The 22nd annual two-day monster shark tournament in Oak Bluffs ended Saturday with a total of 27 sharks caught and submitted, the largest of which was a 399-pound thresher. The team on the Waterbury caught the shark Friday, beating the other 200 boats in the tournament. Their prize was an $80,000 boat.
Fishing
2008
July 17, 2008
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
The commercial striped bass season began this week with a whimper. The fishermen are out hunting for this highly prized fish, but their landings are off.
Striped bass are local and one of the few species that are plentiful and available at fish markets and restaurants to sell. Bluefish comes a close second as a local fish and are landed daily.
July 10, 2008
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Black sea bass is one of the Vineyard’s best-kept secrets when it comes to good eating. The fish can’t be bought in the store, but if you know a sport boat fisherman, there is a chance you can get it if you politely ask.
Black sea bass are swimming around the Vineyard in fair abundance.
This weekend, the Oak Bluffs Veterans of Foreign War Post 9261 is hosting its ninth annual fluke tournament. The post is adding a small form of recognition to the black sea bass and to the anglers who catch big ones.
July 3, 2008
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
The ninth annual fluke derby run by the Veterans of Foreign War Post in Oak Bluffs 9261 may be Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13, just over a week away, but anglers are already out there harvesting the fish. July is fluke season for most anglers.
While there has been plenty of attention in the last month on striped bass and bluefish swimming around the Island, the fluke (summer flounder) fishery is alive and well in Menemsha and in parts east and west.
June 26, 2008
The worldwide oil price crisis is hitting Island commercial fishermen hard. Already struggling with more restrictive regulations and declining landings, Vineyard small-boat fishermen now face fuel prices that have doubled in a year.
Capt. Wayne Iacono of Chilmark is a commercial lobsterman who fishes out of Menemsha. With the decline in lobsters in Vineyard waters, he already had taken a second job as a plumber.
June 26, 2008
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Recreational anglers are seeing the best fishing for early summer. Water temperatures remain on the cool side, so stripers and bluefish are still within reach for shoreside angling. Doug Asselin at Dick’s Bait and Tackle Shop, a store in Oak Bluffs, said bluefish were caught during the day at the beach at Right Fork in Katama. This creates a little bit of a challenge, since the swimming season has started.
