We were lucky to catch up with Ian Rutter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ian, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Success in fly fishing requires patience, careful observation, and the execution of a plan. This can be said of many things in life, but the real reason people go fly fishing is to have fun in the outdoors. As someone who has made a career of fly fishing I feel like I have to sometimes remind my customers as well as myself that the whole point is to enjoy time in the outdoors. Most people will say they’re going fishing with me to catch and release some trout, but over the years I’ve realized that everyone is really going to have an enjoyable day on the water.

As a guide I have very little control over the weather and water conditions or the experience level of those who have engaged my services. I do have control over the information I impart and relate it in an understandable way. No one is born a gifted fly caster so it takes communication and patience on my part to help my anglers in the best way possible.

Fly fishing takes a high degree of skill, coordination, and understanding of the natural world. It’s often been said that it’s almost impossible to spend any time fly fishing without all your thoughts consumed by it. The reason is because an angler is wading on slick rocks with swift currents pushing against him. Fly casting takes a degree of concentration as well and finding a trout is a continual effort. Those who fly fish are not merely looking at a scene in nature but have become a participant in it.

My mission as a guide is to help people have a better appreciation of the natural world and understand the best ways to cast a fly to a trout. This allows my anglers to have better success and enjoy their time in a beautiful location. This same understanding of the natural world also influences my art. Some people see beauty in a subject they are unfamiliar with and those who do fly fish immediately recognize elements from the river.

Ian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into fly fishing while I was studying biology at the University of Tennessee in the early 1990’s. It quickly consumed my life and as my graduation approached I realized I was looking for jobs in areas with great fly fishing. It was at that point I decided to try to make fly fishing my career and I started guiding in the spring of 1995. I supplemented my that income by selling trout flies I tied. A few years later I decided to write a fly fishing guide book to my home waters, “Great Smoky Mountains National Park Angler’s Companion”. Upon completing that book I continued my work and followed up with another guide book “Tennessee Trout Waters – A Blue Ribbon Guide”.

Up until this point I had guided through fly shops and lodges, but in 2003 I started an independent guide service, R&R Fly Fishing, with my wife Charity. We have guided fly fishers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I have done some guiding on other waters in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, but the national park is where we do the bulk of our work. We have also hosted fly fishers on group trips to the Rocky Mountain West and the Turneffe Atoll in Belize. Our business website in www.randrflyfishing.com.

I have always enjoyed drawing and decided to take my art seriously a few years ago. I paint in watercolor and work in charcoal whenever I’m not on the water and my subjects are taken directly from my experiences on the water and in the woods. Watercolor is my favorite medium because it’s similar to fly fishing. It’s a tricky medium that refuses to submit to an artist’s will, and in that regard it’s just like a trout that doesn’t want to be caught. An angler needs to understand a fish’s behavior and persuade it to take a fly, to make the fish think it was its idea all along. Anyone who has take a fly rod to the water will understand all too often the rod doesn’t cast as they want it and the fish don’t cooperate. Through understanding of the subject and medium I persuade paint, charcoal, or pencil to represent my vision.

My art website is www.ianrutterart.com.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Fly fishing guides are at the mercy of the weather and climate much more than others. In 2013 the Tennessee Valley received record rainfall and it was almost a regular occasion for our waters to be unsafe to wade, let alone be optimal to catch fish. We had to endure a number of cancellations and refunds because conditions were so poor. We eventually expanded to guide on other waters that weren’t so impacted by flood waters.

Later that year the weather improved dramatically and the rivers and streams were in great shape. In spite of optimal weather and water flows we were hit with a government shutdown that impacted national parks! Park employees were non-essential so our national park was shut down because there would be no law enforcement no personnel on hand for emergency services. Our commercial use permit for the national park was void during the shutdown. Even with other waters outside of the park this almost dealt us a death blow. It was only through the assistance of family and loans that we were able to make it through until the next season.

The things we dealt with in 2013 were devastating for us and ever since we’ve felt like anything that has come after has been quite manageable in comparison.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

The biggest challenge that comes with being a fly fishing guide and artist is that very few people consider my occupation as work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Guiding is a physical job that requires a high level of fitness to do on a daily basis. Additionally there are lunches to be made, waders to be taken care of, plus phone calls and emails to return when I’m not “at work”. We also have other things to keep up with like First Aid/CPR certifications, ever changing insurance requirements and land/river useage reports to the state and national park service.

Marketing consists of traveling to expos or speaking at clubs in addition to social media and email newsletters. Anyone who works in fly fishing industry has to know much more than fly fishing, an already complicated subject!

To be clear, guiding fly fishing is not the same as fly fishing. The only time I cast a fly rod while working is to help illustrate the process for my anglers.

The same is true of art. Making art is an enjoyable process but selling art is work! There is all the marketing to be done on social media, on a website as well as in person. Setting up print on demand is one trick for success but not necessarily easy. Traveling to set up an art booth at art fairs and fly fishing shows is hard labor as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.randrflyfishing.com www.ianrutterart.com
• Instagram: @randrflyfishing @ianrutterart
• Facebook: @randrflyfishing @ianrutterart

Image Credits
Meredith Matossian