Blue marlins, some of the most prized catches of fishermen, are among the most gruelingly difficult fish to catch; so difficult, in fact, it usually requires a team. In The Old Man and the Sea however, the old man had nothing but a line and his own strength. Blue marlins are a very important part of the story because it shows his pride and will power to succeed even though the rest of the village might have lost faith in him. Since blue marlins are such a prized catch they can be used to display a fishermen’s skill, which may have been why this particular fish was used in the book. Blue marlins are prized trophy fish, hard to catch, and are very important to different societies, making it a very good, yet subtle, way of showing the old fisherman’s accomplishment in an even greater way. Blue marlins, a brag worthy catch among fishermen, prove to be worthy of being trophy fish. The reason blue marlins can be trophy fish is because of their great size. Something you could note is that all trophy fish are female. They usually weigh about 540-1800 kg, with the larger ones being used as the trophies. (Unknown author(s) MarineBio.org) Since they are large-game fish this means that they usually are caught with a team of fishermen, this shows Santiago’s strength and willpower in The Old Man and the Sea. The fact that most people use this as a trophy fish is another factor that led to the villagers regaining their respect of Santiago’s skill as a fisherman, which is why Hemingway would have used this particular fish rather than one of the many other fish in the sea.
As a trophy fish the blue marlin would obviously be one of the harder fish to catch. Since the marlin is one of the harder ones to catch there is lots written by more experienced fishermen to aid the less experienced ones, and it is often suggested that you just release a marlin if you aren’t an experienced fisherman. (Wright marlinmag.com) Catching these fish is no easy task and top rate