Sports
Foul weather predicted for this weekend may hinder but it won’t slow down the enthusiasts participating in the 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Fishing is at a fever pitch.
Sloppy seas and a prevailing east-northeast breeze made the fishing tough this week. Nevertheless, at the Wednesday night derby weigh-in, the derby got a new leader in the striped bass boat category.
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
The best of the fin fishing season is far from over, but already attention shifts to the start of the bay scallop season. Oct. 1 was traditionally the start for the recreational season. Not so anymore, except in Edgartown.
It was a full house at derby headquarters Wednesday night. There were anglers bringing fish from all over the Island, there was a movie playing in Edgartown, but a seal managed to steal the early show at the water’s edge.
There is an official derby seal. Or, it could be more than one.
Derby enthusiasts who go and weigh in their fish from 8 to 10 p.m. at the foot of Main street in Edgartown have noticed a smart big seal swimming nearby.
Derby president Ed Jerome thinks the seal may be the same one that has come to swim off the weigh station for years.
Mr. Jerome said the “big guy” swims up when local anglers slap the water with a fish carcass. “He is there every night,” Mr. Jerome said. Even youngsters have fed the animal.
Enthusiasm for fishing runs rampant at the derby weigh station. Anglers will tell their stories. Occasionally someone sneaks in and posts a note or a drawing on the old building.
This morning a poem was posted on the wall, written by R. Gross:
I’m a fisherman can’t you see.
That’s all I really wanted to be.
Women or man the fire is lit.
In the boats and beaches we all have to hit.
The thrill of it all as we searched the ocean shallow and deep
It was a day for schooners at the annual Pat West gaff-rigged and schooner race on Saturday. Twelve boats competed, and when it was all over, three big schooners took the top prizes.
Jim Lobdell of the well-known 42-foot Alden schooner Malabar II was the winner overall.
Second place went to the 65-foot Island-built Juno, captained by Scott DiBasio, and third place went to the 50-foot Perception, captained by Jamie Weisman.