The bluefish are in. For at least one fisherman, the arrival was like an old-fashioned Wasque bluefish blitz.

On Monday, Ed Amaral drove to Chappaquiddick to get his line wet and perhaps catch the first bluefish of the season. While he didn't get the first one, he certainly got more than he expected.

"As you know, it is a lot about timing," Mr. Amaral said on Wednesday, to discount his success. Mr. Amaral doesn't like to brag, but he likes to fish and Lady Luck was just too good to him Monday to keep his catch report a secret.

"It was bang, bang, bang," he said, to describe how he had hooked one after another.

He said he first started fishing Wasque at about 11:30 a.m., after taking an hour to get through ferry traffic to get to the Island's little island.

Mr. Amaral said: "I tried to get the first bluefish. But someone there told me the first had already been caught." And he heard another had already taken the second.

Speaking of the bluefish he was landing, he said he at first started counting them, but then lost track. The state recreational keeper limit for bluefish is 10 fish a day.

A sportsman only needs a couple, so he caught and released a lot more fish than he needed for dinner.

After leaving the beach, he said he drove to East Beach to see what was going on. "I got a fish on my first cast," Mr. Amaral said. "There were quite a few guys out there," he said of his trip.

And to top his efforts, Mr. Amaral said he also caught a keeper striped bass in his mix. That is a striped bass that measures at least 28 inches in length.

Mr. Amaral said he initially chose a rubber shad as his lure, but when it started getting chewed up by the sharp bluefish teeth, he shifted to shiny metal.

He fished with a Kastmaster lure, with a single hook. Then he shifted to a Hopkins lure with a bucktail and treble hook. All three lures worked well.

Mr. Amaral had good news to add about what those fish were eating. In the last several weeks anglers have been troubled by the scarcity of mackerel in these waters. Spring usually begins with the arrival of alewives, also called herring, squid and large schools of Atlantic mackerel.

While few mackerel were spotted by those on the waterfront in the know, Mr. Amaral said that he found mackerel and squid in the bellies of fish he took home.

Steve Morris of Dick's Bait and Tackle Shop in Oak Bluffs pays a lot of attention to the arrival of bluefish. Gearing up for his 15th annual Memorial Day weekend fishing tournament, Mr. Morris pays a lot of attention to what anglers are seeing. He usually isn't troubled about the anglers showing up to register; he is more worried that the fish are here.

So he keeps records. Last year the first report of bluefish caught was May 8, so this year's news isn't that far off.

Mr. Morris said: "I am hoping the mackerel are late" - a way of saying that he hopes they show up eventually rather than not at all.

Cooper A. Gilkes of Coop's Bait and Tackle Shop is optimistic about a good spring run of young stripers. "They are all around," he said.

Mackerel, squid and herring are a necessary start to a good spring season. A week before the Memorial Day weekend, anglers are more interested in bait than big fish. For it takes the promise of a good meal to bring the big fish into Island waters.

Steve Purcell said jiggers are catching squid at Memorial Wharf at night in Edgartown. "You probably will want to use a heavier squid jig," he said, given the increased speed of harbor currents due to the Norton Point breach.

David Belcher, superintendent for The Trustees of Reservations Chappaquiddick properties, said he knows fishermen are catching fish along that shore, but he wants anglers to proceed with caution when casting lures near the breach.

Strong winds this week moved the opening closer to Chappaquiddick. On Tuesday night, he said, 30 to 35 feet were lost.