Remembering Big Tom.
It was about fourteen years ago I met “Big Tom” as we called him. Tom was about six foot five with a deep toned voice. I had met Tom through some mutual friends of mine and quickly discovered that he also loved to fish as I did. After chatting with Tom on several occasions over coffee, he mentioned to me that he was a guide in his home province of Manitoba. Tom had moved to Alberta and was taking care of a friend’s property out in DeWinton, on the outskirts of Calgary. Tom and his wife Shirley lived in the guest house and looked after the horses, and the donkey, while the property owner was away on business. Tom cut the lawn and looked after the animals while the owner traveled overseas and was rarely home. Tom had a kind spirit and loved the animals he cared for on the farm.
One weekend as we were talking over coffee, I asked Tom if he liked to fish for Walleye? The Bow River was in its run off month as was not fit to fish. Tom was delighted that I asked him to go fishing and stated he loved to fish for Walleye. He had tons of experience with that species being from Manitoba. We agreed to fish the next weekend at Crawling Valley Reservoir, where the Walleye bite was hot and there were plenty of fish to be caught. I picked Tom up the next Saturday morning and off we went, making the short hour-and-a-half drive south-east to the lake. On the drive, Tom shared many stories about his days guiding for both trout and walleye. I listened contently, soaking up as much information as I could. Once we arrived at the lake, we set up shop in the spillway of the inlet canal and launched the frozen minnows out onto a sandbar. This was the prime location in this area, as the fish would come out of the weed beds and ambush their prey on top of the sand bar. As we sat and waited patiently for the bite, Tom continued to talk and talk and talk some more. I hardly would get five words in only to say, “Wow, that’s amazing” or “that is awesome, I never knew that about Walleye”. Tom was a huge talker and most often he carried the entire conversation all day long. I knew Tom had a wealth of knowledge under his belt, both in regards to fishing, as well as life, so normally I would listen closely to what he had to teach me; absorbing as much knowledge as I could! That entire trip at Crawling Valley was awesome, we caught a ton of fish and I learned a great deal about Walleye fishing that day.
Once the Bow River had cleared up from its annual run-off, I asked Tom if he would like to fish the Bow River with me. Back in those days, I had a small inflatable dingy I had bought from Canadian Tire that I would use to float the river. It wasn’t pretty, or fancy, but it got me from boat launch to boat launch. Tom was delighted that I asked him to float the river, something he had really never done much of, but wanted to try. We met up really early in the morning, on a Saturday at Policeman’s Flats which was only a five minute drive from Tom’s doorstep. Back in those days, we had to drive one vehicle to the take out point of the trip, which was McKinnon Flats, and drop one vehicle there, then take my vehicle back to Policeman’s Flats and blow up the dingy and make the five hour journey downstream. I called that old boat the “back breaker” because once you were done the five hour trip; it felt like your back was broken from being hunched over all day long. Experiencing the river on a float trip was the highlight of the year for Tom. He had continually asked me if we could fish every weekend that year and it seemed Tom and I were out there every single weekend floating and fishing. It was surly the highlight of our summer. Tom taught me a lot about using spinners for trout, including a spinner called “The Bangtail” made by Luhr Jensen. Every time Tom pulled that spinner out, he would catch a crazy amount of fish. It was sure fun to watch!
Around that time when I met Tom, I was doing serious home work on the Brown Trout species. I was buying as many books as I could from Chapters book store as well as reading as many articles on the internet I could find. Most every book I read or internet article I found said Salmo trutta (Brown Trout) predominantly feeds at night in the dark. These species of trout are very smart and warry and the “trophy” sized fish will mostly always feed in the dark. I wanted to put this theory to the test, so Tom and I would wait till an hour before sunset and walk into the river to try our skills. I vividly remember walking onto the river just before dark and passing other anglers on the way in as they were walking out. They would look at us funny, and sometimes snicker as we walked down to the river’s edge. A few of the anglers would ask, “Why are you guys here so late, it’s almost dark now”. We would both just smile and say “you never know what is gonna happen”. At that time, not many were night fishing for browns, but it has become more common place now. The allure of solitude, combined with the quiet setting of the river at night is exhilarating.
Tom and I fished the Bow River, as well as many other lakes in Alberta religiously every year. We formed a solid friendship which often consisted of barbecues at Tom’s place, Sunday dinners at my place and Saturday morning breakfasts with coffee. We became fishing partners and had more fun than a child at a circus. I miss the fun days and evening fishing trips we shared. Tom and his wife moved back to Manitoba late in the year in 2006. I was sad to hear Tom was leaving, as we had established a strong love of the river, and a deep passion for Sport fishing together. Tom’s company was the best and he knew how to make me laugh even when I was not in the best of moods. I miss his kind gentle spirit and his silly jokes he would tell while searching for the next trophy brown trout.
Sadly, I lost touched with Tom shortly after he moved away and have not seen, or heard from him for many years now. The one thing I do cherish is all the memories we made together searching for the next fish on the river that he said “never ceases to blow my mind”. If there is one thing I know about Tom; he is fishing up a storm on some river or lake and has never stopped the chase!
