Tom Loe grew up in Thousand Oaks, CA and married
his high school sweetheart Michele. Michele is well known as
the "CEO" of Sierra Drifters. Without her expertise Sierra Drifters would not exist. She is the
most essential part of Tom's fishing career and they have worked as a team
in the fishing industry for thirty years.
Tom spent twenty years offshore harpooning
broadbill swordfish and set lining rockfish as the owner/operator of
offshore commercial fishing vessels on both the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans. He is a licensed Coast Guard captain and year
round fly-fishing guide residing full time with Michele on McGee Creek
overlooking Crowley Lake in the Eastern Sierra. Tom has had a maniacal
fascination with trout his entire life. He began tying flies at 12
years to assist him in financial support of his addiction to fishing.
Tom has created the Sierras most popular and imitated fly patterns and has
been inducted into the Fly Tiers Museum.
Tom has been
professionally guiding for over a decade and has logged over
3,000 guide
trips to date. He has hand picked and trained the regions top
guides.
Tom has developed unique methods of fly-fishing for trout
in the area and pioneered guided drift boat trips down the Lower Owens
River. He perfected the “dip and strip technique” in 1998 after selling the
swordfish boat “Bandido” that same year. Sierra Drifters Guide Service
was founded and has been in operation since 1997 and to date has assisted
well over ten thousand fly-fishers in pursuit of trout in the Eastern Sierra.
Tom averages 250 days a year
guiding blue ribbon trout fisheries with the Owens Rivers, Crowley
Lake, Bridgeport Reservoir, East Walker River, Lake Almanor, and
Eagle Lake being his specialties. He has re-invented still water
nymphing and streamer techniques from his state of the art 24 foot flats
boat and 18 foot Willie drift boat. His marine background has aligned him
well in the guide business and he has revolutionized fly fishing in the Sierra.
His unique methods of putting clients on fish have even been banned on a
popular lake due to their effectiveness!
Tom has been written
up in countless newspapers and periodicals including the Los Angeles Times,
Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, San Diego Union, Western
Outdoor News, and South West Fly Fishing. In 2004 he was named one of
the top 30 anglers in the west by Western Outdoor News publications. He has developed numerous
published fly patterns that are currently cataloged by Pacific Fly Group
and are sold commercially. T. Loe has done countless seminars and
clinics to fly fishing clubs and groups and has been depicted as being the
"guides guide" in this region.
Newspaper Articles and
Press...
Scott and
Robin Okamoto Cover Fish/Western Outdoor News
One Fine Trip
from Western Outdoor News
Catch his drift from the LA Times
Into the backing from the Conejo Valley Fly Fisher
Catching
His Drift Fishing:
Tom Loe takes a new approach to the old, hard-to-access Owens
River. By Dave Strege The Orange County Register
The
Taming of Troutzilla from The Conejo Valley Fly Fisher
®™