In Memory of Barry Mitchell

Barry Mitchell crossed over February 28, 2015.

A good guy - one of the highest compliments that can be paid to anyone. 

I got to know Barry by penning a letter to his magazine in 1981.  I complimented the Alberta Fishing Guide for its value to Alberta anglers but suggested that it was too heavily slanted towards fly fishing and trout.  He wrote back that if I felt that way, I should submit an article, which I did.  He dropped into my office to discuss it.  Easily packing 280 lbs on a six foot six frame, I’m glad he wasn’t angry.  It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.   

I’ve fished with him on his beloved Blackstone, fought through the willows on Jackson’s land on Stauffer, camped with him and his long-time fishing buddy Don Andersen at Lundbreck Falls (I didn’t have to talk at all on those trips), and floated down the Red Deer River in various boats in the fall.   We’ve fished the spring creeks in Montana.  To see Barry, with his baseball mitt size hands, deftly tie tiny flies on 7X tippet was a thing of beauty.  It helps to be a fly fisherman to appreciate it.   

He knew his craft.  He knew fisheries better than all the politicians and most of the civil servants who are in charge of fisheries.  He loved the outdoors.  He lived to enjoy life, to go hunting and fishing, not to fill his bank account.  He shared everything.  He was a philosopher.  He adored Ann, Matthew, Jennifer, Clare, Eve and Grant.  He always had time for others.  He was a happy man.  He was comfortable in his own skin.  Barry was the very definition of a good guy. 

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Post by Richard Pallister. Barry Mitchell's official obituary can be found here.