Episode 51: Harry Spear - The Perfectionist

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5 • 973 Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2022

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When I first met Harry Spear I instantly knew I was in the presence of an unusual man. He was affable, wired, and intimidating. His aura exuded a high level of confidence. His legacy had already been established as one of the most successful skiffs guides in the Keys. Little did I know how deeply he’d impact my life. Our introduction was like most others, a call was made with a little chit chat, ending with a time to meet. Harry would not only fish me for the next seven years, but push, groom and demand me to evolve to where I couldn’t sleep because of my pursuit to be better. I connected with his way of thinking. But I was not the only one he inspired to win the big ones as he has a total of 43 wins, including 5 Gold Cup tarpon tournaments, the granddaddy of them all. He won that four times in row with angler Glenn Flutie. He was a tour de force in everything he entered, eventually winning 43 tournaments! Harry Spear will go down in history as one of the most prominent fishing guides the Keys has ever seen. Anyone who ever stepped onto his boat knew they were with a super power. I fished three events with him with a win, a second and a fourth. And then he was gone... Was he burned out or what - I wondered? Huff left the Keys too, well before Harry. Then we all heard he was reinventing himself up in the Panhandle of Florida. Harry is an exceptional adventurer. Never one for complacencies or boredom, he has laser sharp focus with his life’s numerous chapters. On today's podcast we cover this spectrum and his desire for perfection. Enjoy!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Harry Spear was one of the first superstars to ever challenge the shallow water
0:09.0	flats of the Lower Keys. He and Steve Huff showed the rest of the fishing world what could be done.
0:16.0	They pushed the bar of greatness well past the rest of the field by winning most of the
0:20.5	fly in all tackle tournaments. If you had either one as your guide in any of these
0:25.2	tournaments, most likely you'd be seeing more fish than anyone else.
0:29.6	Aside from their flats knowledge, their creativity and coaching skills were extraordinary.
0:35.0	When I first met Harry, I didn't have a clue what my life would eventually evolve to.
0:40.0	He became my mentor for seven years, grooming me, refining the art of casting, reading fish, feeding them, and ultimately catching them.
0:49.0	When he left the keys in 2003, he had amassed 43 winds.
0:55.7	He not only left, but left fishing altogether
0:59.0	and began a pipe dream of building a better boat. I hope you enjoy this story with one of the greatest fishermen this sport
1:06.2	will ever know Harry Spear.
1:10.0	We broke everything, we broke
1:15.0	everything, we broke lines, we broke hooks, we broke rods, we broke our minds,
1:21.0	we broke marriages, we broke the whole thing.
1:26.5	We came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls and whoever had the biggest
1:30.9	pair of pain he's won the pot.
1:33.2	I knocked another arrow and he turned around the other way and I shot him going through
1:36.7	the other way.
1:37.7	So I doubled him both ways.
1:40.1	But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.
1:44.9	I got him out right now.
	...

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