It’s been mentioned that when Dan Clymer was out fishing, which was virtually on daily basis, the fish trembled.
As a fishing captain and information, he’s been referred to as a information of guides, a fish whisperer, better of the very best, a pure, a legend.
He knew the native waters, knew the very best spots.
Get extra from the Citrus County Chronicle
“He could catch a fish in a puddle in a parking lot after a rainstorm,” mentioned Wes Antill, Dan’s greatest good friend since childhood. “He had that ability to find the fish … and when Danny didn’t go fishing, there was a good reason why.”
“He was a natural at what he did,” mentioned Casey Damron, Dan’s good friend and proprietor of Sodium Fishing Gear in Crystal River. “You’d be out fishing, trying to catch your first one, and Dan would have his limit and be done. He had the knack for what to use and where to go.
“But what also set him apart was his humbleness,” Damron mentioned. “He was always at the top of his game, and he knew it, but he never let anyone else know that he knew it.”
After a four-year, hard-fought battle with sarcoma most cancers, Daniel Elliot Clymer died Jan. 28. He was 43.
Dan and his brother Jeff grew up in Crystal River. As Jeff Clymer recalled, they had been at all times on the water.
“When he wasn’t fishing, we would be swimming in our canal by Three Sisters Springs,” Jeff wrote in an e-mail. “Crystal River and the love he had for it shaped who he was. He was passionate about the Crystal River fishery and took great pride in how he treated it.”
Dan’s nephews, Jeffrey and Charlie, referred to as him Uncle Captain Dan, Jeff mentioned, and their uncle cherished them dearly.
“Even though he was always on the water, he let me know Jeffrey and Charlie were always on his mind. … There’s a saying, ‘The measure of a man’s worth is what he leaves behind,’ and the outpouring of love these past few days shows just what he left behind. He was a good man, a loving husband, the best brother I could have ever asked for and an amazing Uncle Captain Dan to my boys.”
Making of a legend
It began with a Snoopy fishing pole when he was a child.
Wes Antill mentioned they used to experience their bikes to Pete’s Pier and discuss to the dockmaster who would educate them how one can tie fishing knots on ropes.
“They had a bass tournament every Wednesday night, and we’d go and watch those guys and listen to them talk,” he mentioned.
Ruth Brannen, whose mother and father personal Ed’s Fishing Tackle Shop in Crystal River, mentioned they met Dan when he was about 8 or 10 years outdated.
“I remember one day, he came up to Ed’s with a big ol’ bass to get a picture taken. Never will forget that little guy with that smile, holding up that big ol’ bass … we lost the best there ever was in the fishing community.”
While nonetheless in highschool, Dan started working at West Marine, a fishing and boating provide retailer, after which went on to Pro-Line Boats boat constructing firm as a ship engineer.
He had the enviable job of taking boats that had simply come off the road and check driving them.
“I used to tease him all the time about having the ‘graviest’ job,” Antill mentioned. “He’d be out testing a boat for hours and fishing the whole time.”
While at Pro-Line, Dan bought his captain’s license, and when Pro-Line closed its doorways in Citrus County in 2010, he grew to become a full-time information.
“It’s hard to be a fisherman and then be a guide,” mentioned John King, one of many co-hosts of the “We Be Tailing” YouTube program that information from Inglis.
As King defined in the course of the Feb. 3 present’s “Tribute to a Legend” phase devoted to Dan, a information drives the boat, does all of the work, however doesn’t get to fish.
A information steps again and permits others to have the enjoyable and journey.
“Dan gave joy to others by taking them to do what he loved doing,” King mentioned. “He was always booked … and put joy on the faces of thousands of people.”
Co-host Eric Hasty mentioned due to “Dan being Dan, he probably created more captains in this area than you can shake a stick at, because they wanted to be like him.”
In a weblog from UF/IFAS, Savanna Barry mentioned Dan was a “huge supporter” of the Citrus County UF/IFAS Extension workplace, incomes him the Nature Coast Champion Award in 2018, partly for his function in coordinating a free fishing day for all the fifth grade at Homosassa Elementary School.
“For some students, these free fishing days may be the only opportunity they will ever have to go fishing or be on a boat,” Barry wrote. “Every year, approximately 15 boats were needed for the (approximately) 90 kids and chaperones that attended. For years, Capt. Dan recruited enough guides to volunteer their time and equipment to take these kids fishing.”
Barry additionally famous Dan’s time because the president of the Homosassa Guides Association, knowledgeable group of fishing guides within the Citrus County space.
During his time as president, the guides realized sheepshead weren’t as plentiful as previously and several other of them dedicated to voluntarily lowering their take of sheepshead to virtually half of the allowable authorized restrict.
Shortly after, the legal guidelines had been modified to decrease the bag restrict of sheepshead throughout the state.
“Capt. Clymer was instrumental in getting guides on board with the voluntary lower take, a testament to the respect other guides had for him,” Barry wrote.
Fishing, music, household, pals – and delightful hair
“We were high school sweethearts,” mentioned Becky Clymer, Dan’s spouse of 20 years. “We were together for 25 years. I was always a ‘fisherperson’ too, born and raised in Homosassa, so we were doing the same things at the same time on two different rivers in the same county.”
Becky mentioned Dan was identified for his kindness and his work ethic.
“If Dan did it, Dan did it with perfect dedication and passion,” she mentioned. “Fishing, music, family and friends, he made sure he balanced it all.”
As “Tan Dan the Guitar Man,” he was a gifted guitarist who additionally wrote songs.
As for his hair, girls usually requested him the place he had it “done,” and if his blond highlights had been actual.
“It was just the sun and weathering,” Becky mentioned of Dan’s hair. “His hair helped define him, and he loved his locks.”
His smile was additionally one thing individuals seen, and his eyes.
“When he was with you, he was right there with you,” Becky mentioned. “The outpouring of love for him doesn’t surprise me, and we are so blessed that my family just exponentially grew.”
“He was a local celebrity in the fishing world and put Crystal River on the map for the shallow water grouper fishing,” Casey Damron mentioned. “At Sodium, we love bad weather days, we call them ‘guide days,’ because if they can’t go out fishing, they come to the store and hang out.
“So, I love guide days because I knew Dan would come in, pull up a chair, talk to people and tell stories,” he mentioned. “He’d even jump in and make sales for us.”
Dan’s mom, Janet Clymer, mentioned her son touched many lives.
“As a mother, my heart will never be the same,” she mentioned. “He is and always will be my superhero.”
“He left his mark on all of us,” John King mentioned. “He was a good dude who caught lots of fish.”
