The Marlin 100

6. Wiring Gloves

Mates live to wire fish. They fetch your lunch, make your cocktails, clean the head, chamois acres of fiberglass and work unending hours just to get the chance to pull on a big one from time to time. Everything else is just gravy. That's why they take special pride and care in fashioning a suitable pair of wiring gloves. Gloves come in as many configurations as there are mates, with some heavy-tackle specialists enlisting the help of shoemakers or leather workers to fashion complete custom pairs or leather additions to help alleviate the bone-crushing force of a heavy fish on the end of the wire.

A lot of crews like to layer gloves made out different materials to add cushion or increase grip. One popular style involves cutting the fingers at the second knuckle on a pair of canvas gardening gloves and wearing those over a pair of orange "snot" or glass-handling gloves. When pursuing sails or small striped marlin, a light pair of canvas gloves usually suffices. Gloves shouldn't totally shield the mate from pain; if they do, he won't know when to let go and might end up over the side.