Can’t get enough lovin'
A man who gives the love, a man who takes the love; thats our Big Daddy-Tommy Bitchin, aka The Most Interesting Man in the world, aka, Papa Bear—okay, okay I'll stop with the nick names. But I always say when you give someone a nick name, its your way of showing them the love. Think about it, if you hate someone, you don't nick name them, you just call them an asshole. If you're luke warm to them, you simply address them as Billy or Steve. But, if that guy is “The Billy Meiser,” or “Stevearino,” that's the flow of love. So here's to Big Daddy Tom Bitchin Szalay turning 60 years old.
A group of us from work decided to meet Tom on the South Fork of the Ogden to celebrate his 60th birthday with a little fishing; which turned out to be me and Colby. Some of his other photographer friends are coming to take pictures of fishermen—good plan. Tom’s buddy has an awesome place right on the South Fork of the Ogden, with a little stucco cabin and about 20 acres. We pulled in and fog was hanging heavy. We got the tour of the land and heard all his plans to make the area a sort of modern ecological farm for teens.
Big Daddy shows up in classic form with his dog, and a car full of gear. I think he requires at least 5 cameras and a fist full of lenses just to go to the coffee shop. Now that he has officially become a fisherman and has his own rod, his car is filled to the brim with stuff. I don't think he even know all that he has loaded in his car.
We then head to the river for our day of fishing. Every time I look at the South Fork of the Ogden, I see a river that lives in my dreams. I see a river that meets so many check points on my list. However, The South Fork perplexes me, it looks like it would be busting at the seems with fish, but we struggled for hours. I have fished this river a half dozen times, and have had little success with it. Honestly we didn't see a lot of fish, even though all the conditions are as good as you can imagine for a lot of fish.
We ended the day with a big pot of stew in bread bowls, a few beers and chocolate cake for the birthday boy. I think Tom’s dog managed to steal food from everyone’s plate.
Pics below are by Szalay and friends:
