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.

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, fishermen were lined up half-way down the Edgartown dock for the final weigh-in of the 77th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

False albacore, bonito and bluefish all had their turn in the spotlight this year at the 77th annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Fly fishing won’t usually land a fisherman at the top of the all-tackle leaderboard in the derby, but it is a category all its own for beauty and bragging rights.

So far approximately 2,800 people have registered for the derby, and organizers expect a final surge for the holiday weekend.

Phil Horton is a shore guy, a surf caster who has been fishing the Derby for 35 years.

The false albacore have had a banner year so far at the 77th Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.