Oh boy, what a derby this is.
Opening day at the 2007 Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby was a smash, including the recording of a first day grand slam by Capt. Tom Langman of Menemsha, likely a first day record. Derby president Ed Jerome said of the slam: “We don’t keep records for that but I don’t ever remember it happening on the first day. Certainly we’ve had one-day grand slams before but they are rare.”
Roy Langley, weigh master for the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, will ring a cowbell at 8 a.m. sharp Sunday morning.
Once that cowbell rings, at the entrance to the official derby headquarters at the foot of Main street in Edgartown, the Vineyard will become an entirely different place.
From that moment on, derby participants can bring in their fish to be weighed in the month-long contest that galvanizes the Island every year.
The water is swirling in the narrow channel connecting Cape Pogue Pond to the Edgartown outer harbor. Minutes before the tide hit bottom, the pond was as low as gets, and now the waters of the ocean are running back in.
Striped Bass Derby at Mid-Term: Fish Scarce, Competition Light
By MAX HART
As the 61st annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby rounds the corner into the second half of the tournament, the big story this week has been - well, that there is no big story.
"There's been a whole lot of standing around, waiting," derby headquarters volunteer Martha Smith said yesterday morning. "We're all waiting for the conditions to change, waiting for the big ones to arrive."
How have the wind and choppy seas affected the fishing during the first week of the 61st Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby? That depends on whom you ask.