The parade to the water’s edge begins in the first minutes after midnight Sunday morning. The 79th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby will open and for the next month thousands of friends and strangers will compete in what has become one of the most prestigious fishing tournaments in the nation.

The competition is open to all, to the very young and the old, to expert fishermen and novices just beginning, and to those who may wish to fish a little while enjoying the Vineyard shore during September and October, the golden months, often declared the best months in the Island years. It will be hard to find people around the Vineyard in the next few weeks, and that’s because most them have gone fishing.

It’s a grand Vineyard tradition and derby only makes it better.