# John Emery



## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

Was headed home from the coast Tuesday evening and I stopped by Harry Spears (Spear Boatworks and long time Florida Keys fishing guide) house to have a few beers and shoot the sh!$! As we were talking I walked over to a pile of fly reels that were laying on his fly-tying desk and picked up this big black 12wt fly reel that I had never seen before. As I turned it over I could see it was a John Emery fly reel and that caused our conversations to turn to John who was a pretty famous fishing guide in the Keys. 

I told him that my very first fly/tarpon trip in Islamorada was with John back in the mid-late 80’s where I jumped my first tarpon on Buchanan Bank and landed my first tarpon on Nine Mile Bank for an epic first day chasing tarpon on fly!! On a side note, I will never forget him requiring us to put sunscreen on our exposed parts as he had been recently diagnosed with skin cancer. Skin Cancer?? What’s sunscreen John?? Needless to say, after a great first trip to the Keys I called down to book John again for the next year and I was told he passed away! 

Harry told me that John was a good friend of his for many years. During the later stages of his cancer he was very sick (as expected) and he almost could not walk as the cancer had spread throughout his body. Harry told me that he and Dale Brown talked John into going fishing one last day with them on their day off. They would be chasing Permit as that was one of John’s favorite fish to catch on fly. Due to John being weak and lacking a lot of mobility they put a cooler up front for John to sit on and so he could stand to cast. Some time around mid morning they spotted a very large permit (30-35lbs) and John made a perfect cast. The fish got excited and made a move on his fly, following and following the fly with its mouth open but for some reason he never totally ate the fly. A little over half a day into the fishing trip, John got very tired so they called it a day. The next week he passed away sitting on an examination table in his Dr’s office! The Keys lost a great gentleman, fishing guide, and entrepreneur!


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Moving story. I've never heard of him. I'm sure there's a few lurkers here who have tho.


----------



## Last Flat (Dec 8, 2015)

Backwater said:


> Moving story. I've never heard of him. I'm sure there's a few lurkers here who have tho.


I had one of those reels, built like a tank and a silky smooth drag. His son guides out of S. Florida also.


----------



## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

I met him once years ago in the Keys, introduced from a mutual friend, Rick Ruoff. Thanks for posting. Brings back some fond memories of days in the Keys chasing poons and bones with Rick and Harry.


----------



## lewis_walker (May 22, 2012)

he was one helluva person and fisherman and quite an innovator
Lewis


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Last Flat said:


> I had one of those reels, built like a tank and a silky smooth drag. His son guides out of S. Florida also.


Cool. I love those old reels. What's his son's first name?

Welcome to the fly fishing board here Last Flat. Great bunch of guys we have here and would like for you to chime in on our conversations and post your own.

What area do you live in and fish?

Does anyone know what Key John fished out of?


----------



## Dave Bradley (Dec 17, 2015)

I only know of John from that reel.. a strange connection. I'm a good mate of Harry's from downunder, we have talked a lot of keys/guiding history over many beer and dinner in the past few years. Met some great guys through Harry and its a great community the fly scene in the sth.. Looking forward to be back there next month.
Great story.. Dave


----------



## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

Backwater said:


> Cool. I love those old reels. What's his son's first name?
> 
> Welcome to the fly fishing board here Last Flat. Great bunch of guys we have here and would like for you to chime in on our conversations and post your own.
> 
> ...


Like a lot of guides John would move with the fish but he mainly fished out of Islamorada!


----------



## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

Dave Bradley said:


> I only know of John from that reel.. a strange connection. I'm a good mate of Harry's from downunder, we have talked a lot of keys/guiding history over many beer and dinner in the past few years. Met some great guys through Harry and its a great community the fly scene in the sth.. Looking forward to be back there next month.
> Great story.. Dave


Glad to meet you Dave! As I stated before Harry is now building flats boats in Panacea, Florida and I always go buy and see him if I am in town. I texted him about you and he told me to tell "Dingo Dave" hello and that you were a hell of a fisherman!!


----------



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

All these years after John's death it's nice to see he's still remembered... I first met him in 1972 when he was working at J. Lee Cuddy's -they were located on 79th Street in those days and I was working down the street at Reef Tackle.... Cuddy was where you went back then for all of your rodbuilding components ( I was just beginning to build my own gear back then and knew next to nothing) and John was nice enough to walk me through the parts I'd be needing (this was before graphite or carbon fiber as it's called today....). That first visit, he also introduced me to the guy that was the outdoors writer for the Miami Herald at the time - his name was Lefty Kreh..... (this was before he re-located up to Maryland and began writing a book or two....). Miami in those days was still the center of light tackle sportfishing (and since I didn't grow up down here, I had a lot of learning to do....).

A few years later I joined the Tropical Anglers Club and learned that John had not only been a member (along with quite a few guys who later became fishing pros....) but had set club records. The one I remember clearly was a 57lb king mackerel on 10lb spin (you had to use a lure for that tackle category.....) an outstanding catch on really light gear.... I lost track of John for a few years then heard he'd taken up guiding and was doing well. He may have worked a lot out of Islamorada - but I remember him out of Flamingo and most called him "little John".... a few years later he invented and brought to market the first dedicated big game fly reel (if you can find one today it will cost a bit....). Everyone that fished with him gave him high marks (wish I'd had the sense to be one of his anglers...).

When I came back to fishing and started guiding (1996....) John was already gone... a few years later I heard that his son had become a guide as well. For those concerned about melanoma (the cancer that brought him down....) John had a ruddy complexion and sandy hair - marking him as someone particularly vulnerable to skin cancers...
When I first started working on boats as a mate most of us were just ignorant of how damaging the sun can be (we never wore shirts or any sun protection at all.....


----------



## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

lemaymiami said:


> All these years after John's death it's nice to see he's still remembered... I first met him in 1972 when he was working at J. Lee Cuddy's -they were located on 79th Street in those days and I was working down the street at Reef Tackle.... Cuddy was where you went back then for all of your rodbuilding components ( I was just beginning to build my own gear back then and knew next to nothing) and John was nice enough to walk me through the parts I'd be needing (this was before graphite or carbon fiber as it's called today....). That first visit, he also introduced me to the guy that was the outdoors writer for the Miami Herald at the time - his name was Lefty Kreh..... (this was before he re-located up to Maryland and began writing a book or two....). Miami in those days was still the center of light tackle sportfishing (and since I didn't grow up down here, I had a lot of learning to do....).


Interesting stuff here. Does anyone have a photo of one of Emery's reels? I'd love to see one.

This thread probably needs to be saved in the Beginnings topic before it gets lost.


----------



## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

Nevermind on the photo; I found 2 for sale on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-EMERY-...2WT-LEFT-HAND-WIND-/391390491293?#description
Great looking reels.


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Blue Zone said:


> Nevermind on the photo; I found 2 for sale on Ebay:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-EMERY-...2WT-LEFT-HAND-WIND-/391390491293?#description
> Great looking reels.


If I'm not mistaken, that is a black anodized version of the old Penn Int'l Fly reels. Maybe that's what he did where he put a deal together with Penn and endorsed the reel and had them put a different drag knob on it., or found the source on who made those reels for Penn and cut a deal with them. The old Penn reels were heavy, spool width wide, not very tall diameter, but held tons of backing, had a huge cork drag and basically bulletproof. Today, most seasoned fly fishermen have shelved them and use them as a conversation piece.


----------



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

The Emery pre-dates the Penn reels and they have little in common. There's a reason they fetch big bucks from collectors..... The Penn fly reels were never particularly popular - usually sold in big box stores to folks who were just getting into the idea of fly fishing for big fish - but had little experience. I'd compare the Emery to both FinNor (when they were still being hand made down here in Miami) and the original Seamaster reels.....


----------



## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

I bought my first Tycoon Fin Nor #3 in 1978 which would pre-date Emery. I am not sure when Fin Nor came out with the #4, but it could well have been after Emery and perhaps in response to the larger Emery.


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

lemaymiami said:


> The Emery pre-dates the Penn reels and they have little in common. There's a reason they fetch big bucks from collectors..... The Penn fly reels were never particularly popular - usually sold in big box stores to folks who were just getting into the idea of fly fishing for big fish - but had little experience. I'd compare the Emery to both FinNor (when they were still being hand made down here in Miami) and the original Seamaster reels.....


Yes I understand but the design was more inline with the Penn Int'l (maybe pre-Penn and he might had something to do with them getting into the fly reel biz). But your right, the name recognition puts it high on the scale as a collectors item, as I read into the history of him and the reel itself. It looks like it has Penn DNA or vise versa.


----------



## Flatbroke426 (May 5, 2018)

I just came across this thread and so glad I did. I was fortunate enough to have known John but not as much as I would have liked to have. John guided out of Bud and Mary’s for a long time. He was one of the originals there. His reel was not partnered with Penn what’s so ever. It’s a great reel. I’m reading all these stories and holding mine and remembering a great guide.


----------

