90-year-old man reconnects with passion for fishing after years-long wait

Bob Clough, 90, has been looking forward to going fishing for four years.

He hasn't been able to go due to COVID-19, but on Thursday, he finally got the chance to share his passion for the activity with loved ones at Como Lake.

"It's neat. Very neat," he said.

"I just like to be outdoors and see if I can catch something big," he continued, adding that the biggest fish he caught was 41 pounds.

Clough has been fishing since he was a child — a skill he learned from his father, then passed on to his children.

"It brings back a lot of memories from when we were younger. We fished a lot. We went fishing all through the summers to Campbell River," said Terry Cough, Bob's son, who joined his parents at the lake.

"We learned to fish through our father, and me and my brother still fish quite a bit," he added.

His friends at his long-term care home in Burnaby, Dania Home, also got to join in on the fun, including 101-year-old James Thoms, who's never gone fishing before in his life.

"It's good. I like it," Thoms said.

Leslie Torresan, the recreation programming advisor of Dania Home, said it was exciting for the group, especially for Clough.

"He talks about (fishing) every day," she said.

"We didn't catch a fish today, but we aren't going to give up. We'll be back again and we'll catch one," she continued.

The group won’t wait as long for the next trip as they plan to try their luck again in the spring.