Tom is a licensed professional Pennsylvania fishing guide, outdoorsman and conservationist. In addition to specializing in fly angling excursions on Penns Creek, Tom has a wealth of experience guiding (and fishing) on other storied local waters: Spruce Creek, the Little Juniata River and Spring Creek.
He began fishing for trout with a fly rod as a small boy at his father’s side in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Growing up in the Tri-State area provided regular opportunities to explore Commonwealth trout waters and streams in Maryland and West Virginia as well. A fly tying course offered by the Penns Woods West Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Pittsburgh was his introduction to the “fine and pleasant madness” of fly fishing.
For more than 30 years Tom has been an avid fly fisher, pursuing trout, salmon, bass and salt water species from Alaska to Nova Scotia and Quebec, the Rocky Mountain West to coastal North Carolina and Maine. Following sage advice from a college professor to ‘study nature, not books’, his passion for fly fishing on moving water brought him to Centre County in 1979. The superb trout streams the area is noted for have provided Tom the best classroom an angler could wish for. School is frequently in session! Indeed, he considers having such legendary trout waters ‘out his back door’ an exceptional opportunity and special privilege as well.
Among the myriad streams Tom fishes at home and abroad, Penns Creek holds a special allure: large wild trout, remote setting and ‘big water’ ambiance. The stream’s varied character is both a delight and challenge. When it comes to diversity of aquatic life, Penns Creek has few rivals. The reflection that you can’t step into the same river twice never rang more true than on Penns.
Tom is an enthusiastic volunteer with the Penns Valley Conservation Association and the Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Working with these vanguard conservation groups affords him an opportunity to give back to the resource and sport he holds in such esteem.
