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I really didn’t know John well at all but here’s a story:
When I was first getting into surfcasting a few years back, I was asking around both online and in tackle shops as to what the must have plugs were. Hab’s needles kept being mentioned and I was determined to get some. I heard that Phil Burgess had gotten a shipment and gave him a call. He was nice enough to send be a few, although he didn’t sound too happy about it (it required payment with a credit card and, if you’ve ever met Phil, you know he doesn’t like credit cards – “I can’t pay Hab’s with credit cards!”). Anyway, I got the plugs and was amazed at the craftsmanship and wanted more. I heard that Hab’s was going to be making another delivery on a given Saturday so I headed down to Burgess. I arrived pretty much at the same time as John. I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by these two “old salts” and when Hab’s walked in and the first words out of his mouth were, “Hey Phil, got any beer” it didn’t exactly ease my mind. I was hanging back, looking around and John asked me what I was looking for. I told him I was hoping to get a few of his needles and he opened up the box for me and gave me some pointers as to what I should get (white!). I’ve built up a nice working collection of his plugs since and I’ve had a few conversations with John, mostly through PMs, and Phil and they really are both great guys.
Canalman recently asked me if I’d be interested in writing an article about Hab’s plugs focusing on the swimmers and other non-needlefish plugs he’s been putting out in increasing numbers lately. I was really looking forward to writing it and getting the chance to discuss the plugs with John.
He will certainly be missed.
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