Nature & Science
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
Larger striped bass moved closer to shore in the past weekend, as the 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby entered its second week. The month-long fishing contest continues through Saturday, Oct. 18.
The Sept. 15 sun went down in one blazing ball and after the last bit of color was gone, the crowds gathered on Lambert’s Cove Beach brushed the sand from their bottoms and turned around to go home. And then a brilliant harvest moon rose to rival the sunset.
More than 200 children showed up at the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority wharf on Sunday morning and not one of them left the Island. The gathering was for the annual Kids’ Day derby, an early morning fishing contest which recognizes that fishing starts with the young and can last a lifetime. For two hours the children ruled the wharf; the ferry boats arrived later.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.