If you are a young fisherman, or the parent of same, the best advice for tonight is go to bed early. The 35th annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club trout tournament begins at first light at Duarte’s Pond in West Tisbury.

As many as 200 children are expected at the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank property off Lambert’s Cove Road. The pond was stocked yesterday with hatchery trout.

Organizers are counting on the fish to be hungry.

The Island’s big fishing event for youngsters, the Martha’s Vineyard Trout Tournament, is into its 35th year. Each year hundreds of our young Island fisherman vie for the many prizes and gifts that are made available to the winners of the various fishing categories. This year, it’s May 9, and as always it’s at Duarte’s Pond.

Fishermen Get Organized

Vineyard commercial and recreational fishermen are invited to attend a meeting to discuss a plan to organize as a group; the meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

The Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club fly-tying program will be held every Monday night at The Anchors, Council on Aging, in Edgartown, while the clubhouse on the shore of Sengekontacket Pond is being rebuilt.

The Monday night fly-tying session had been on hold this winter because the clubhouse was unusable. It was suggested that the The Anchors might be a good temporary winter site and director Laurie Schreiber agreed.

The question of what is a harvestable sized bay scallop will be the subject of a public hearing next week on the Cape. The state Division of Marine Fisheries is hosting the hearing at 3 p.m. on Jan. 6 to gather input, following emergency action they took last fall to quiet a dispute between fishermen and regulators.

The hearing will take place at the Barnstable Senior Center, 825 Falmouth Road, Route 28 in Hyannis.

Blue crab is a Vineyard seafood delicacy. For many years, the idea of eating blue crab here was kept quiet among those who knew where to find them. They were the Vineyard’s secret seafood.

But increasing awareness of the health of the Island’s great ponds has moved the topic above a whisper; the only secret now is where.

FOUR FISH: The Future of the Last Wild Food. By Paul Greenberg. Penguin Press, New York, N.Y. July 2010. 304 pages. $25.95, hardcover.

The title is too narrow. Don’t think for a moment this is a book only about salmon, cod, bass and tuna. The book goes beyond the history and plight of four fish, to our hunger for fresh fish of all kinds. For anyone who wonders where the swordfish went, how we emerged from the collapse of the whale fishery, or simply which fish is safe to order at the restaurant, Four Fish offers much.

The 65th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby opens Sunday morning at a minute past midnight. The fishermen are waiting.

George Moran of Oak Bluffs will be out there. At 64, he is almost as old as the derby. “For me it is wonderful being outdoors, being on the beaches, out at night with the stars and moon,” Mr. Moran said.

With the start of the 65th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby just days away, fishermen are concerned about the health of the centerpiece fish, striped bass, in these waters and along the coast.

There is perhaps not a fish more watched by commercial and recreational fishermen, not to mention scientists, than the striped bass. The fish is the swimming equivalent of the American eagle.

Rahul Harpalani caught his first fish ever, a striped bass, on Tuesday. The 24-year-old active duty first lieutenant with the Army had a smile on his face like no one else on Menemsha charter captain Scott McDowell’s boat. Out fishing a mile south of Squibnocket, Mr. Harpalani was having the time of his life. “It is so serene out here,” he said.

“Now you are a fisherman,” said Joe Bennett, a 70-year-old veteran from Maine, who sat beside him.