Week 3 of the Derby: Singing the blues

Tues., Oct. 6 — Bill Robinson kicked off Week 3 of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby with a fintastic Sunday. Bill was fishing with his son Calidore, 22, and they both landed weighable bones. Bill also reeled in an albie, the most elusive fish in the 2026 Derby.

At evening weigh-in, Bill’s albie topped the shore daily leaderboard at 7.74 pounds, and his bonito took second place at 5.2 pounds. Those two catches moved Bill into first place in the Shore Triple Crown. 

“It’s so funny. When I was a little kid, I grew up on this pond in Weymouth. I fished with my best friend and my brother. It’s 45 years later, and I’m doing the same thing,” Bill said. 

“I’m lucky. I’m healthy. I can cast all day. I’m grateful to do it while I can. Being able to go out every day is the best,” said Bill.

Bill’s lead in the Shore Triple Crown didn’t last through the week, but he’s out there every day, and could easily regain the title. “I’m in it for the fun,” Bill said. “I’ve been fishing for a long time. Fishing is very humbling. I’ll keep going one day at a time.”

On Monday night when I checked the online leaderboard, I let out a joyful shout when I saw that Jackson Munson had weighed in a 6.3-pound bonito that elevated him to Shore Bonito Grand Leader. I’ve known Jackson, who is now a senior at MVRHS, since he was a kid. I used to take him fishing, and watched him catch some of his “firsts” from the shore. I wish I’d seen him catch that bonito.

“That’s the only fish I’ve caught all Derby,” Jackson said. “I only had two hours to fish, and boom, that happened.”

I asked Jackson how the fish felt on the line. “It hit. It went straight right, straight left, straight right, straight left. It didn’t take any line, just zigzagged,” Jackson said of the biggest shore bone he’d landed to date. 

Jackson is dividing his time between school, his work-study with Medeiros Excavation, and family. “I’m putting in the hours when I have it. I try to make as much time for fishing as I can,” Jackson said.

Tuesday dawned with gray skies, a forecast high in the mid-60s, and light wind, which was a huge improvement after nearly a week of high winds, lots of rain, and a nor’easter. Dave Balon and I debated where to fish, and chose Lobsterville. While fishing for nine hours and reeling in a weighable bluefish, I saw quite a few boats on the water. It had been more than a week since a boat fish had been weighed in, and we wondered if the boaters would have any luck.

We didn’t have to wonder for long when the evening weigh-in opened. At 7:08 pm, Stephen Van Tol weighed in a 16.88-pound boat bluefish that became the momentary Boat Bluefish Grand Leader. Six minutes later, Justin Alexander put a 16.29-pound blue on the weighmaster’s table, and he moved into second place overall. 

At 7:37 pm, Chris Morris walked in with a 17.28-pound blue to take the Boat Bluefish Grand Leader. Chris held that position for not quite 24 hours. Lilly Gwin waltzed into Headquarters on the last night of September with an 18.74-pound bluefish to become the current Boat Bluefish Grand Leader.

Throughout the week, Dave and I searched for albies. Not only did we fail to find one, but the entire Derby community wasn’t finding them. 

When False Albacore Super Saturday began at 12:01 am on Oct. 3, we hadn’t seen a single shore albie on the board since Sunday, and there had only been one boat albie posted. We fished hard all day. We visited multiple locations, tried multiple lures, and made multiple phone calls to check in with friends to see if anybody had spotted an albie.

When headquarters closed on Saturday night, not one albie, from shore or boat, had been weighed in. No one had won the $500 prize. We were all truly singing the blues, as in B.B. King singing, “The Thrill Is Gone.”

But all was not lost. On Sunday, we had a second chance at a Super prize because during the nor’easter, Bluefish Super Saturday had been moved from Sept. 26 to Sunday, Oct. 4. 

Dave had to be off-Island to drive his daughter back to college, but Oliver Valdes and I went to Chappy. We, along with everyone else on the beach, had high hopes after Don Sicard landed a 15.64-pound bluefish around 9 am. 

We spent hours chunking next to Julie and Sal Tummino, even cast into a boil of bonito, but our rods never bent. We cut bait, cast it out, talked, waited, laughed, checked our bait, complained about the lack of fish, checked our bait again, and grilled up some burgers instead of fish, because we didn’t catch any fish. 

We heard a rumor that Bruce Dew had caught a contender fish, and our hopes surged again. As we looked down the beach, there had to be a hundred rods on either side of us. None of them were bent. Another pod of bones swam by, and we cast into them. Still our hooks were empty. 

Oliver and I fished until the sun set and darkness settled on Chappy. I drove to Headquarters with nothing but ice in my cooler. I wanted to see what Bruce was weighing in. We hadn’t heard or seen any other fish on the beach, and we’d only seen a handful of bigger boats riding out the wind and waves. Would blues come in from up-Island?

When I got to weigh-in, Lenny Bedford had just put a 7.61-pound bonito on the scale, becoming the new Shore Bonito Grand Leader. I’ve seen Lenny and his son Eli fishing. They have such a great time on the beach, and it’s awesome to see a father-son team sharing their love of fishing and the Derby. 

“I hooked up and the fish ripped fast to the left,” Lenny said.

“First, it dumped you, then it charged us,” young Eli corrected.

Once Lenny got the fish on the beach, he knew it was big enough, as in big enough to take the lead. “I undid the hook, told Eli to get his rod, and we went right to the truck,” Lenny said. “Once the fish was in the cooler, we went back to the beach to get the rest of our gear.” 

Though it was Super Bluefish Sunday, Lenny didn’t keep casting. “I went home, took a nap, and watched football like a regular American,” Lenny said. 

The leading bonito moved Eli and Lenny’s Seal Team 7 into sixth place in the team competition, and pushed Lenny into second place (23.78 pounds) for the Shore Triple Crown behind Kevin Beaulieu (23.99 pounds) and slightly ahead of Bill Robinson (23.17 pounds). Lenny hopes to improve on his 7.95-pound blue to win the Triple Crown.

As I was talking with Lenny, Chris Tucelli walked out the back door of Headquarters carrying a gator bluefish. I did a double-take. I’d seen Chris on the beach, and he hadn’t mentioned catching a monster fish. Then I realized that Chris was carrying his teammate’s fish. Bruce Dew followed Chris out, hefted his fish up for some photos, then handed it over to D.J. Pothier to be inspected. 

The stomach was empty, except for a few fish bones, and Bruce was officially the new Shore Bluefish Grand Leader, with the second-largest shore bluefish in Derby history tipping the scales at 19.91 pounds, which happens to be the exact weight of Sherry Countryman’s new state-record false albacore weighed in on day five.

“You go out to catch a nice fish, but you don’t think this big,” Bruce said.

Bruce, who lives in Essex, arrived on Island on Friday. He immediately went fishing: “I got a bunch of small blues at Wasque.”

On Saturday, Bruce and Chris, Albie Damned teammates, were out on Chappy all day. “I caught nothing but black sea bass and dogfish,” Bruce said.

Bruce didn’t have high expectations as Sunday morning began: “I was the first one on Chappy Point Beach. The bones were blowing up everywhere. I couldn’t hook one. I went back to the house, reiced, fed the dog, and went out to the beach around 11 am. I got another black sea bass, and was thinking, ‘More black sea bass.’”

Then it wasn’t a sea bass. Bruce’s rod wiggled, but it “didn’t bend over.” 

“When I picked up the rod, then he took off. I thought it was a brown [shark], as there were no head shakes,” Bruce said. “He never surfaced. He stayed down the entire time. I didn’t see him until he was in the wash. He was doing the alligator death roll in the wash.”

Chris, who finished second overall with his 16.96-pound shore bluefish last year, looked down at the fish next to his feet on the sand and immediately said, “It’s bigger than mine.”

“I didn’t think it was bigger than Chris’ fish,” said Bruce.

“We weighed it back at the house. We checked it on two scales. One said 20 pounds, and the other said 19.93 pounds,” Bruce, who spent two summers while in college working as first mate for Ed Jerome, said.

As we were standing near the filet table talking, Derby Committee member Adam Darack came over with his cell phone. He held it out to Bruce. Maryanne Jerome shouted, “I’m so proud of you!”

Bruce replied, “Ed was out there with me today.”

The iconic Abe Williams still holds the Derby record with his 20.58-pound shore bluefish, caught in 1998.

As for Bluefish Super Sunday, only five blues were weighed in. Bruce and Don took first and second, respectively, with Fred Weckman picking up third with a 5.32-pound blue. From the boat, Zach Horrocks reeled in first place with a 14.20-pound blue, and his teammate and girlfriend Sarah Kadison caught the second-place blue (10.52 pounds).

If I had been weighing in any of those fish, I would have blasted Blues Hall of Famer Etta James singing “At Last” on the drive to Headquarters.

Personally, I have been fortunate to fish every day of the Derby to date. In the wind and rain and sun, and with bare feet on warm sand, I’ve had a lot of fun, and made some great memories. The most touching moment last week came not on the beach but rather on a dirt road in Oak Bluffs. I had the honor to attend the Bellevue Veterans Community’s groundbreaking ceremony last Thursday with Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association (MVSA) President Donald Scarpone. Over the past two years, the MVSA has raised money and donated $20,000 to veterans’ housing through Martha’s Vineyard Community Services to furnish two of the 12 units.

Listening to the speeches, seeing the construction site, and watching Island veteran and MVSA member Paul Schultz put a shovel in the ground to commemorate the building of much-needed vet housing was better than watching someone weigh in leading fish.

Now we’re in week four. Time is moving too quickly, and our Derby days are passing faster with every minute. I hope to see you on the beach, and I definitely hope to see you at Headquarters while we’re weighing in our fish.