competition. As in previous years, striped bass are not part of the competition in an effort to help the species rebound.
“Fish are everywhere. But they’ll go away as soon as I start fishing,” Mr. Darack joked.
Especially plentiful are small bonito, said Julian Pepper, working behind the counter this week at Larry’s Tackle Shop. Bluefish are here as well, although the false albacore are lagging behind, he said.
Pete Bergeron said he has been fishing every day for the past three months. On Thursday morning, he reeled in a bonito at Memorial Wharf.
“You just got to put in your time,” Mr. Bergeron said. He cycles between a roster of spots across the Island towns, declining to say where they were.
“[The fish] move. They don’t stay in the same spot,” he said.
For him, seeing the familiar faces is just as fun as the fishing. So is watching young fishermen grow up.
“Kids this high are now this high,” Mr. Bergeron said, bringing his hand up from his knees to his ballcap.
The event is also a boon for local tackle shops, the surge of traveling fishermen make it the busiest time of year for many.
“The derby’s great for the shops,” Mr. Pepper said. If people aren’t bringing in the number of fish they want, “they get stuff they wouldn’t usually buy.”
Giving back to the community is also a main focus of the derby committee’s mission. Registration fees and local sponsorships fund the derby’s prizes alongside a scholarship fund that benefits local students. In the spring, the derby gave out $100,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors, Mr. Custer said. That brought the derby’s lifetime scholarship grants to over $1 million, he added.
The scholarship fund “is at the fore of why we do this,” Mr. Custer said.
Fishermen compete in categories for bluefish, bonito and false albacore, and whether the fish was caught from shore on by boat. There is also a fly fishing division and various age groups.
At the end of the event, the six top leaders compete for the derby’s grand prize — a new 22-foot Sisu hardtop boat with an outboard motor, trailer and a host of other options, courtesy of Eastern Boats.
The Derby also offers daily and weekly prizes, as well as prizes for “triple crown” fishermen who land the highest combined weight of all three eligible fish.
At the weigh-in station, fishermen have the option to donate their fish to the derby fillet program to be distributed to the Island’s senior centers as well as to Island Grown Initiative (IGI), which uses the fish to prepare meals for Islanders experiencing food insecurity.
In 1995, false albacore was taken out of eligibility for daily prizes. The species is not known for its culinary delights and the derby leadership didn’t want competitors landing fish that would go to waste — even if false albacore are for many the most fun to catch. This year, however, false albacore are again eligible for daily prizes, with IGI able to use the fillets for its food insecurity program.
John Piekos, who has fished the derby since 1999 and has sat on the derby committee for nearly a decade, said that adding false albacore to the daily competition will help fill the vacuum created when striped bass were removed in 2020.
“Without striped bass, false albacore add excitement,” Mr. Piekos said. False albacore are “speed demons. It’s like hooking into a truck on the highway.... They’re my favorite fish to catch.”
For daily updates, visit mvderby.com.
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