The Island fishing scene is still buzzing as the 2015 Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby heads into the final week. As veteran anglers know, the grand leader board can change up until the final bell.

All along Lobsterville Beach one morning this week, about a dozen anglers stood in waders, casting into the surf. On any given day during the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, Lobsterville and neighboring Menemsha are hotspots for surfcasters and fly fishermen of all ages.

Tisbury selectmen this week set dates for the bay scalloping season. Recreational scalloping opens Oct. 17 outside ponds and in the Vineyard Haven harbor; the commercial season begins in those areas on Oct. 19.

My father took me fishing for mackerel off the Menemsha dock when I was five years old. I remember some of my friends being there fishing with their families as well.

Three years have passed since the publication of the book, The Mortal Sea, but its impact continues. The 378-page history of the dramatic decline of fish in the western Atlantic took 10 years of investigative work to write.

Fly fishing lures can be made to look like almost anything — small fish, squid, butterflies. But they all need to look delicious to other fish.