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Mark Sosin, one of the giants of angling, passed away over the weekend in Boca Raton, Florida.
Sosin wrote some 3,000 fishing articles appearing in nearly every national angling magazine and published 33 books on angling.
His favorite book, Through the Fish’s Eye, written with a marine biologist, was published in the late 70’s and is still in print.
He pioneered saltwater fishing television in the national market with his show, Mark Sosin’s Saltwater Journal, continuing for 27 years.
Mark was outspoken in his opinions and a dedicated teacher of angling tactics, many of which he originated.
He learned fly fishing with his father on New Jersey trout streams beginning when he was 4.
He was the originator of the fly-fishing records category for the International Game Fish Association, and wrote the original rules for fly-rod world record catches.
He was director emeritus of the Billfish foundation and a past president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Sosin received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Outdoor Writers Association and has been inducted into four Hall of Fames including the Freshwater Hall of Fame and the IGFA Hall of Fame.
Mark was kind enough to help me when I was a fledgling outdoors writer many years ago, regularly sharing tips on fishing tactics as well as the outdoors magazine market.
He was never a “watch me fish” guy, always more interested in sharing the most arcane technique with anyone willing to learn—though you had to do it exactly right to satisfy Mark’s sense of angling propriety.
We chased roosterfish off the west coast of Panama, wahoo at Walker’s Cay and permit in the Keys on the outdoors writer junkets that were popular in the 80’s. The events were always loaded up with well-known writers, but Sosin always had time to help out a kid just getting his feet wet. He taught me how to tie a Bimini twist, how to properly fill a spinning reel, and how to pitch a magazine editor.
He came to making his living in angling late—he served as a naval officer, earned a masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School and worked for a number of big companies including Revlon before escaping the corporate life to pursue a life in fishing.
Sosin suffered from blood clots in his legs in his final year and lost mobility.
“This has made me realize nothing lasts forever,” he told friend and noted Olympic skier and angler Andy Mill in a final interview. “But it has been a wonderful ride.”
He was 88.
— Frank Sargeant