Tomorrow is the first ever Kids Fishing Jamboree. Youngsters from all over the Island are invited to attend a learn-how-to-fish program and it involves a lot of experienced anglers. Registration is at 8:15 a.m. at the Edgartown School and it is open to all children aged six through 14 years of age. The program is especially open to parents.
The event is sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association, a nonprofit fishing club dedicated to promoting the sport. They do a number of fishing friendly events and this one is an experiment.
Locally caught striped bass arrived in local fish markets and restaurants Sunday. It is now the “catch of the day.”
“On Sunday morning we sold maybe 20 pounds,” said Sandra Healy of John’s Fish Market in Vineyard Haven. “I like it, because the customers like it. They’ve been waiting a year for striped bass and now they can get it.”
Commercial rod and reel fisherman Scott Terry provides her with the fish.
The Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club fly-tying program will be held every Monday night at The Anchors, Council on Aging, in Edgartown, while the clubhouse on the shore of Sengekontacket Pond is being rebuilt.
The Monday night fly-tying session had been on hold this winter because the clubhouse was unusable. It was suggested that the The Anchors might be a good temporary winter site and director Laurie Schreiber agreed.
Tomorrow, flyfishermen from around the Island and beyond will gather for the 18th annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club flyrod catch and release tournament. Registration is at the regional high school cafeteria from noon to 3 p.m. Entry fee is $35. Fishing begins at 7 p.m. and continues until 2 a.m. Sunday.
In years past as many as 200 fishermen have participated in the one-night contest and caught and released hundreds of striped bass.
Summer weather finally kicked in this week, with temperatures in the 80s. The ocean is still cool, and that is having a positive impact on fishing.
Ed (Bonito Eddie) Lepore called this week to say he had been out looking for bonito without result. And he knows of others who are equally frustrated. “The water is too cool, so the fish are late,” Mr. Lepore said.
A fisheries petition that began on the Vineyard last summer to throttle back the commercial season for black sea bass and scup is gaining favor among state fisheries managers.
The petition from Island recreational and commercial fishermen asks the state to end the spring commercial season for black sea bass and scup and postpone the opening until later in the summer and early fall. The action would not affect recreational fishing for both species.
Vineyard fishermen have joined a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission over the lack of management of river herring and shad in federal waters. The lawsuit targets offshore industrial large-scale fishing boats working the Gulf of Maine and waters south of the Vineyard as culprits in the sharp decline of the fish.
Most Massachusetts saltwater recreational fishermen will be required to purchase a $10 license if they plan on putting a hook in the water next year.
There are exceptions. Fishermen who are younger than 16 or disabled are exempt, for instance, as are fishermen on a state permitted charter fishing boat.
The new license is going to have the biggest impact on charter fishing captains. While their patrons aren’t going to be required to have the license to go out on a boat and fish, some captains will be required to pay a hefty fee above last year.
Black sea bass should be another New England fisheries success story. Years ago they were scarce but now they seem to be everywhere in Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds. Nevertheless, regulators farther down the coast still consider the fish in trouble, so local commercial fishermen are feeling shut out of what is an apparently healthy, growing fishery.
