False albacore, bonito and bluefish all had their turn in the spotlight this year at the 77th annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.
Fly fishing won’t usually land a fisherman at the top of the all-tackle leaderboard in the derby, but it is a category all its own for beauty and bragging rights.
“I must go down to the sea again,” wrote the poet John Masefield, “to the lonely sea and the sky.” The title of that poem is Sea-Fever, and we remember it at this season each year, when a similar affliction strikes Island residents and visitors.
All eyes are on the weigh station at the foot of Main street on the Edgartown harbor. Each morning and evening from 8 to 10, the fish are brought to the scales. Stories of the big one caught and the ones that got away carry on throughout the day and night.
Gone fishing is the rallying cry for the Island in the second week of the derby. And as always the competition signals that time in the Vineyard year between the waning days of summer and the arrival of autumn.
For two hours starting at 6 a.m. on Sunday, kids fished from the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority pier before the first ferry of the day arrived, thanks to the annual Kids Derby event.
Each year, as part of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, a special morning returns to the Oak Bluffs Steamship pier. Before the first ferry slides in, kids ages four to 14 are given free reign of the wharf to try their luck during Kids Derby Day.
No registration is needed, just an ability to wake up early — and convince a parent to do the driving.
