Southern New England’s sport-fishing community gathered in Narragansett last weekend to share stories and memories of Richard “Dick” Lema. He was an extraordinary sportsman, formerly of South County, who died at his Florida home late last month.

Lema caught giant tuna and huge billfish in sleek sport-fishing boats that he designed and built, but he still loved casting for panfish from a small tin boat on Tucker’s Pond.

On display at his memorial gathering last weekend were photos of him with smallmouth bass and small redfish, as well as giant trophies.

Following his service in World War II, he became a Registered Maine Guide, and took sports to grouse coverts, smallmouth-bass streams and upcountry trout ponds. His base was Grand Lake Stream.

When he returned to southern New England, he worked for the Evans Case Company, a jewelry maker that also produced rigs for trolling eel skins.

He became a charter boat captain in 1949, guiding anglers from 6 p.m. to midnight, and again from midnight to 6 a.m. Then he would head to his new job, managing the fishing and hunting department at Quinn’s Sporting Goods on Weybosset Street in Providence.

Among his fishing clients were wealthy and famous men from New York and Boston. Aboard a 26-foot bass boat built by Bob Linton, they caught trophy striped bass. Lema once caught a 44-pound striper on 12-pound line, with one of the first spinning reels in the country.

During the winter, he guided out of West Palm Beach, Fla.

“A few years later, I sold the 26-foot bass boat and bought a 36-foot Down East round-bottom boat that had a flying bridge and one of the first tuna towers in the area,” he wrote. “This boat was the queen of the rollers and the super queen of the yaw-ers. I completely broached her several times in following seas, scaring the hell out of my charters.

“Hurricane Carol wrecked her in 1960, and I decided that I would design and build a boat that would not yaw and roll excessively. I built the Bonito, a 36-foot, hard-chine, wide-beam boat that would hardly roll even after I installed a 32-foot tower. Ted Williams caught a 600-pound-plus tuna with me soon after I launched the boat.’

Several years later, Mr. Lema developed and sold the Bonito 26, a center-console boat that would become known for its stability in the roughest seas. In 1973, the country was experiencing a fuel crisis and Mr. Lema downsized the boat. He called it the Lema 20.

Later, he developed the Lema 19 in two models, one for sport fishing, and the other a commercial-fishing boat that caught on with shellfishermen and commercial rod-and-reel fishermen.

Many of those boats are still in use on the waters of southern New England today.

tmeade@projo.com