When the former Massachusetts State Lobster Hatchery in Oak Bluffs was renamed the John T. Hughes Hatchery and Research Center this spring, it also got a change in purpose. The benefits of that shift are already being released in local coastal ponds.

Through the efforts of a crew from the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, the hatchery has worked as a nursery for the raising of millions of tiny baby quahaugs. Rick Karney, director of the group, said that he and his staff have been turning over the quahaugs to local shellfish constables.

Superb weather and good fishing helped participants enjoy the 21st annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club Flyrod Striped Bass Catch and Release Tournament held last Saturday night. There were 129 fishermen in the event and a total of 123 fish were caught and released. The largest fish measured 43 inches in length and was caught and released by Rene Sehr. This tournament is the only one on the Vineyard where fishermen don’t take their fish home.

Robert (Hawkeye) Jacobs, 64, of Oak Bluffs received a hero’s greeting from a few of his friends at the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Jacobs was honored for saving the life of a 22-year-old woman who was driving a car that went off the Big Bridge in Oak Bluffs in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Mr. Jacobs was presented with his first Vineyard cell phone at derby headquarters, on the Edgartown waterfront as he posed for pictures with representatives from the derby, state police and Edgartown police.

In a dramatic reversal of fishing fortune, the last few weeks have offered the best squid fishing in years.

The storied American eel was once one of the Vineyard’s most valued resources.

Even though the eel now faces hard times, memories are still fresh of the role the American eel played in Vineyard waters, where it was shipped to the mainland in barrels. Generations of native Islanders regarded it once as a staple food. Locally harvested eel was as familiar and as local as boiled lobster, stuffed quahaugs and bay scallops sautéed in butter.

The best fishing trip I ever had took place about 10 years ago (my, I am getting old) in a canoe launched off of Lucy Vincent Beach.