Marlin University Instructors

Dave Ferrell has traveled the world’s oceans during his 17-year history with Marlin magazine, conveying the beauty and excitement of big-game fishing through his writing and photography.

He is a third-generation Florida native and a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in journalism. He left his position at Sport Fishing magazine four years ago to focus his attention on Marlin full time, and although he still likes to chase the odd snook or redfish in the skinny water, his true love lies in the pursuit of blue-water big game.

Capt. Peter B. Wright, editor at large of Marlin magazine, has fished in all the waters of the world. He began working on charter sport-fishing boats at Hillsboro Inlet in south Florida while still in grade school and fished marlin tournaments in Bimini throughout his high-school and college years. His first experience with the Great Barrier Reef in 1968 convinced him to move to Australia, where he has fished every season since establishing permanent-resident status there that year.

Capt. Wright divides his residency between Stuart, Florida, and Cairns, Australia. In addition, he has owned and operated a charter sport-fishing boat in Kona, Hawaii for 5 years. He has caught more 1,000-plus-pound marlin — granders — than any other charter captain or angler in history. Capt. Wright has won dozens of tournaments and has guided his clients to numerous world records. In the fall of 2007, Peter B. Wright was inducted into the International Game Fish Association. Peter was selected for the important contributions he has made to sport fishing through angling achievements, literature, the arts, science, education, communication, invention and administration of fishery resources.

In remembrance of our friend Walker Holcomb who passed away on June 5, 2011…we will miss you dearly.

At 62 years young, Charles Perry just might be the best leaderman in the world today. And with good reason; he's been at it since he was 6 years old when his father used to drag him out of church to go fishing on Sundays. "My father was 55 when I was born, so we kind of had a grandfather/grandson relationship; he took me everywhere with him and taught me how to hunt and fish from the very beginning. We didn't catch anything we didn't clean and didn't shoot anything we didn't eat."

Perry caught the sport-fishing bug after spending some R&R time in Australia during his service in Vietnam. "I found out where the fishing was and came back in 1972, riding my unicycle up the highway to Cairns. I missed the season but came back the next year and caught a bunch over 1,000 pounds. That's when I really got into the fishing game. And since I was catching them with throttle jockeys like Capt. Peter Wright, every fish was an adventure. Back then I really fought them on the leader as much as the angler did on rod and reel. But when you're young and strong, you really love that stuff. I'm not any better or any more famous than anybody else; I've just outlived everybody."

Even with all the fish he's seen, Perry says it's the people who really make fishing worthwhile. "The people you meet and make friends with are truly a priceless part of big-game fishing. Don't get me wrong; the fishing is great - and I love to catch them - but the real joy is hanging out with a bunch of people who love the same things that you do."