Opening weeks of Derby bring milestones and memories

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Oh my gosh! Have you been watching the Derby leaderboard?

Some of us check it morning and night. Perhaps multiple times each morning and evening. What can I say? The Derby leaderboard is news worth watching.

Every time I click on the Derby website, I check the Grand Leader page to see if Sam Bell is still in the lead. Sam caught what may be the fish of a lifetime on the first day of the Derby. 

“This season, I went out a week before the Derby to one of our spots. I caught my personal best albie at 16 pounds. I was thinking this could be the year of big albies,” said Sam, who won the 2013 boat-caught false albacore Grand Leader.

On the first day of the 80th Derby, Sam and his teammate Andy Van Rooyen headed out to fish the waters around Nantucket. “In the morning and most of the day, there were at least 30 boats out there,” said Sam. “Not everyone stuck it out. Then the albies lit right up doing their thing. I caught a 14-pounder, then a 17-pounder. A little while later, I hooked that 18-pounder,” he said of his leading 18.66-pound false albacore.

“I wasn’t expecting to catch that size fish on the first day of the Derby,” said Sam, adding, “I’m a pretty avid albie angler. This is the fish I’ve been fishing for, for years.”

Sam is storing his big albie in a friend’s fish freezer. “I’m thinking of getting the replica made. I’d love to have it hanging over my working bench,” said Sam, who builds custom rods in the off-season. 

Sam caught his albie casting from the boat. “I used a 1¼-inch epoxy jig. I used three different colors. It didn’t matter — they hit them all,” said Sam.

Sam’s false albacore is only 0.39 ounces off the Massachusetts state record, which was caught by Islander Donald MacGillvray. MacGillvray, who passed away last weekend, reeled in his 19-pound, 5-ounce albie during the 1990 Derby.

If you’re checking the daily results, then you know that Desiree Holdredge has the hottest rod in town. Last Wednesday, Desiree weighed in a 10.19-pound false albacore for a third-place daily. Last Thursday, she weighed in a first-place bonito (4.23 pounds). On Friday, she weighed in the only shore bluefish (11.75 pounds), which earned Desiree the first shore Triple Crown and a first-place daily.

She didn’t stop there. This past Monday, she weighed in the only shore bluefish (15.19 pounds) for a first-place daily, but also became the shore blue Grand Leader. The next day, she weighed in a 12.88-pound boat bluefish.

“A lot of time fishing and little rest,” said Desiree of her secret to landing all these Derby fish. 

“This is the first Triple Crown of my life. I believe I was 7 the first time I entered the Derby. I’m going to be 39 –– over 30 years of fishing the Derby to get a Triple,” said Desiree. “It feels great! I couldn’t be happier.”

Desiree fishes most days with her husband Breck, who hasn’t weighed in a fish yet. “We fish before and after work. We can fish so hard this year because we have somebody at home to stay with the kids,” said Desiree. 

When Desiree says “after work,” she means all hours of the night. “I caught that blue at 1 am. I knew it was big, but I didn’t know how big. It had a nice potbelly, but I didn’t have a scale.”

Though she didn’t share her location, Desiree did share that she’s fishing white epoxy jigs and UV Deadly Dicks. “I’ve gone through about half a dozen this week,” she joked. 

I ran into Cameron Maciel on Sunday after the Kids Derby. Cam caught one of the elusive shore albies, and he currently holds the shore Grand Leader position. “They’ve been really tough,” Cam said of albies this year. 

“I had a lot of bonito breaking in front of me. Fifteen minutes later, I saw a boil, but didn’t know they were albies. Then I saw one albie. I saw the direction they were heading, and cast 30 to 40 feet in front of them,” said Cam. “I’m so addicted to this Derby, all I want to do is fish. I just love it,” he said.

I couldn’t agree more with Cameron, but I think Cam might have the more awesome job. He just started working with Dylan Levine of Reel Rough Sport Fishing. Cam will spend his summer on the Vineyard and the winter in Florida on Dylan’s 58-foot Viking. “I got a dream job,” said Cam, who you can see in action catching a bluefin tuna on flyrod here: bit.ly/YT_CrazyBluefish.

Making memories

Catching a winning fish is a dream of every Derby angler, but my teammate Dave Balon, who loves the Derby as much as or more than me, always says, “I don’t want to miss the Derby.” Dave’s not talking about missing a bluefish blitz or an albie run. Dave’s talking about the spirit of the Derby, the moments with friends, or alone in nature, that are more important than big fish. 

I witnessed a few of them this week, and though I’ve only weighed in one fish so far, I can tell you that it’s been a great Derby already.

On Monday night, I met Ed Amaral at Derby headquarters. Ed had taken his son Timber out on a charter boat, and they had fish to weigh in. Ed is 90 years old. He fished the first Derby in 1946. I’ve been privileged to receive many fishing tips from Ed over the years. I wanted to cheer them on and witness a Derby original weighing in during the 80th Derby. 

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity for me,” said Timber, who lives in Crossville, Tenn. “I try to get here every three years, but it’s been five years since I was in the Derby.”

Timber weighed in a boat bluefish, and Ed weighed in a boat bonito on Monday. In week one, Timber had weighed in a boat bonito, and Ed weighed in a boat bluefish. They both need a boat albie for their Triple Crowns.

“I lost an albie today,” said Ed. “He took me all around the boat. I tried to turn him and lost him.”

“Watching him move around that boat today was incredible,” said Timber of his dad. “He’s so smooth.” Timber had to head back to Tennessee on Tuesday, but hopes to return before the end of the Derby to go out on the water with his dad so they can catch their albies.

I’m the sentimental type, and I hope we all hear about 90-year-old Ed Amaral, who fished the first-ever Derby, catching his Triple Crown with his son. Wouldn’t that be great?!

This morning (Sept. 23), I arrived before sunrise to one of my favorite beaches, and saw my buddy Tom Neadow. We waved and started casting. About 45 minutes into our endless casting, Tom hooked up. I cheered, and waited as he reeled in. The bonito was too short, but Tom was thrilled. Then he asked me to take his picture, which I thought would be a fish picture. “Can you take a picture of me with my friend?” Tom held his bonito in one hand and put his arm around his friend Andrew. Tom released the bone, and we all continued casting. 

Tom hooked up again. Another beautiful but short bonito. Tom released it and left for work. Andrew stayed. He moved over to Tom’s spot, and the next thing I saw was Andrew’s rod bent. As he was reeling in, a shark started following, but Andrew got the fish on the shore before the shark chomped it off, and he wasn’t able to put that 5.21-pound bonito on the weigh table.

“I wish Tom had seen it. He’s happier when someone else catches than he is when he catches,” said Andrew Reo, who was leaving after a too-short three-day visit.

“I lost one yesterday morning, and I lost two in the afternoon. It’s awesome, absolutely awesome, to land this one. I was trying to hold the rod up, and I walked back as I reeled. There was a lot of vulgarity going through my head with the shark only 10 feet away, but he didn’t get it,” said Andrew, who headed home to Cortland Manor, N.Y.

On a personal level, I experienced one of those perfect Derby days last Friday. My teammate Dave and I went out on Captain Ed’s boat Tenacious with our friends Joseph and Anna McLaughlin. The father-daughter team fished the Derby last year, but didn’t weigh in fish. Anna came home from college for the weekend, so we had to get them on fish. 

The weather was a perfect 80°, the sun was shining, and the fish were biting. Amid the teasing and laughter, we all landed multiple bluefish, throwing back the smaller ones. Joseph also landed a 6.21-pound bonito, and Dave reeled in a gorgeous 15.02-pound albie, which was not a shark (inside joke, but definitely needed to be memorialized in print).

Not only did Joseph and Anna earn their First Fish pins, not only did Joseph score a fourth-place and Dave a third-place daily pin, but we shared a Derby day that we’ll remember forever. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of!

I hope to see you on the beach, living our best Derby days.