Fly Fishing Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) has over 800 miles of wild-trout waters, many of which provide exceptional fly fishing for brook, brown, and rainbow trout. In this comprehensive guidebook to the park’s best fishing, locals Ian and Charity Rutter share best access areas, seasonal strategies, and best tactics and techniques for making the most out of your park adventure. They also include detailed information about the hatches and best fly patterns to use throughout the year.

Ian and Charity Rutter live and work at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and for more than twenty years they have spent countless hours exploring and guiding the rivers and streams of the park. The couple has two children who accompany them on many adventures in the woods and the rivers. Whether they are guiding anglers to trout on the fly, hosting a camp, hiking with their family, or volunteering with the GSMNP Fisheries crew, their passion for fly fishing the Smokies is evident in everything they do.

Ian grew up in East Tennessee and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1994 where he attained a degree in botany and zoology. He began guiding fly fishers in the Smokies in 1995. Ian is an artist whose subjects are inspired from his time on the water and hiking in the mountains. His works can be seen at IanRutterArt.com.

Charity grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from University of Central Oklahoma in 1992. She immediately moved to East Tennessee after graduation to spend as much time as possible in the mountains. Charity began fly fishing in 1998 and it quickly became a passion for her as she spent all her free time on the water. She began guiding fly fishers in 2002.

Married in 2000, the couple started their own independent guide service, R&R Fly Fishing, in 2003 after Ian’s first guidebook was published. In addition to guiding anglers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Ian also spent several years guiding fly fishers from a drift boat on East Tennessee’s tailwater rivers. Ian and Charity have traveled widely to fly fish in both fresh and saltwater. Together they have hosted a variety of fly fishing trips to Montana, Idaho, and Belize, as well as numerous fly fishing camps in the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and women’s fly fishing and glamping camps. They can be reached at RandRFlyFishing.com.

Ian and Charity have collaborated on multiple books about fly fishing. They reside in Townsend, Tennessee, with their two children, Willow and Boone.