A Forgotten Classic

The inside cover of Fishing The Big Three

Bought a book a few months ago. Actually I had it before, but got rid of it during a recent move. Big mistake.
Fishing The Big Three by John Underwood is a classic. Thirty years ago, Underwood spent a season fishing with Ted Williams in the Keys for tarpon and bonefish, two of Williams' favorites. The time the two spent together became the basis for the book, which was published in 1982.
Each fish has a chapter. There's a fair amount of how-to instruction, but the anecdotes are priceless. Williams hated the press, but obviously felt comfortable with Underwood, who loved to fish and apparently that mutual passion led to a level of trust that Williams rarely bestowed.
Underwood, a longtime college football and golf writer for Sports Illustrated in the magazine's heyday during the 1960s and '70s is exceptionally talented. A lot of writers can write about what they know, as long as they have a compelling and willing subject. Underwood doesn't need that much help. His feel for the language and reporting skills leap off the pages.
Williams, he noted, caught black marlin in New Zealand and tiger fish in Zambezi, but his quarry of choice were the tarpon, bonefish and Atlantic salmon, hence The Big Three.
Williams, who spent time in Homasassa, passed away in 2002. This book, no doubt, will sustain his legacy, not necessarily as a ballplayer, but as an angler, which is probably the way he would have liked it.