Looove fishing, and I love eating fish. I've been fishing off of boats since I was 12. Mostly bottom bashing, I agree it's great to not know exactly what's going to come up. I don't go anywhere near as regularly as we used to though.
My favourite is big game fishing, marlin, etc. Maybe it isn't sport on the big boats where you are sitting down and backing up. But stand-up fishing on a small boat against a 100kg+ beast, your arms buggered after an hour of pumping and winding, your legs like jelly from not only keeping balance but stopping yourself from being pulled overboard, now thats fun. It's also very team oriented, you don't need to be the one on the rod to have fun as everyone is doing something (driving, tagging the fish, tracing the fish, clearing the deck). We always tag and release big game fish.
It's an awesome experience when you have a fish at the back of the boat ready to strike. The best one was a few years ago. We had a fish following us for hours. We kept seeing the top of the tail and dorsal fin in the water about 10 metres from the boat. This went on for about 3 hours. Two striped marlin, about 120-150kg finally appeared between our live baits. We stopped the boat, and everyone was quiet as the fish just hung there staring at the baits (which were going crazy!).
All hell broke loose as one went for the teaser, and the other grabbed the middle bait (which was on the smallest bloody reel!). Dad took the rod to strike, I starting driving and the other 2 guys brought in the other lines. I chased the fish which was jumping like mad, with Dad shouting "You're going the wrong way!!" Turns out the OTHER fish was jumping, not the one we had hooked.
Dad took over the boat and I had the rod. It fought very differently, it went straight down to the bottom and circled us rather than running and jumping on the surface. Before I could react the line was heading toward the outboard engine. Thank God I had the sense to turn the rod around so the line didnt hit anything, and the rod became wedged between the engine and the boat. Dad had to turn the engine off, raise it out of the water, climb over the top and free the rod! Fantastic footage of the whole thing somewhere.
We shared the fish around as it was the first trip for the other guys. 2.5 hours later, 4 tired men and an even more tired fish at the boat. Estimated 120kg striped marlin, tagged and released unharmed. The fish was hooked just in the corner of the bill and came out fairly easily.
We've had quite a few before and since, but that one was the best.
Now THATS sport!
Ok I believe you. 
