Children from all over the Island converged on the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority dock at first light Sunday for the annual Kids’ Derby. Nine-year-old Myles Sprague took home the top prize for a 17.25-inch bluefish he caught, the largest fish of the day.

About 37 years ago my dad took my son to fish in the junior derby. In a photograph of my son standing on the pier fishing, there’s another boy standing on a piling fishing. These two Camp Ground boys met that day and became forever friends.

The skies opened up just as Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby chairman John Custer finished announcing the winners of the derby’s annual Kids Day on Sunday morning. Rolling gray clouds overhead had brought trickles of rain earlier in the morning, but the downpour held off until after the awards were complete. 

The Wednesday night weigh-in at headquarters for the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby appeared to follow a familiar pattern. The first fish of the night was a bluefish, followed by a striped bass, then a bonito. Then came a cooler full of blues, with a striper thrown in for good measure.

This Sunday, Sept. 22, its Kid’s Day at the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. This means children of all shapes and sizes get to fish from the Oak Bluffs Steamship Wharf from 6 to 8 a.m. In days of yore, most everyone fished from this wharf, but that was a long time ago, when the Island was still a lawless backwater.

Down at the Menemsha docks on an early October evening, a regular is out casting into the harbor. He’s dressed for the occasion in red rubber boots and rain pants and a bright yellow rain jacket. His blue derby hat is decked with four pins — one with his derby number, two daily bluefish award pins, and one junior angler pin.

And of course five-year-old Grady Keefe of Menemsha is wearing his faded yellow life jacket.

On Thursday the largest striped bass caught so far in this year’s 67th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby was weighed in. Peter (Pete) J. Spengler, 75, of Cuttyhunk and Westport, Conn., caught his fish at 9:05 a.m. aboard Capt. Duane Lynch’s boat.

Dozens of kids and parents arose before dawn Sunday morning to take part in the annual Kids Derby, a featured event of the 67th Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. The contest is open to youngsters 4 to 14, and takes place at the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority docks. 

Well over 1,200 fishermen are registered in the first week of the 66th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. In the first five days of the contest, as much as 2,500 pounds of fish has been weighed in and, as in the past, the contest landings are leaning heavily towards the bluefish.

Sweatshirts, polar fleece jackets and flannel pajama pants were the fashion items of choice last Sunday during the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby Kids’ Day.