Mark Alan Lovewell
In an effort to cut down on the accidental harvesting of river herring and other fish, local fishing authorities ruled this week that all fishing b
Superb weather and good fishing helped participants enjoy the 21st annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club Flyrod Striped Bass Catch and Release Tournament held last Saturday night. There were 129 fishermen in the event and a total of 123 fish were caught and released. The largest fish measured 43 inches in length and was caught and released by Rene Sehr. This tournament is the only one on the Vineyard where fishermen don’t take their fish home.
Robert (Hawkeye) Jacobs, 64, of Oak Bluffs received a hero’s greeting from a few of his friends at the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Jacobs was honored for saving the life of a 22-year-old woman who was driving a car that went off the Big Bridge in Oak Bluffs in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Mr. Jacobs was presented with his first Vineyard cell phone at derby headquarters, on the Edgartown waterfront as he posed for pictures with representatives from the derby, state police and Edgartown police.
As the summer recreational boating season begins, the local branches of the U.S. Coast Guard are gearing up in a big way, with a new officer in charge of the Woods Hole station and a new 47-foot motor lifeboat at the Menemsha station.
Chief boatswain’s mate Justin M. Longval was installed as chief of Woods Hole on Tuesday. The Woods Hole station oversees the waters that include Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven.
Belle, originally of Tashmoo, spent the last two winters in South America and just got back in May. Now she is spending most of her time fishing Tisbury Great Pond with four of her friends.
Belle’s journey home was far from routine — something about a mysterious delay around May 1 near Port au Prince. Her friends were worried she’d been killed, but Belle proved herself a survivor. She is very much alive but is keeping mum about her trip.
She began her career on the water, 18 years ago, as a youth, collecting tickets as a deckhand on the Chappy Ferry. Last Friday, Lieutenant Anna-Liza Villard-Howe of Bourne took charge as captain of the 72-foot research vessel Gloria Michelle, a National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration research vessel. The vessel works for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.