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Tom Biesot

Tom Biesot

Angler and reel maker.

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I was born

in The Hague (Holland) in 1953.
Grew up with a twin brother, sister and a fishing father. At the age of 6, I was already fishing with my father for Bream and Carp in the Dutch waterways (Polders). I started fly fishing about 33 years ago and was hooked for live.

When I was young

, I always dreamed about fishing in far foreign countries. In 1978 at the age of 25 I had saved the money to travel to Florida and did some serious fishing with a spinning rod.
I caught an abundance of fish in those early days like, Ladyfish, Black drum, Speckled sea trout and red fish. I did it all over in 1979, is was a great adventure.

In 1980 I met

my current wife (Fousjia), she was originally from South America (Surinam) and she also liked to fish.
In 1981 we made our first trip to Surinam, the fishing over there is really great.
She became my best fishing mate. She also is a respected fly fisher.
Together we made some 15 trips to Surinam for the last 30 years, not only for the fishing, but also for the overwhelming beauty of the Surinam nature. Most of the fishing in Surinam is done by boat on jungle rivers. Until now we caught about 40 different species of fish in Surinam, like Peacock bass, Drum, Snook and Tarpon. Also a lot of catfish species.

We also fished

together in a lot of other exotic places, like Panama in 1982 and 1983, Costa Rica in 1986, Belize in 2001, Cuba in 2006 and Tobago in 2008. We love fishing in the Caribbean for Bonefish, Snook and Tarpon, to name a few.

We also enjoy

the fly fishing in our home country, especially for Rudd, Roach and Bream. The Dutch waterways (Polder) are still great for fly fishing with dry flies and nymph. In the fall and winter time we hunt for Perch and Pike with streamers.
We also have a very nice big trout lake called Oostvoorne Lake.

Other hobbies are

making my own fishing equipment, like Reels, Rods and fly tying tools and keeping Koi Carps in our back garden.

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