Recognized by his brown, leather hat, worn smooth by decades of fishing in salt air on Island shores, Mike Cassidy is an anchor of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Sarah Kadison and five-year-old Tucker Schaefer both earned triple crowns (catching a bonito, false albacore and bluefish) on opening day. Tucker's advice to other fishermen: "reel hard."

On Sunday at 12:01 a.m., anglers will head to moonlit beaches and offshore Island waters — as they have every September since 1946 — when the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby gets underway.

The Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association is holding its annual used tackle sale Saturday, Sept. 2, giving Islanders an opportunity to stock up on supplies before the upcoming Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

The commercial striped bass fishing season has ended early in Massachusetts, after the state Division of Marine Fisheries projected the annual quota for the fish was reached last week.