This is the week when derby fever strikes. Phil J. Cronin, who has had the fever much of his life, and at 61, he still does. He loves the sport and enjoys sharing his affection with others.

Last winter Mr. Cronin put his love for the annual contest to pen and to music. He wrote a song called The Vineyard Derby Calls. His YouTube performance is featured on the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby website, mvderby.com.

It comes upon September ides

When summer season’s past

Both young and old we’re anglers all

The Vineyard Derby calls.

Mr. Cronin has fished nearly 46 consecutive derbies. This Sunday morning, he will be out there with the fever.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Cronin went out early fishing to check his favorite spots. “The false albacore are here,” he said. “I caught one.” The fish was around nine pounds. Mr. Cronin said, he was able to carefully release it.

“Why do I love the derby? Because it has helped me through all the different stages of my life. From being a kid, from being an adolescent, all through the business years. I got through the peaks and valleys of raising a family,” he said.

He is a business manager for a private school run by his wife, Sharon. They have a home in Newton and here in West Tisbury. The two have been married 37 years. He fishes, she doesn’t, and that is okay. They have two grown daughters, and his 35-year-old son, Jay, is often his fishing partner.

In his living room in West Tisbury, he can easily put his hands on a pile of plaques he has earned from the derby for top fishing. In 2007 he won a second place for flyrod false albacore caught from the shore, and a second place for a flyrod false albacore caught from a boat. In 2006 he won a first place for a flyrod boat bonito.In 2005 he won a first place for a flyrod boat false albacore.

What is it about false albacore and bonito? False albacore is fast-moving torpedo fish with the nickname “albie.” Albies are a late summer fish, usually showing up when the waters are warm, and here that is mid-August.

Among anglers, bonito are miniature tuna fish. They shoot through the water like larger tunas that weigh 10 times their size. Bonito have keen eyesight, which anglers believe is so acute that they will shy away from a lure or a fly when they can see the fishing line. Anglers kindly refer to Atlantic bonito as “bones.”

“I love albies and I love bonito. They are very challenging fish. They are hard to hook, hard to reel in and hard to catch. They are a beautiful fish. They are colorful, built for speed. Everything about them is built for speed. It is a nice fish to catch and a nice fish to release,” he said.

Mr. Cronin is well regarded for his saltwater flyrod fishing talent. There are but a handful of anglers with such specialized prowess, who can consistently come in with stories about successful encounters with bonito and false albacore.

The bones will test the anglers best

An albie has no peer

A daily pin your first grand slam

Will raise a toast of cheer

Mr. Cronin said this year’s 66th annual derby offers an especially good start: Bonito are in strong and the false albacore are doing well. “There are large schools of albies and we are in for a good season.

“They were very hard to catch last year,” Mr. Cronin said. “No one knows why. I think they go through cycles,” he said. “Hopefully it is upward now.”

Mr. Cronin is a “born again” guitar player. In the past two years, he has thrown himself back at music with the same passion he takes to fishing.

His wife said, “People write love songs. So why can’t someone write a love song about the derby?”

He wrote the derby song last winter. “It came together quickly,” he said. Recording himself for YouTube was relatively easy. The idea was to share it with friends. “My pals like the song. They sing it around me. We are all having a lot of fun with it,” he said.

A derby born in forty-six

There’s some that fished ‘em all

From beach or boat with fly or spin

Strong friendships forged each Fall.