Local Folks: Guy Beard

Local Folks: Guy Beard
Guy Beard, redfish catcher

Guy Beard is the man behind Guy Beard Designs on Hendricks Avenue. He has been designing jewelry for a very long time, more than four decades. But he has been fishing even longer than that. He had a pole in his hand by the time he was four years old.

Guy grew up in the Glynlea area, just a block away from a creek. That’s where he got his start. By the time Guy was in the third grade, his dad was taking him to Mickler’s Landing to fish in the Guana River. He remembers his dad driving them there in their BMW Isetta, the brand car that fictional character Steve Urkel used to drive: a single-door, egg-shaped microcar whose front opened like a clam. Their fishing poles would stick out the top of the sunroof. “It was just amazing that he even drove that thing that far,” Guy said. Sometimes, he and his dad would head to Winter Park to fish there, where Guy’s grandparents had a lakefront home.  

When Guy first met his wife, Linda, while they were attending Sandalwood High School, she liked horses. “She fished, but not like we fished,” he said. It wasn’t long, though,  before she sold her horse and took scuba-diving lessons so she could join Guy. He’d been diving since 15, working for a community center in Holiday Hill, helping the instructors. He also worked for Pro Dive, a shop that used to be across the street from Episcopal School of Jacksonville. They didn’t know then that, eventually, they would own and then sell that dive shop. “It’s a RaceTrac gas station now,” Guy said.

While at Pro Dive, Guy met a group of dentists who had a practice next door. They were also competitive spearfishermen, Florida state champions, in fact. Guy joined them, going down to Key West to compete, even freediving with them. Guy also began working for them in their dental lab, making crowns and bridges, shaping gold teeth. That’s how he got his start in jewelry design. His passion for fishing and his love of the water inform much of Guy’s work. He now has a nautical line, The Mariner’s Clasp® Collection.

Guy Beard, jewelry designer
Guy Beard, jewelry designer

For most of his life, Guy swam on teams and owned boats. He has gone beach fishing, bottom fishing, inshore fishing and offshore fishing. He has done a tremendous amount of blue water fishing out of Jacksonville and St. Augustine. He has fished up and down the St. Johns River, too. He’s caught tarpon, kingfish, redfish and that’s not all.

“We catch the fish. We bring them home. And we cook them. The whole family loves it,” Guy said. Tuna and flounder are Guy’s favorite fish to eat. He also loves to cook. “It’s another form of creativity,” he said. He blackens the tuna outdoors. He stuffs the flounder with grab meat and bakes it in the oven.

Since they’ve been married, the Beards have dived and fished all over Florida. They have two grown children now. Lately, they’ve been taking their two grandchildren to St. Augustine quite a bit to dock fish. “This is the first time in my life since I was 16 that I haven’t had a boat,” Guy said. But he has kayaks. He and Linda like putting in at the Beach Boulevard boat ramp and paddling along Pottsburg Creek.

Guy said, “San Marco is just a wonderful place. It’s like home. That’s why we put our business here and have kept it here.” In the 38 years that he and Linda have lived in San Marco, they have watched the area grow and prosper. “In the last couple years, it’s really taken off. It’s a hub of excitement, and it’s just going to get better and better,” Guy said.

By Mary Wanser
Resident Community News

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