On Wednesday, four days before the opening of the 81st annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, volunteers were hard at work inside derby headquarters on Edgartown harbor, preparing the weigh station for thousands of competitors’ catches.
Charts chalked on the walls sat empty, soon to be filled with data on this year’s most formidable bluefish, bonito and false albacore.
Derby committee director-at-large Leah Fraumeni and other volunteers have been toiling away at headquarters since Saturday. When asked Wednesday if she was excited for this year’s edition of the Island tradition, she smiled.
“Of course,” she said. “We’re excited every year.”
The derby runs from 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 13 through Oct. 17. During those five weeks, anglers from all over will test their luck and skill from boats and Vineyard shores, hoping to catch the big one. The first weigh-in commences at 8 a.m. Sunday.
This year’s derby includes some significant changes, including an expanded boat fishing boundary and a new grand prize. But the classic derby enthusiasm remains.
“It’s always the best time of year on Martha’s Vineyard…” derby chairman Joe El-Deiry told the Gazette. “The fishing really starts to get serious, all the bait starts showing up and hopefully the fish follow.”
Derby president John Custer said that derby preparations, which are ongoing behind the scenes all year, are also starting to get serious.
“A few people have asked me this week, ‘Are you ready?’” he told the Gazette. “I said, ‘No, but we will be.’”
Anglers have been busy collecting everything they need to start this year’s derby off right. Last weekend’s used tackle sale at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, put on by the MV Surfcasters Association, saw anglers of all ages and experience levels sifting through gear bins for the perfect Swedish Pimple or Deadly Dick.
The Island’s tackle shops are busy registering participants and selling gear. Steve Morris, honorary derby committee member and owner of Dick’s Bait and Tackle in Oak Bluffs, said the store has entered its busiest season of the year, with over 1,000 people registered for the derby as of Wednesday.
“Just imagine what this Island would be like if there were no derby,” he said. “Pretty quiet.”
Last month, the derby committee announced a new boundary for boat anglers, allowing them to fish in all of Buzzards Bay. It’s the first time in recorded history that the derby has made such a change.
Previously, the northernmost boundary extended just beyond the Elizabeth Islands, but now all the way up to Cape Cod and the South Coast is fair game.
Mr. Custer told the Gazette that the derby committee made the decision after several meetings over the winter, and in response to requests from derby competitors. He said the new regulation could be a boon for up-Island anglers, who now won’t need to travel so far east to enter legal territory.
“I’m not naive. I’ve read comments and hear that some people have strong feelings about it,” Mr. Custer said. “The committee’s rationale in making the change, quite frankly, was to provide more opportunities for fishermen, and I don’t see any downside to it.”
Mr. El-Deiry referred to the public response to the regulation change as a “mixed bag” but echoed Mr. Custer that it will create more opportunity.
“It’s a much closer trip going from up-Island across the sound into Buzzards Bay than obviously going from up-Island all the way to Nantucket,” Mr. El-Deiry said.
Another change this year is that participants can now join boat and shore casting teams simultaneously instead of needing to choose just one. Derby officials told the Gazette that the new allowance, like the new boundaries, was the result of community input.
“To me, it’s about opportunity, similar to the boundary [change],” Mr. Custer said.
This year’s derby has a new grand prize: a custom Jeep Gladiator Mojave X from Vineyard Vines, wrapped in gray derby-themed camo. The truck will be on display at derby headquarters in Edgartown for the duration of the competition.
Eastern Boat Works was the derby’s previous grand prize sponsor, but stepped down this year.
Mr. Custer and Mr. El-Deiry both gave Vineyard Vines co-founders Shep and Ian Murray a shoutout for supporting the derby. The Murray brothers also donated derby hats for all registrants.
“It’s pretty special,” Mr. Custer said of the Jeep. “I think when people see it, they’ll realize how much thought went into it from Shep and Ian Murray.”
“The Jeep is very, very cool,” Ms. Fraumeni added.
But one doesn’t need to fish the derby to win a prize. Vineyard students receive thousands of dollars in derby-sponsored scholarships each year. In 2026, 12 graduating seniors received a total of $115,000 to support their educational goals.
The derby also runs a program through which anglers can donate their catches to Island Grown Initiative, whose food pantry serves one in five Islanders. The Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Collaborative will help out with the program again this year, flash-freezing filets and transporting them in refrigerated trucks.
Katie Carroll, a member of the derby committee, met with the Edgartown board of health on Tuesday to check in about the derby’s food safety protocols for keeping filets fresh.
“I’ve met with Shelly Edmundson at the Seafood Collaborative again this year and touched base on our protocols [and] their protocols,” Ms. Carroll said. “I think everything seems to have lined up, and I’m feeling really excited about kicking off on Sunday.”
Mr. Custer said he’s grateful for the volunteers who make the derby possible, both at the weigh station and behind the scenes all year long.
“Without them, the derby wouldn’t be what it is,” he said.
For Mr. Morris, the derby is not only a joyous Island tradition that helps shoulder season business, it’s a testament to the Island’s perseverance, and the way Islanders care for one another.
“[The derby] has been through everything: through 9/11, through Covid,” he said. “This derby has been through a lot of things, and it keeps getting bigger and better.”
Comments
Comment policy »