Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby
Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby
October 22, 1965
20th Derby Is Called the Most Successful Yet
The curtain fell at 2 p.m. on Friday on the Island’s twentieth Consecutive fishing derby and without doubt its most successful. Up to the final hour, the fish arrived at the weighing-in station, and thus the derby ended on a high note, with sixteen bass and eleven bluefish weighed in at the final hour.
October 1, 1965
Scene at Weighing-In Station Is Sociable
The nightly scene at the weighing-in station in Oak Bluffs, is an aspect of the annual bass derby that has never been adequately described.
The derby committee has invariably selected a place for weighing-in with ample space and the weighing-in station by night is a scene with an atmosphere of sociability and good nature. In the assembly there usually may be counted fifty to a hundred persons, young and old, fishers and non-fishers, all deeply interested and enjoying the companionship and procedure.
September 20, 1957
Bluefish for President
President Eisenhower, at his Newport vacation headquarters, has welcomed the gift of a Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby trophy, a Vineyard bluefish hauled from the ocean at the South Beach by Arthur W. Ben David, and presented through Benjamin F. Morton, executive secretary of the Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, and of the derby. If the baked bluefish served on the presidential table was not of succulence and fine flavor, the Newport cooks ought to be sternly disciplined.
October 19, 1956
Curtain Falls On Derby, The Prize Winners Announced
The curtain fell on the eleventh annual fishing derby on Monday, an event that has brought the Vineyard much publicity and gained for the Island many new friends. This particular derby did not measure up to average in some particulars, although it surpassed all other derbies the Island has held in others.
September 7, 1956
Another Striped Bass Derby Is Coming Up
Coincident with the end of August the attention of those addicts of the pastime of rod and reel turned toward the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass Derby, which ought to be called merely a fishing derby because the blues have crowded the bass in number and popularity for the past several years.
The eleventh annual fishing derby of the Island will open on the 15th of this month and it might be well to glance back along the line of history of this event and to take what old timers would have called “a severe look” at what it constitutes as of today.
October 21, 1955
Weather Brought Tumultuous End to Fishing Derby
In all the tumult of a savage easterly gale accompanied by lashing rain, the 10th annual fishing derby came to a close on Saturday, with contestants fishing, or certainly attempting to fish up to the final hour.
October 7, 1955
History May Be Made In Derby: Woman Is Leader in the Non-Resident Class
With a week more to go it looks as if history will be made in this year’s fishing derby, History which may see a woman take the grand prize for non-residents, for one thing, and a general increase in the sizes of prize-winning fish for another.
This week’s sensation, up to Wednesday night, was the landing of the 45 pound 9 ounce striper by Louise deSomov of Hampton Bays, Long Island, which not only gained for her the lead among women striper fishers, but put her out in the lead among all of the non-resident class.
September 17, 1954
Woman Angler Reels in a Fifty Pound Bass
Mrs. Albion A. Alley Jr. reeled in a fifty pound bass Monday night, fishing at Squibnocket, and this fish may well be a record for woman‘s shore striper fishing. The best last year’s derby could produce in this department was a twenty-one pound plus bass. In fact the resident grand prize winner, Wallace Pinkham’s fifty-five pound plus fish, was the only one in the whole derby bigger than Mrs. Alley’s.
February 5, 1954
Striped Bass Survey: First Phase Will Determine Whether These Fish Winter in State
The three year joint federal-state study of the striped bass populations in Massachusetts waters will start later this month, according to Francis W. Sargent of Orleans, Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries, Department of Natural Resources. The announcement was made at the annual winter meeting of the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, held Monday evening at American Legion Hall, Wollaston, where Mr. Sargent was the principle speaker.
January 27, 1950
Sensational Action About Bass Derby: No More Tournaments if Plan Goes Through
Prospects are good that the annual striped derby will become a regular feature of the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club, and that none save members of the club will participate in the contest. This will mean that, for those who pay the club dues, there will be no further fee for membership in the derby contest or any other tournament which the club may arrange. Action taken at the club on Wednesday night indicates the favorable attitude of the club in making the change, the motion under which it was voted containing the provision that it be subject to legal approval.
