Three bluefish, a nice bass plus an albie and a bonito all crossed the scale Sunday morning, and the 69th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby was under way.
At 8 a.m. the wooden doors of the small fishing shack on Edgartown harbor slid open, welcoming the first catches.
About 25 people who had gathered on the dock applauded as weighmaster Roy Langley rang the opening bell.
The derby runs through Oct. 19 and contestants will be spending long days and nights on the water reeling in striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and bonito. The grand prizes will be an Eastern 22 SISU HT fishing boat and a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado.
Within 20 minutes of the opening bell, catches from all four species had been weighed, including a 23.4-pound striped bass, the biggest catch of the morning, as of about 8:30. Mr. Langley, who has participated in the derbies for over 20 years, said it was unusual for all four species to be caught on the first morning.
“The albies and bonitos have been around, with the blues, but we haven’t seen too many bass, so I was glad to see a couple of bass come in,” he said. “If the water gets a little cooler, we’ll get more.” After weighing each fish, Mr. Langley snipped its tail fin and contestants headed outside for photos.
Nick Jerome was the first to arrive at around 7:50 a.m. with three bluefish he had caught overnight with his father, Ed Jerome, derby committee president. Mr. Jerome said there had been 25 or 30 anglers casting Sunday morning on East Beach.
Junior fisherman Abby O’Connell had caught an 8.65-pound false albacore overnight, and Doyle Bunch, a derby veteran, had an 18.01-pound bass he had caught around 2 a.m.
On the sunny dock in downtown Edgartown, Will Point was fileting the day’s catches. Contestants have the option of keeping their fish or donating them to the four senior centers around the Island. Karen Kukolich, who used to run the filet program, said between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds are donated each year.
Lobstermen will use the carcasses to bait their traps, said Mike Cassidy, who will be weighing in fish later this week. “So there is no waste.”
About 1,000 people have registered for this year’s derby so far, which is about average for early in the contest, said chairman John Custer. Last year’s derby saw the highest registration ever, at around 3,500. The derby usually starts off with about 1,000 registrants, Mr. Custer said, “and then it will grow steadily.”
Making sure everything goes smoothly is a lot of work, he said, “but we have a lot of people, luckily.” There are about 30 volunteers on the committee, and another 20 to 25 that work at the weigh station, he said. “We really could not do it without that many people,” he said.
Weigh-ins take place every morning and evening from 8 to 10.
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