In this special feature of Marlin magazine, we'd like to celebrate some of the people, places and things (or at least 100 of them) that make the pursuit of billfish such an extraordinary sport. Once we started compiling the list, we found that this could easily have turned into the Marlin 1,000. I'm sure we've missed some of the things that mean a lot to you personally, and we'd like to hear about them. But for now, here's our first-ever Marlin 100. We hope you get a kick out of it!
— Dave Ferrell
See 26-50 of the Marlin 100 here / See 51-75 of the Marlin 100 here
1. The Bite
Watching a blue marlin crash a pitch bait 15 feet off the back of the boat or a 900-pound black inhale a 20-pound skipping tuna makes any fisherman's blood boil with excitement. Besides wiring fish, watching a billfish eat is what keeps most professional crewmen in the game — it certainly isn't the paycheck or a chance to wind on one.
The boys pulling lures get their fair share of explosions too; finding a giant hole where the left short used to be suddenly makes all those miles spent trolling in a big empty worthwhile.
