Island recreational fishermen gathered to celebrate the end of the 78th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Over the course of the five week-long competition, 2,999 contestants submitted more than 17,000 pounds of bluefish, bonito and false albacore to derby headquarters.

The 78th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby draws to a close with the final bell ringing on Saturday evening. The awards presentation takes place Sunday at Farm Neck Golf Club, beginning at 11 a.m.

On the sandy point of Lighthouse Beach which guards the harbor entrance, derby fishermen lined up in even intervals on a recent afternoon, casting into the deep channel where tides bring Atlantic waters in and out of Edgartown harbor each day.

Bill Potter’s false albacore fell a fraction short of breaking the 19.39-pound state record set by Island angler Donald MacGillivray during the 1990 derby.

Gray-orange light struggled to glow through a thick overcast evening skies in Edgartown as fishermen lined up on a dour night to weigh in their derby catches for the day.

Recognized by his brown, leather hat, worn smooth by decades of fishing in salt air on Island shores, Mike Cassidy is an anchor of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Sarah Kadison and five-year-old Tucker Schaefer both earned triple crowns (catching a bonito, false albacore and bluefish) on opening day. Tucker's advice to other fishermen: "reel hard."

Despite a foggy morning, which promised a slow start to the 78th Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, Kevin Seger was waiting patiently in line at 8 a.m. Sunday with a 3.46-pound bonito cementing its status as first fish of this year’s derby.

On Sunday at 12:01 a.m., anglers will head to moonlit beaches and offshore Island waters — as they have every September since 1946 — when the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby gets underway.

A lifetime of father-daughter fishing trips paid off on Sunday afternoon, when Elizabeth O'Brien won the grand prize Eastern boat to close out the 77th annual MV Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.