The first confirmed report of Albies came in from the Vineyard today! Looks like the fish are right on time and things should be setting up quite nicely for the derby starting on September 11th. Get out your favorite Albie lures and get out there and give it a shot. You just never know when you will hook up with one of these under water freight trains!

Fish On!

Trustees of Reservations
August 8, 2016

There is a newly installed set of stairs at Wasque Point! The Trustees had a new staircase installed to replace the previous wooden staircase that had been damaged and destroyed by storms and erosion years back. You can now park at the Wasque Fisherman lot, follow the trail for 50 yards and then go down the staircase right to Wasque Point/beach!

Click here for full details from the Trustees at the following link:

Chappy Brown Shark Tournament

Also see EVENT log section of MVSA homepage for further details. Just click on the Chappy Brown Shark Tournament event.

Some additional details re: the upcoming members only shark catch & release

Dates: 12:01 AM Aug 2nd – 11:59 PM Aug 6th

Place: East Beach – Dike Bridge south the Wasque cross-over

Entry: Free to club members.  Contact Don Scarpone to enter – Donaldscarpone@yahoo.com

Prize: Biggest shark wins a $50 gift certificate to the tackle shop of their choice and a plaque

Optional pool: $10/angler, winner take all, must be in the pool to win the pool

Rules:

Catch& release only

Circle hooks only

Gaffs are prohibited

Other anglers may help land and measure fish

Cookout:Fri Aug 5, 6:00 PM, East Beach

 

The July newsletter is now available with all kinds of great info! Topics in the July Newsletter include the latest  Fishing Report, In-House Derby, Pin Winners, Fish Weight Calculator, Trustees Report, Calendar Events, and more.

There is also an update on the Statewide Piping Plover Habitat Conservation Plan.

Check out the full report enclosed here. Just click on the link below.

2016 July MVSA July Newsletter (2).docx

Norton Point and Chappy Beach Update
July 2, 2016
Chris Kennedy, Superintendent, TTOR

Beach Access Update

We are now mid-way through the shorebird season and the beaches at Norton Point and Leland Beach are pretty well saturated with terns, plovers, oyster catchers and black skimmers at Norton Point and plovers on Leland. Cape Poge is open from the Dike Bridge to the Windmill House at the Cape Poge Elbow.  

At Norton Point we have approximately 4/10 of a mile of drivable ocean beach at the Katama end. On Leland we found a single plover chick that appeared to be 3 weeks old (they normally fledge in four weeks).  This older chick  that had crossed over from the ocean beach to the bay side on the Wasque Point end of the beach which forced the closure of vehicle access along the Leland bay side trails.  We also have several plover families on the outside of Leland beach which prevented us from opening that up for access.  Of course,Murphy’s Law dictates that we won’t catch a break.  We learned Wednesday evening that another plover nest had unexpectedly hatched on Leland’s bay side beaches close to Wasque Point.  At this point I would say it is safe to say that vehicle access to Wasque Point is unlikely for the next several weeks.  Finally, we have been able to open a small section of beach opposite the Dike Bridge for ocean beach access.  We monitor the status of the chicks on all of our beaches several times a day and will immediately reopen driving access as we are legally able to.

To fish the new moon tides at Wasque fishermen are advised to park at the Wasque Swimming Beach parking lot.  I know, I can hear the groaning but for those who make the trip to the Point it can be very productive.  Staff are trying to get the aluminum stairs back in place adjacent to the Osprey pole at Wasque, which would shave off some of the beach walking,  but the beach at the base of the cliff is extremely narrow.  We will do the best we can to get these stairs in but I don’t want to oversell the idea that we can get these stairs back in place. We typically need 5 to 6 feet of beach at the base of the cliff to get these stairs secured at the top of the cliff and the base of the cliff.  We have also received positive news from the Conservation Commission.  They have approved our application to replace the stairs at Wasque Point.  The aluminum beach stairs are currently being built in Maine and we are awaiting an expected completion date from the manufacturer of these custom stairs.

We will be sure to pass along updates as things change.  Trust us…things will get better from this point.

Chris 

Because the weather forecast is not ideal, the Saturday, July 9th cookout has been canceled (new date Saturday, July 16th), includes open beach lightning risk, and members may wish now to change their weekend plans. Rescheduled date is Saturday, July 16th...see below:

ANNUAL MVSA BEACH PICNIC
Saturday, July 16 at 5:00p.m.
Bend in the Road Beach

(rain date: Sunday July 17th same time and place)

Hotdogs, hamburgs, rolls, condiments,chips, water, soda will be provided

Have fun with the Casting contests, fishing contests,and great company

Please bring a dish (salad or a dessert) to share

Updated 6/25, 12:15p.m.:

Due to the piping plovers the June MVSA meeting, fishing contest and cookout will be held Saturday, June 25th at the small beach directly across from the Dike Bridge. This was moved from the original location due to TTOR closures of piping plovers. This should be a fun event so come out and test your fishing skills against other members.

MVSA PICNIC

Small beach directly across from Dike Bridge

Saturday 6.25.16

Fishing contest starting time: 3 pm

Hotdogs: 5pm

The weather forecast is excellent—-join us for fun, friends, and fish

You may wish to CAR POOL& COME EARLY  !!

Hope to see you there!

The June newsletter has all kinds of great information! Topics in the June Newsletter include the latest  Fishing Report, In-House Derby, Island Cup Challenge, Long Point Access, Trustees Report, Calendar Events, and more.

Also congrats to our current In-House derby leaders. Cosmo leads the shore Striped Bass division with his 36.3 pound fish and John Piekos leads the Shore Bluefish division with his 11.0 pound fish. Good luck out there to all our members and please be safe!

Check out the full report enclosed here. Just click on the link below.

2016 June MVSA Newsletter.pdf

Thanks to Wayne Smith for sending in this Bluefish report. As Wayne had stated..."Got into a school of some feisty 12 Pounders". Nice catch Wayne!

Click on the PDF link below to see the photo.

June is the time to get out there and fish so hit the water and keep the reports coming.

Fish on!

12 Pound Blue.pdf

Memorial Day 2016 Trustees Report
Chappy and Norton Point
Chris Kennedy, Superintendent
May 24, 2016


With the upcoming Memorial Day weekend along with the fact that plovers, terns and oyster catchers are in the mood for love, I thought it might be helpful to provide our best guess for upcoming shorebird chick hatching and the resulting closures that will necessitate.

A.)  Beginning at the Gut, we expect the tip to be closed to OSV's as of the second week of June.

B.)  The US Army Corps of Engineers are working on the bomb cleanup of Little Neck.  They will halt their work on the upland areas as of June 15and their efforts will switch to the underwater cleanup efforts over the summer.  The completion of the bomb cleanup on the land will begin again in September and will wrap-up in December.   In the meanwhile, LittleNeck will continue to be off-limits to vehicles and pedestrians until the completion of the cleanup.  Most of the bombs they are unearthing have been expended but some are still live.  They are detonating live bombs every afternoon (around 3-5 PM) so traffic may be stopped along the inside trail for 10 minutes or so until the munitions have been blown.

C.)  The outside beach between the Jetties and Arruda Point continues to be closed due to erosion.  It is looking better and we hope to be able to reopen it before summer but Mother Nature has to help out with some more sand.

D.)  The Swimming Beach opposite the Dike Bridge will be closed to OSV's beginning this week.  As well, we expect to have several clutches of plover chicks hatching North of the Swimming Beach in the next week so expect outside beach closures on sections of that outside beach.  We expect to close the outside beach access road at the south end of the Narrows but expect to be able to keep the interior OSV trails behind the dunes and along Cape Poge Bay open.  That may change if the chicks decide to cross over to feed along the Narrows but we are hopeful that the chicks will remain north and south of the outside beach roadway to allow us to maintain access to Cape Poge.  Again, all of this is subject to change on short notice.

E.)  Halfway down Leland Beach (about midway between Wasque Point and Dike Bridge) we expect chicks to hatch on the outside beach which will necessitate OSV closures on the outside of Leland Beach within the next week.  However, we anticipate being able to maintain OSV access on the North end of Leland beach opposite the Dike Bridge and at Wasque Point.

F.)  Nesting terns and black skimmers have taken over the bay side of Norton Point on the Chappy end of the beach.  Access along the outside beach is not impacted at this point but when these tern chicks begin hatching expect the usual beach closure from the mid-point of Norton Point towards the Chappy end.   Those chicks should begin hatching by the second week of June.  So far this colony of terns is quite large and we are hoping they are successful in hatching and fledging their chicks.  We are anticipating that OSV drivers will be able to access Wasque Point and the eastern end of Norton Point via the Chappy OSV trail system.

We would again ask all beach drivers to watch their speed and drive no faster than 15 mph.  We lost an adult plover on Norton Point last year to a speeding OSV.  Rangers will be stringently enforcing the speed limit on all of our OSV trails this summer. 

I will update you as things change. 

Have a great holiday weekend!
Chris 

Christopher Kennedy
Martha’s Vineyard Superintendent

Trustees  |  MV Management Unit
23 Pocha Road Ext.  |  Edgartown, MA   02539
kennedy@ttor.org  | 508.627.7689  (phone)  |  508.693.7717 (fax)