The focus is on Martha's Vineyard but the information, fishing tips, and stories about Island characters-Bob "Hawkeye" Jacobs jumping off Memorial Wharf to unsnag an albie he hooked-will sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in a community of fishermen. This informative and fun read answers the questions asked in local tackle shops, including the best spots to catch a striped bass on a fly rod-Lobsterville Beach-and rigging tackle for blues, fluke, black sea bass, false albacore, and bonito. Spin fishing, bottom fishing, and fly fishing are all covered. This book follows the island fishing seasons: rods appear on island trucks in April, a sign that schoolies have arrived, and they do not begin to disappear until the venerable Bass and Bluefish Derby, five weeks of single-minded pursuit of fish, ends in October. And there are tips on looking and talking the part . . . "handy phrases include any reference to a falling or rising tide and a rock, any rock, as long as you refer to it with a sense of authority so that the other person is unwilling to ask which rock for fear of seeming like a novice." Martha's Vineyard Fish Tales is a "how to" book that flows with the character and personality of a fishing-obsessed island off the coast of Massachusetts.
