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 Prize–winning 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. “The Big One is to competitive fishing what Friday Night Lights was to high school football—a book that uses sport as a mainline to the heart of a diverse community.” —The News & Record (Greensboro, NC) “[Kinney] is a journalist who takes up his story with an enthusiasm that more closely resembles that of an embedded war correspondent. Many of the individuals he encounters are colorful, their salty stories more so, and he uses graceful prose to bring them together into a lively account. . . . [A] revealing look at the lives that Vineyarders lead during the ‘off season.’ ” —The Wall Street Journal “Who knew a book about a fishing tournament could be so damn compelling?” —Deadspin “A terrific book . . . Everyone should read one book about fishing as sports competition. This is that book.” —The Sporting News “Fabulous . . . Unforgettable . . . The Big One had me on the edge of my seat, kept me up nights, and turned out to be one of the best books I’ve ever read.” —The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ) "Lively . . . Fans of you-are-there accounts of sporting competitions will definitely want to read this one." "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 .... 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....With solid prose, Kinney nails the character of this spirited community and its defining anima, the striped bass." Grown men have cried over the derby. They have ignored their wives for week after week, sleepwalked through work day after day, stayed up all night long, skipped out on their jobs altogether, drawn unemployment, burned through every last day of their vacation time, downed NoDoz and Red Bull and God knows what else. They have spied on their rivals and lied to their friends. They have told off strangers and cheated like lowlife bums. If you believe the conspiracy theorists, they have prosecuted bogus charges of rules breaking to get their adversaries tossed from the competition. People have died fishing this thing. Renowned for its pristine beaches and celebrity inhabitants, Martha's Vineyard is one of the most fabled destinations in America. It is also one of the most complicated: an island where moguls and movie stars rub shoulders with carpenters and immigrants and locals work multiple jobs to eke out a living in the shadow of vast wealth. But each September, after the tourists clear out, thousands of fishermen take back the beaches to compete in the Vineyard's annual Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby, a madcap 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 , 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 lunacy and introduces us to an eccentric gallery of characters: Steve Amaral, the star-crossed veteran who has fished sixty-one derbies without landing a winner; Dick Hathaway, the crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter and was ultimately banned from the contest for cheating; Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life; Buddy Vanderhoop, a boastful Native American charter captain who guides celebrity anglers like Keith Richards and Spi