Long time fisherman of Navarre Pier Hollie Reed passed away yesterday. He once caught a 92 pound Tarpon off the pier. Hollie will be missed.
Pat Huggins wrote: It is hard for me to post this. One of my favorite fishermen of all time, Hollie Reed, has gone from us and leaves a hole in many hearts. He “raised” so many pier rats, including my children, and had a powerful influence in my life and in the lives of many others. He raised young men with disabilities that were not his biological children. He raised and jerked up by the hair of their heads a lot of roughneck redneck kids who turned into fine young men. He had a rusty old tackle box with everything in it tangled up, but he could reach in there and pull out a homemade lure, covered in rust, sharpen the hook with his ever-present small whetstone that was in the same pocket as his derringer, and would throw that sucker out and catch a fish! It was phenomenal what he caught fish with. His tackle looked like it came from the dump as did his old grocery buggy that he toted it all in. He told me once that nobody messed with his stuff because it was so raggedy and besides, they knew he carried a pistol and a sharp knife! He would make the ugliest jigs I ever saw, but they caught fish when no one else did. Anybody who has fished at Navarre has heard of a Hollie minnow, well we know who started that and that it works! Whoever heard of cutting off the tail of a cigar minnow, then a diagonal up the belly and cutting off the head and fishing with it? Hollie did. Mr. Hollie, I am blessed to call you my friend and mentor for so many years. My children are blessed to have had you in their lives as well. Subtle lessons were taught out on the Navarre Fishing Pier and along the Blackwater in Milton. You gave of yourself to so many. Farewell, my old friend. I know you and Al Lauderdale and many others are sharing tall tales and fishing stories from decades past. Rest in peace knowing you gave far more than you ever took from others.
Navarre Newspaper offers our condolences to his family and many friends.
