MINNEAPOLIS — Whether catching bad guys is tougher than catching walleyes, perhaps only Tom Neustrom knew. But for sure different equipment was needed.

As an undercover narcotics cop in Chicago, Tom drove a van with a carpeted ceiling. Also he sported an Afro-style hairdo, and for bling, he swung gold chains around his neck.

Years later as a fishing guide living in Grand Rapids, Minn., plying among other lakes, Winnibigoshish and Leech, Lake of the Woods and Pokegama, Tom piloted a Lund Pro V 2075 and was as clean-cut as a Boy Scout.

Truth is, neither bad guys nor walleyes had a chance against Tom.

A conservationist and professional angler who was enshrined in two fishing halls of fame, and who served on multiple fish advisory committees to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Tom died July 5 at his home in Grand Rapids.

He had a heart valve replaced in January and hadn’t felt well. Lying down to nap, he didn’t wake up. He was 77.

“I first met Tom when both of us were living in the Chicago area and we both fished Lake Geneva, Wis.,” said Mike Nielsen, a retired dentist who lives in Grand Rapids. “He was a cop, but he was also a good fisherman. That’s how we met, at the Lake Geneva Fishing Club. Ultimately, I decided to move back to Grand Rapids and I told Tom he should move up here, too. I told him there’s better fishing in northern Minnesota than anywhere around Chicago.”

Tom had already caught one bad guy’s bullet as a Chicago cop, and had been seriously wounded. In the same melee, his partner was killed. Both incidents, and the prospect of better fishing in Minnesota, convinced Tom a job in Grand Rapids as an Itasca County Sheriff’s deputy was a better path forward.

In 1979, Tom moved north.

“Tom hadn’t worn a law enforcement uniform in so long, because he worked undercover in Chicago, that on his first day as a deputy he walked into the Itasca County Sheriff’s office with his uniform shirt unbuttoned halfway to his waist, with gold chains hanging around his neck,” Nielsen said. “He was quickly advised that wasn’t a proper way to dress. To rub it in, the next day, another deputy came to work with a logging chain around his neck.”

In his free time, Tom learned how to fish northern Minnesota lakes, and soon, on his days off, he was guiding anglers to walleyes, bass, bluegills and crappies.

His day job might have been fighting crime, but his obsession was putting fish in a boat.

In 1998, Tom met his future wife, Renee. She was a dental assistant in Nielsen’s office, and Tom’s dentist friend wondered why Tom showed up so frequently between scheduled visits.

He soon found out.

“I can’t remember a vacation we took during which we didn’t fish,” Renee said. “Just like it was for Tom, fishing is a passion for me. I grew up in Grand Rapids, and when I was young, my family had a houseboat on Lake Pokegama. We spent every weekend on that boat.”

In 2004, Tom and Renee were married. The next year, Tom retired from the sheriff’s department and started guiding full-time.

By then, he was already an activist on the statewide walleye scene, having joined with other guides and fishing experts to pressure the DNR to significantly increase the number of walleye fry and fingerlings it stocked.

“Tom and I and Dick Sternberg and other guides had formed a walleye advisory committee, which started out as a private group,” said fellow Grand Rapids fishing guide Jeff Sundin, 70. “Tom’s attitude, like those of the rest of us, was that we wanted to have better walleye fishing in Minnesota. It had declined from what it once was, and we all knew it.”

In the years since coming to Minnesota, Tom had created what today is described as a personal brand. A great angler, he also presented himself well to the media and at sport-show seminars. As a result, Lund Boats, Rapala lures and other fishing manufacturers wanted him to represent their products, and he did.

But Tom’s stock-in-trade wasn’t peddling fishing gear. What he sold instead was sincerity. He showed up at annual DNR roundtables. He served on the Red Lake Advisory Council and was a valued member of the DNR’s Walleye Work Group. He also was a founding member of MN-FISH, the fishing advocacy organization.

“I don’t think there is anyone else in the state who has been more active in fisheries issues and who has been willing to show up at meetings and voice his opinion,” DNR fisheries section manager Brad Parsons said. “He set the standard.”

In recent months, Tom had trouble with his knees, and his mobility wasn’t what it once was.

Retiring was a thought, he said, but not an option.

“He talked with Al Lindner about retiring,” Sundin said. “Al told him, ‘If it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood, there is no retiring. You might as well be a guide and spend your time with clients instead of sitting at home and waiting for someone to call you about going fishing for fun.’ ”

Neustrom’s memorial service will be Sunday, Aug. 9, at Timberlake Lodge Event Center in Grand Rapids. Visitation is at 11 a.m. with a service at 1 p.m. Tom has been cremated, and his ashes will transported to the service in his boat, pulled behind his truck. Others are encouraged to bring their trucks and boats.

In addition to Renee, Tom is survived by daughter Megan Sain (Greg), stepson Matthew Hernesman and three grandchildren.

“I enjoyed every moment Tom and I spent together in a boat,” Renee said. “We’ve fished Alaska together, Canada and the Florida Keys. We had just booked another trip to the Keys.

“He was a wonderful man and a wonderful husband.”

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