Nature & Science
As the farmer brings in the last vegetables, in autumn the lobsterman’s season is starting to slow down.
Capt. Paul MacDonald of the lobsterboat Shearwater was putting some of his yellow-wire pots away at the dock at Menemsha Tuesday afternoon. “It was a good season, though I had to work hard to make the same amount of money as last year,” the captain said.
There is good and bad news in the stories he and others shared about his past summer.
At 6:30 a.m. this morning, I was floating in my boat off Chappy’s East Beach. The wind was light from the North but was expected to pick up very strongly by mid morning, and I was keeping a wary eye out for the pick-up.
A new leader was weighed in at weigh station this morning. Morgan T. Taylor of West Tisbury, an avid angler, came in with a 11.68 pound bluefish at 8:09 a.m.
Mr. Taylor’s fish outweighed the previous shore leader, a fish caught by Matthew P. Wilkins and weighed in on Monday. Mr. Wilkins’ fish was 11.34 pounds.
The derby central headquarters opens at 8 a.m., so when Mr. Morgan walked in this morning with his big blue, he had everyone’s attention.
There was an early morning theft today at derby headquarters: A gull swept down while fillet master Hank Unczur wasn’t looking and stole one of his four bluefish fillets.
It’s only day three of the derby, but the herring gulls have taken up residence at the Edgartown Yacht Club and the newly-built Boathouse restaurant during derby weigh-in. Prematurely ready, the gulls are well-versed as they are in the affairs of the derby. They, too, know when it is derby time.
The fish arrived slowly at the weigh station on the opening day of the 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. And when they did begin to show up, they were carried by top derby anglers.
William Pate, 34, of West Tisbury walked into the weigh station at 8:02 a.m. carrying a 7.54-pound bluefish that he had caught at 2 a.m. in the morning. Asked where he caught the fish, his answer was quick. “State forest,” he said.
On the eve of the start of the 63rd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby a cadre of friends gathered to celebrate a derby birthday. Don Mohr, 85, of West Tisbury, was honored by his friends and wife at a party at his home on Otis Bassett Road.
Their fish lines not yet in the water, derby anglers gathered for sandwiches and beverages and to share stories with Mr. Mohr, who was chairman of the derby from 1989 to 1991 and derby committee member from 1984 to 1991.
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.