Elizabeth Thompson, an 11-year-old, sixth-grader at the West Tisbury school, broke the derby’s junior record for boat-caught bonito on Saturday with a 11.68-pound fish.
Serena Ward, fishing in her first derby, earned bragging rights for the first fish, an 8.4-pound false albacore. Chuck Winter was second with a 4.44-pound bluefish.
The bell will ring and the first fish will cross the scale Sunday morning as usual. But beyond that, little will be as usual when the 75th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby gets under way.
With 51 minutes to go during Saturday night’s final weigh-in for the 74th Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, it seemed as if all the fish on the grand leaderboards were going to hold.
Each day and night of fishing provides participants in the derby with choices — not only of baits and lures and lines, but favorite fishing spots that become secrets only when competitive fish are landed there.