The Big One: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish

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The Big One: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish (eBook) Pub. Date: 7/6/2010 Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
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The Big One: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish Pub. Date: 4/8/2009 Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Overview

Renowned for its pristine beaches and celebrity inhabitants, Martha’s Vineyard is one of the most exclusive destinations in America. But each September, after the tourists clear out, thousands of fishermen take back the beaches to compete in the Vineyard’s annual fishing derby, a monthlong contest that pits plumbers against investment bankers, schoolkids against senior citizens, and natives against newcomers in a round-the-clock hunt for a great fish. Island immortality is at stake, and history has proven that anyone can win it: teenage girls, dozing fishermen, complete amateurs. In The Big One, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist David Kinney takes readers behind the scenes at the derby to chronicle thirty-five days of fish-addled hope and heartbreak. He captures all the action and introduces us to an eccentric gallery of characters that includes: Dick Hathaway, the crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter; Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life; and Lev Wlodyka, a cagey local whose next fish will spark a storm of controversy and throw the tournament into turmoil. The Big One is a hugely entertaining story of passion and obsession that does for fishing what Friday Night Lights did for football.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Though it will probably be shelved in either the sports or outdoors section, Kinney's account would be right at home in the anthropology department. As Kinney, a Philadelphia journalist, explains in his fun, easygoing prose, the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby is more than just your run-of-the-mill fishing tournament. The monthlong competition and two grand prizes worth $30,000 each turn visitors and islanders into work-skipping, bleary-eyed (big stripers feed at night) fishing maniacs. Kinney provides an insider's view of striper madness by not only presenting the fish tales of Derby judges, experts and salty regulars, but by also wetting a line and participating. He discovers that what started in 1946 as an "advertising scheme" to get visitors to the island has become symbolic of Martha's Vineyard's continuing personality crisis between its blue collar, commercial fishing roots and its newer, wealthy persona. The book is a lot of fun as Kinney's day-in, day-out descriptions of the tournament itself-complete with accusations of cheating, bitter rivalries, health concerns and Cinderella stories-play out like a frenzied baseball season condensed into one month of triple-headers. (Apr.)

Kirkus Reviews

Reporter and longtime fisherman Kinney casts out for the Northeastern coast's oldest fishing tournament..The author looks beyond Martha's Vineyard's reputation as a summer hangout for the fabulously wealthy to capture its salty roots, motley inhabitants and resident anglers, viewing them through the portal of a fishing derby. Once a sedate, rural community of farmers and commercial fishermen, the Vineyard was basically off the radar until 1946, when a PR representative for the island's failing ferry service came up with the perfect hype to stimulate tourism: the five-week-long Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Since its inception, the tournament has survived controversy, major fish decline and generations of obsessed enthusiasts. "The derby," writes Kinney, "is a lottery ticket, an ego boost, a chance to die happy, a shot at island renown and modest riches, a chance to win." From Wampanoag charter captain Buddy Vanderhoop and taxidermist Janet Messineo to the Menemsha Kids and the Wharf Rats, Kinney details the dozens of colorful personalities involved in the annual drama. Hopping among history, on-the-ground action and personal narrative, much of the story centers around five-time derby champ Lev Wlodyka and his prize catch, a 50-plus-pound striped bass that caused an imbroglio when judges cut it open and discovered a bellyful of weights. Through brawls, fish tales and territoriality, Vineyarders get emotional about their derby and their landscape. As the derby rules change, the "year-rounders" face the changes to their once-quaint island that, with the influx of rich outsiders, threaten to transform the Vineyard into another Hamptons..With solid prose, Kinney nailsthe character of this spirited community and its defining anima, the striped bass..Agent: Larry Weissman/Larry Weissman Literary.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802118905
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date: 4/8/2009
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 4.00 (d)

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Anonymous

Posted March 16, 2010

Excellent Read

This book is a good book about the culture of fishing and it's the 1st that I've read like that. Tells the story of the island and it's wild and crazy fishing tournament in Sept/Oct that sweeps up the entire island plus a few out-of-towners. It displays the lengths that people will go to be on the leader board from all-nighters on the beach, to secret techniques, to choice fishing locations. It's like the playoffs of fishing and the story unfolds over a month. Great easy read.
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The Big One: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish

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