Anyone have any reports how are people are doing on the Derby??

Yup.

http://www.mvderby.com

Click the "Results" tab.

I just got back on Monday. Our friend Fisherwoman got a womans weekly with an albie for the second week. I spent 10 days there and did pretty well. Only lost two lures and broke two reels. I think some bigger albies are moveing in now. All of mine were from 24.5" to 26.75". There were a few fat ones in the bunch but the derby leader was bigger and I didn't want to kill a fish that I only fish for once a year.
We only saw a few fish on the surface the whole time we were there. They were mixed in with blues just under 22".

I can't wait for next year.

Topwater:D :D :D :D

top water hows the squid fishing this year. bass master and i will be going down sunday for a week were bringing the AVE MARIA with us so well be doin shore and boat fishing i heard there were squid around the first week but havent herd since thanks chubsdad

The squiding has been great. They are twice the size they were last year. I seemed to do better casting to them and bringing it in quickly. Better size to the ones further out also. The locals were hammering them with the small, skinny white jigs. We were using the white yozuris that glow. White was the color for us.

The scupping was also very good from the dock.

Topwater

Its time to get serious now. A few bigger fish have been weighed in recently, most notably Capt Buddy's 53. (If I had to bet.....it came from Pigs and Sows or Squib)

I seem to be in a temporary slump. I have been feeling crappy and had not been out at night now for the past 3 nights now. I went out this AM before work...just a few small blues. TONS of bait. Amazing how much bait there is. You can scoop them out with you bare hand at times there is so much.

As soon as I am up for it I will give it hell again. I was into them for a while there but the hard core fishermen are really fishing now and it will take a upper 40-50 to win the shore div.(IMO) Many of the the local guys I have met don't even start fishing until Oct. The biggest fish are always caught nrear the end of the derby they say.

I think the albie and bonito fishing has slowed down this week. Guys are still catchin them but they are not bustin like they were a few weeks ago.

Blues...I a few small ones, I have not had a big beach blue this year.

Buddy's fish was supposedly taken from Squibby, but that is like saying a fish was caught at Boston Light or at block Island....If I had to bet, a spot called the Gorilla hole has been good to Cap't Buddy late in past Derbys

The Hoopster took his bass @ the same spot he hauled in a 64 pound-monster some years ago...none of the spots mentioned so far. It was taken on a tube that had been dressed with a secret bait to make it even more enticing.

I would devulge the details but then I would be sleeping with fishes.

Mike

I also saw several boats returning from nomans last night. That is another possibility. To bad you can't surf that island! That rock incrusted baby looks like a striper magnet to me.

If I had Bill Gates' money....I would buy that island from the gov't and have it cleaned-up (remove all unexploded ordinance and shrap) and build a modern day , high-end fishing club surfclub and marina for sportfishing boats, with a wolrd class Jack Nickolas Golf Course, and a 5 star hotel/resturant with service provided by the previous years penthouse girls....oh, but I am dreaming again.... Back to fishing... I will be sure an let you know if I win lotto or Bill throw's me some coin....I hear he is building a home on Nantucket, perhaps he may have some interest?

I was out with Brian VanDerhoop one day fishing off of Nomans, and I was in awe of all that rocky mess of an island. I bet there are some real slobs lurking amongst those rocks. If I had brought a casting rod with me that day, I would have tried tossing some big plugs into the shoreline but it was'nt meant to be. Maybe one day.

There was an article in the Vinyard Gazette about Vanderhoops 53 lb'er he caught last week. It is not on the web site but it says..He had 2 charters that day, and he had finished the 1st and was going to to make the run to falmouth to gas up (@.30 cheaper per gallon represents 100 bucks when topping off)...anyway he had the fishfinder on while crossing vineyard sound and said he passed over some big fish, he stoped and put a rod over and went back on the same path from his plotter. whamo. He took the fish back to Menemsha @ 1:00pm and never did get gas.

Dear Mr. Sandman!

Your "dreams for No-Mans" above should be printed and distributed world wide as an example of the present generations quest to screw up this beautiful world we live in.
I have surf casted off of No-mans and we caught fish. However, it is better fished from a boat, casting at the beach, or along it! The fewer foot prints the better.
The Goose and Duck shooting there is out of this world as well. But, in getting to the ponds one has to be in good condition cause it is quite a hike and if one were to mistep and hit some unexploded ordinance (years ago) you would really be "out of this world".
Build a new pier and break waters if you want but don't screw it up with a fishing club and whore house. Bring the boat into your marina and live on the boat!
I remember as many as seven or eight swordfish boats anchored behind No-mans and every one having a great "GAM". There were some who went ashore and brought rabbits for supper.
The place has been cleared pretty well of the "ordinances and junk" but it still deserves to be left "Forever wild".

nor-easter...

I was half joking....

I really would like to see it cleaned up further and the public legally allowed to set foot on it. How was it you were able to fish/hunt it?

I have no problem with it being kept in a more natural state. But I feel that we should be able to visit and enjoy it as well. You don't get the same feeling by looking at it from a boat. You have to walk it. I think a tasteful facilty (hotel/marina ect) would actually enhance it because people could actually experience it. I hear they want to make it a bird sanc ...Well I am sure the birds are enjoying is as it is. I would like to fish it, not destroy it.

We frequented the place back in the 60's and 70's. Actually, we were not the only ones to go ashore there.
There were among several. there were marked paths, flagged with red paint on the brush that indicated a safe path.
I don't ever recall anyone getting hurt over there.
We always had to be prepared to make a quick exit in case the navy came along to make some runs.
There was a group from Sakonnet Point that never had to worry and we would be releived when they were there cause someone in their group had contacts in the navy and knew when there would be "no bombing today".
When they built the buildings over there it all ended!
It used to be really "interesting" to have a dozen or more boats fishing the South West Flat during a day and a few boats in amongst the rocks casting and seemingly out of no where comes a jet jockey buzzing us to let us know the fighters were coming.
They would send in the spotter plane and if we didn't get moving right away then the spotter would call in the rest of the training flight (sometimes a dozen planes) and they would commence to really get down on the boats, coming closer and closer till you could see the pilot waving at you. It is a wonder they never crashed into the water it seemed they were so close to the swells.
We all would get out towards the S.W. Ledge or go over to Squibby and they would have their way with the Island, dropping bombs and strafeing the targets. They would come in two at a time and it took a while to figure but what they were doing was one plane held the instructor or supervisor and he wouldn't be dropping or shooting, he was observing the accuarcy of the other planes.
We heard that when they built the buildings there that they then were doing electronic bomb runs on "special, radio targets" that they would put out on the ground for the jets to send electronic signals at. That is the story that we heard.
I have not been ashore there since back in the late 70's but have memories.

I have walked complety around Nomans in the mid 80's looking for a missing person that fell overboard, it was sucj a beautiful island, I hope it always stays that way. Sandman, its sow and pigs..not pigs and sow.