| "Must Be
Nice" Drift Co. is owned and operated by Thomas Cutmore.
Tom has fly fished the Bow River since the mid-1980's and has actively
guided the river since 1988. Over the years Tom upgraded and bought and sold drift boats,
selling them to friends and clients. This started a relationship with both the Clackacraft and Hyde boat people. Today, Tom works out of a tunnel hull
Clackacraft drift boat. In the fall of 2000 he added a jet boat to his stable.
The jet allows access to less traveled water know as "The Reserve".
Jet boats are a must as there isn't a shuttle service on this reach of the
river. The trout on The Reserve see less pressure than "The Trophy"
stretch of the Bow, that being the river immediately below Calgary. As a
result, the trout seem to come to the fly more readily. It should be mentioned
that there are trout, and big trout, through out the Bow system. There are
more of them down stream of Calgary. The Alberta government has done electro shocking
efforts on the river for the last few years and determined that, the
Bow is very healthy and there are more big trout in the Bow now than
in years gone by. Evidence of this is seen in the slide show above. The
2002 season saw more big trout ( trout 24 inches and up ) being netted than in
recent memory.
In the off season Tom is a commercial fly tier. He ties for several of
the local fly shops and has produced many thousands of top quality flies over
the last 20 years. He ties exclusively on the Nor Vise and instructs fly tying classes as well as
conducting seminars. During the winter months he
does seminars at the local fly shops on increasing productivity, setting up
an efficient tying area with the ultimate goal being "Tying Better Flies
Faster". In 1997 Tom tied with his
friend, Norm Norlander, at the Denver Colorado and Abbottsford British Columbia
Sportsman shows. His appearance with Norm and his wife Ruthe helped Norm to completely
sell out his stock and end up taking orders. The combination of the two men
tying flies and Ruthe controlling the revenue worked well. Before the end of the
show the organizer had asked the trio to return next season. Seems the booth
turned into the headliner for the show by pulling in a large crowd for the duration of the event. By
the time spring arrives, Tom has an almost terminal case of cabin fever.
Interruptions of the "piscatorial" nature are most welcome as the
tying day is sometimes very long. Please, feel free to call.
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403 441-9669