RIP Tom Mann

[pete hanford2]

Just seen on another website that Tom Mann passed away on fri due to complications of heart surgery.Prayers go out to his family.

 

[Barry Loos]

Thanks Tom for contributing so much to our sport.



Da Bear

 

[Larry Harp]

That's too bad. I just saw him on a segment on Basscenter about the early days of BASS and how "catch & release" got started.



Harpo

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Awe, that's too bad. One of my heroes years ago and I still have some of his baits. Of course I didn't know him but he seemed to be one of the good guys. Prayers to his family.



Bill

 

[JR F]

He was a great fisherman and Innovator..He will be missed.........

 

[Trevor Nicholson]

His name will live on for many, many years. He will be missed.

 

[Donn Norton2]

He was an excellent rep. for fishing. RIP

 

[Dan J.]

I just saw Tom a few months ago at a company fish fry when we announced our Leeds, AL (Talladega) BPS Outdoor World opening. He looked great and said he was still taping his cable show and looking forward to another year of "retirement". Stopping off at his gas station on the way to Eufala was a ritual for many fishermen in these parts. (A MUST for my boy Joey!) When he put Fish World and his place up for sale about a year ago, we all about cried. It was an uncertified landmark in Eufala, and many of us grew up looking at the fish, fishing history and the Native American artifacts inside. Whether you knew Tom personally, or was a total stranger, he'd take you around and show you the trophy fish tanks, let you feed them and the 'gators out back in the ponds, while fascinating you with fish stories of legends back in "the good 'ol days." I can't tell you how many kids, without a penny in their pockets, left that place with Tom's gifts of "guaranteed fish catchers". To call the man a legend is just not enough. He started and created so much of what we all take for granted and truly deserves the title of patriarch of the fishing community. When we lose people like Tom, Billy Westmoreland, Don Butler...., we have sincerely lost an attachment to the foundation of our sport, recreation, and pasttime. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm rambling, but a piece of my childhood is gone and won't be experienced by my own children ever again.

 

[Harry S]

Dan J. -- you said it well! I never met Tom Mann, but from early on he and his jelly worms were a part of the fabric of my interest in fishing .... still is, and always will be!



Harry S.

 

[Texas Transplant]

One of the true 'great men' of our sport. Saddened by his passing.



Tex

 

[paul white]

OMGGGG WE HAVE FISHED ON LANIER FOR YRS AND HE'S FROM BUFORD GA. IVE MET HIM AT A LOCAL TOURNAMENT ON LANIER ONE TIME MANY YRA AGO. MANY PRAYERS TO HIS FAMILY.

 

[Dan J.]

paul white - I believe you have your "Tom's" mixed up. Tom Mann, Jr. (of no relation to Mann's Bait Co. founder, Tom Mann) Is alive and well as to my knowledge. The individual in reference lived in Eufala, AL , was a legendary fishing lure/technology innovator, and will be sorely missed by us all.



Added text: Tom Mann, Jr. is finishing up a tourney on Toho as of this posting.